Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili
Black beans, sweet potatoes, fire roasted salsa, and poblanos pair with black beans in this hearty, easy meatless Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili.
Click HERE to save this recipe for Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili!
Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili Recipe
I’m tempted to call this “Emergency Black Bean Chili” because we definitely had an “emergency” on our hands when I made it for dinner last night. Madeline has been sick for the past few days and I really needed to go grocery shopping, but who takes a sick child grocery shopping?
Our evenings have been too busy or tired to go grocery shopping so I kept waiting, thinking the next day she’d be better. Or the next day, or the next.
Just because you have a sick child doesn’t mean you don’t have to still make dinner for the rest of the family. But how do you make dinner with a bare refrigerator? Usually breakfast is our go-to on days like this, but options become limited when you don’t even have milk or eggs. And it wasn’t just the refrigerator that was getting bare.
It seems I was running out of everything else as well. And what I did have was all random, it seemed. Nothing to really make anything that I had planned.
I was even out of salt and several other spices. How does someone run out of salt? That involved me dumping the entire contents of the bottle because the shaker part of the lid wasn’t replaced. I went to shake a bit of salt onto something and the entire bottle dumped instead.
One thing I did have was black beans, thanks to a recent grocery store sale. I stocked up and then Eric went to Costco and bought more, not knowing I had already gotten some. I just started dumping random things into a pot and sauteing others and suddenly I had a vegetarian black bean chili simmering.
And the salt? Because you need salt. I have Morton to thank for allowing me to test out their Season All Seasoned Salt, a blend of salt, and savory spices, including paprika, black pepper, onion, and garlic, with a hint of chili pepper. This all-purpose blend of spices tastes great on ribs, beef, and pork. Also terrific on chicken and potatoes for a unique seasoned flavor!
★★★★★
Readers say –
- “This has become one of our family’s favorite recipes. We have made it countless times by now. I love it.” — Sarah
- “Can’t wait to try this again with sweet potato. I made it with regular potato and LOVED it! Yummo!” — Michele
- “Tried this recipe today and the family loved it!! Like others, my family didn’t miss the meat.” — Alma
Click HERE to save this recipe for Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili!
Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili Ingredients
To make this vegetarian sweet potato chili, you’ll need:
- Onions
- Garlic
- Poblano pepper
- Olive oil
- Dried herbs and spices
- Crushed tomatoes
- Vegetable broth
- Morton All Seasoned Salt
- Carrot
- Sweet potato
- Frozen corn
- Black beans
- Salsa
- Cornstarch
For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this post for the free printable recipe card.
How to Make Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili
This sweet potato and black bean chili is essentially a dump and cook type of recipe. Here are the basic steps for making this vegetarian black bean chili:
- Cook the diced onion, garlic, and poblano pepper in an oiled skillet until softened.
- Add the spices and cook until fragrant.
- Add the remaining ingredients into the pot, along with a cornstarch slurry.
- Let simmer uncovered for 1 hour, then pop the lid on and simmer for another 30 minutes.
- Garnish with your favorite toppings and enjoy!
The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.
Our Favorite Chili Toppings
There are so many ways you can amp up your bowl of sweet potato black bean chili. Here are a few of our favorite chili toppings:
- Sliced jalapeño
- Monterrey Jack cheese
- Crumbled feta
- Fresh cilantro
- Salsa
- Crushed tortilla chips or Fritos
- Diced avocado
Click HERE to save this recipe for Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili!
Can You Freeze Chili?
Yes, this recipe for sweet potato black bean chili freezes well. Cool it completely, then store it in freezer-safe storage containers or in freezer bags (this works well when you want to lay the bags flat to minimize the amount of room it takes up in the freezer). Make sure that you label and date the contents.
Take a look at my How to Freeze Soup instructions because the method will be very similar.
What Readers Are Saying
★★★★★
Kristine says –
“A year ago, I used this recipe (slightly modified) for a chili cook-off at work and WON! Imagine that! A vegetarian chili beat all the meaty contestants (there were 12 contestants altogether). Several of my coworkers asked for the recipe – I sent them your link.”
★★★★★
Melissa says –
“This recipe is fantastic and a huge hit — the best chili I’ve ever made! My husband was shocked there was no meat in it which he didn’t realized until after dinner!”
More Easy Chili Recipes:
If you like a more traditional chili, you’ll like this Beefy Kidney Bean Chili.
And if you want a chili that is really rich and hearty, try this Braised Short Rib and Bacon Chili.
Or if you want a lighter and healthy chicken chili, then this White Bean Chicken Chili Verde will be perfect!
My family also loves this Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Chili. It’s a delicious Tex-Mex dish that everyone always wants seconds of.
If you’re craving a vegetarian chili, make a batch of this Roasted Butternut Squash Black Bean Chili. It uses just 7 ingredients and takes very little effort to prepare.
But no matter what chili you make, you can’t go wrong serving it with these Honey Corn Bread Muffins. Seriously. Logan and Madeline say they are the best ever.
What’s your favorite way to make chili?
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Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili
Black beans, sweet potatoes, fire roasted salsa, and poblanos pair with black beans in this hearty, easy meatless Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 onions, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 poblano pepper, diced (deseed if you like)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/4 teaspoons cumin
- 1 tablespoons chili powder
- 15 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 8 ounces vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon Morton Season All Seasoned Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
- 2/3 cup diced sweet potato
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 37.5 ounces canned black beans, drained but not rinsed
- 1/2 cup fire roasted salsa
- 2 bay leaves
- 14 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
Garnishes
- toppings for serving: Monterrey jack cheese or feta and cilantro
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the diced onion and saute for 5 minutes, until tender and golden. Add the garlic and poblano pepper and saute another minute, until fragrant.
- Add the cumin and chili powder and saute another 2 minutes.
- Lower heat to medium-low and stir in the crushed tomatoes and broth (reserve 1/4 cup of broth), scraping to remove any browned bits in the pan. Add the remaining ingredients except the cornstarch and toppings.
- In a small bowl whisk together the reserved 1/4 cup of broth and the cornstarch until smooth.
- Pour the cornstarch slurry into the chili pot. Stir until well mixed.
- Bring chili to a boil for 2 minutes and then lower heat to low.
- Simmer over low heat uncovered for one hour. Then, simmer covered with a lid for 30 minutes.
- Serve topped with your choice of toppings.
Notes
This recipe for Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili freezes well. Cool it completely, then store it in freezer safe storage containers or in freezer bags - this works well when you want to lay the bags flat to minimize the amount of room it takes up in the freezer. Make sure that you label and date the contents.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 292Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1417mgCarbohydrates: 54gFiber: 18gSugar: 10gProtein: 15g
GoodLifeEats.com offers recipe nutritional information as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although GoodLifeEats.com makes every effort to provide accurate information, these figures are only estimates.
Morton and Collective Bias gave me a small grocery budget to purchase Morton products for the use in a post. However, I was not paid to publish positive comments and I really do love this recipe.
Kristine says
A year ago, I used this recipe (slightly modified) for a chili cook-off at work and WON! Imagine that! A vegetarian chili beat all the meaty contestants (there were 12 contestants altogether). Several of my coworkers asked fo rthe recipe – I sent them your link.
I’m using this recipe (with mods) again this year for the contest… let’s see if we can make it two in a row! Mods: used 2x the poblanos, 1/2 the beans, and added 2 serranos.
Katie says
That is so awesome! Thanks for letting me know 🙂 I’m glad it is a hit!
Paul says
I added an entire smoked chicken to this and it was amazing.
Carmelsmom says
This was delicious!!! I didn’t have the pepper or corn but tasted yummy without them. This is for sure on the “make again” list!
Hillary says
My husband and I aren’t vegetarian and we still loved it! We don’t like bits of tomato so we just used a big can of tomato sauce. We threw some Gardien ground crumble we had from when I cooked for a vegan friend. Added kidney beans, also. This was awesome, and I loved not having to measure every single ingredient. I just tossed stuff in! Thanks!