1-Pot Red Lentil Chili

I made this for my guys at work and doubled the recipe. Everyone loved it although skeptical when I told them it was vegan. So happy to have made this. Used 1 Serrano pepper and it was the perfect heat for the doubled recipe. Thank you so much !

This is the first recipe I tried and I love it! I am not much of a cook and am just starting out. The recipe was easy to follow and I was able to create something that tasted great. LOL I omitted the jalapenos as I am unable to eat spicy foods. The flavors were just enough for me. I wonder how using smoked paprika will change the flavors the next time I make this. Thank you for the recipe.

Made this tonight with some modifications for dietary restrictions (no onions, garlic or jalapeños) and it was still super tasty! Swapped kidney and black beans for white beans (what we had in the house), and used broth instead of water. Kiddo was a big fan, which is always 50/50. Will definitely make again.

Incredibly good! I followed the recipe to the letter including making the chili powder mix. It will now be a staple in our household. I love that I can make a big batch – have kids living away from home and this is just the thing to send over for a home cooked treat. Thanks for this and all the other recipes.

This was an amazing chilli! Super flavourful, filling, satisfying and healthy. Once again Minimalist Baker kills it!!

This recipe for chili is amazing! I highly recommend this to EVERYONE! Some things I modified were the dice tomatoes, I used a can of smoked diced tomatoes and a can of orginal rotel diced tomatoes with green chilis! I also added about 1/2 a tsp of cayenne pepper. So the green chilis and the cayenne pepper didn’t make it too spicy. Quite enjoyable! Once again this is definitely a recipe I will remember!

Amazing recipe! My favourite vegan chilli!

Trying this out right now. Only changes that I am making is not adding all that salt, (On a sodium restricted diet and that is a lot of salt to add!!) Also, in the process of making the beans fresh. I don’t use canned food if possible. Other than that, can’t wait until it’s done!! Looks and sounds yummy!

DELICIOUS! No changes except from adding carrots for extra veggie. Thank you!!!

This stuff is SO GOOD!! I ended up using 2 Tbsp of chili powder and completely left out the sugar/syrup and it still was delicious!! I also followed what another review said and used half red and half green lentils and it worked well. Cant wait to make this again!

Waaaaay too spicy. Having been a major MB fan for years, I decided to follow this recipe exactly (which is something that I never do with most recipes). I could barely eat it and had to dump loads of sugar in (which no one wants to do) and add yoghurt in order for it to be palatable. I put so much love into this pot of goodness. I was really disappointed. A spice warning would be helpful for us wimps.

I made this recipe. It was very delicious. Thank you

this chili will warm your heart AND soul.

i made a few changes. i chose to not add the peppers or jalapeño, but did half green lentils and half red. i thought the green lentils added a nice texture, since the red sorta become a little mushy.

11/10, absolutely perfect!

I’ve been counting calories, and trying to cut back on my meat. Came across this recipe I’ve made it numerous times now. I love it. I can’t tell you how much I love it. It leaves me full. It tastes delicious. It’s easy and quick to make. What more could I ask for? Thank you!!!!

I used brown lentils, no corn, and added maybe 2 tsp apple cider vinegar to add some brightness. We like it hot so I threw 2 habaneros and 2 jalapenos in with the garlic. It’s tasty and perfectly thick, not soupy.

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly but close enough I know it’s a wonderful recipe. Thanks me and my family loved this!

I made this and improvised a little, adding a few Tbs of cocoa powder to the spice mix, and subbing in some chipotle powder for some of the chili powder. I also added a 12oz pack of soy mince at same time as lentils, I subbed veggie chicken broth for half the water and added garbanzo beans to round it out… yum!

I just made a double batch of this chili so that I could put some aside in the freezer for our new baby next month. It was incredible! My three young kiddos are gobbling it down at this very moment and giving it rave reviews! I don’t know if any will make it to the freezer….

I didn’t have red pepper so I diced a few carrots and added those. We also used jarred jalapenos because that’s what we had. I omitted the tomato paste also because we didn’t have any of that on hand. We simply topped this with some sliced avocado, but would love to also add cashew cream next time! This is by far my favorite chili. Thank you for sharing this recipe!

This is a recipe I have printed and added to into my “favorites” recipe book. So good! And healthy! I love it and can’t wait to dive into more of your recipes!

-Kianna Scott
@live.simply.dream.greatly

This is our go to chili recipe and has been for years, I felt like I should finally write a review! We make this in the slow cooker, adding everything in at once and omitting the oil. Absolutely delicious and flavorful, and suuuuper easy. We usually put everything in the slow cooker first thing in the morning, leave it on low and it is ready by dinner! The only thing that seems to vary is how much salt we add, so I would just advise tasting and using your best judgement. I think it just changes because we’ve used different brands of the canned items.

I make this all the time. love this recipe for meal prep. With the rice and cheese I can make 5 servings of about 600 calories a plate. I recommend making the recipe as listed and adjust things to your taste :)

I have changed up the recipe to make it easier to make and fit my tastes more. I use diced jalapeño in jar, jarred garlic or garlic powder, normal lentils, no salt added tomatoes, white onion, green pepper. I put rice on the side and shredded sharp cheddar on top. I do not add salt to it for my diet and also don’t add any sweetener.

This is my favorite chili! I serve it with rice and top with cilantro and homemade hummus. So good!

I use this recipe for backpacking meals! It dehydrates really well and it’s so amazing after a long day of hiking in the mountains. I make a few tweaks: I add smoked jackfruit and barbeque sauce, and I leave out the oil so it dehydrates better then add oil while cooking on trail.

My husband and I both enjoyed this chili. I did not add the corn, but that would have been tasty as well. I also did not add the coconut sugar. The store did not carry the red lentils, so I used black lentils instead. I could have used a bit more salt for saltiness. I would definitely make this again!

I tried this recipe last night in my instant pot, and it didn’t work at all. I followed the recommendations of other comments to increase the water (I added 2 cups more) and set at high for 7 minutes. I got 3 burn notices, and finally gave up because it was 9pm and we were hungry. I transferred it to the stove and cooked it all together for 20 minutes.
The final result was really good, definitely something I would make again. But I’ll just stick to the stove directions until an official recipe for instant pot comes out.
We topped it with cheese, sour cream, lime juice, cilantro, and ate it with warm naan bread.

I didn’t use the sugar but other than that I love this recipe! Great for left overs too.

I am thoroughly impressed with this recipe! Some tweaks that I made:

1.) Tomato soup instead of paste (it’s what I had on hand).
2.) Frozen corn and canned (again, what I had on hand).
3.) Deseeded 1 jalapeno (large) and kept the seeds of other jalapeno (med) – only used 2 when I tripled the recipe in all other aspects.
4.) Used prepackaged “jambalaya” mix of red lentils with rice and various dehydrated vegetables, so I ALSO added a ton of water instead of reducing the tomato soup.
5.) Diced up fresh tomatoes as well as used canned (again, what I already had on hand)

This was truly a delightful experience! I’m anemic, so I need a lot of iron in my diet. I have been searching for the perfectly DELICIOUS way to eat a ton of lentils to achieve that goal and am SO happy to have found this recipe which will help me use up the old cans in my pantry as well! 10/10!!!

Love this recipe. This time I added a green pepper as well as the red pepper. I’m not a vegetarian but haven’t made chili with meat since I found this recipe. Great flavour, texture and a nice amount of heat.

I’m so happy I found this recipe and this cite. This chili is delicious! The only change I made was using frozen corn for the optional canned corn. I can’t wait to try other recipes. Thank you!!!

Super tasty! The Coconut Sugar was a good idea! I also added a couple more Italian spices!

I made this tonight and it was fantastic. I didn’t use sugar but added carrots. No one else in the house was adventurous enough to try it so I will enjoy it for the next few days.

Delicious! I had some tempeh in the fridge so grated that and added it as well, along with sme chopped carrot. I also made it a bit spicier by using 1/2 chipotle chili powder and 1/2 regular chili powder, so there was a nice kick but it wasn’t too spicy for the family members who can’t tolerate overly spicy food.

Awesome!!!!! Just made it. Was delicious. Can’t wait to have more tomorrow. I didn’t have a jalapeño, but I love spicy so substituted the jalapeño with a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Turned out great. Thanks again!

Wonderful! Made the recipe as written and thoroughly enjoyed it!

New favorite chili! This was enjoyed by both meat and non-meat eaters. It has the perfect balance of “sweet” (from the corn and sugar/maple syrup) and spice (it’s not very spicy at all but there’s a hit of the jalapeño flavor). I enjoyed it immensely with sourdough bread. My only change was cannellini beans instead of black because I forgot to prep them. It was still perfect. Froze well and tasted even better reheated!

Great recipe and delicious, thank you!

This is the bomb! And packs some heat so be careful with the chilli. Served with crusty bread, sour cream and added some shredded chicken for the non veggies. Will become a favourite in this household.

I’ve made this recipe over 10 times and every time it’s delicious! I don’t put in the jalapeno just because I’m not a fan of spice and it’s still great without it.

This was delicious! I added an extra jalapeño for spice and it was the perfect amount of heat. I think this was the best chili recipe I’ve made yet!

I made this dish last week. It was tasty, hearty and filling. I did not care for the smokey smell/taste so I added a few things to offset it. I used Kidney Beans instead of Red Beans (just a preference). I did not add all of the chilli powder and smoke paprika. Also, I used Monk Fruit and Ethanol sugar instead of coconut sugar. (what I had). I added cinnamon (my husband said I added too much) and a little brown sugar and coriander ground seeds. Delicious.

One of the more flavorful bean/lentil chilis I’ve tried. Love its thicker consistency

This was such a great recipe! I omitted a couple of the smaller seasonings I didn’t already have on hand and used green lentils instead, and this was still amazing. Will be making this again very soon!

UK person here, made this and it was amazing, but I had to make some changes for UK stuff. We don’t use cups as measurements for example, but I just used a small IKEA coffee cup you’d drink out of. It’s hard to have too many lentils, especially red which are more for body.
Chili…. there isn’t really chili mix here and we’d buy pure chili powder so for the love of all don’t put two tablespoons of that in…. especially if you buy the real stuff from Asian/subcontinent stores. Two teaspoons are more than ample. I’d always recommend this as spices there are so cheap and you can really throw the cumin around.

Apart from that, this will make a big batch so I made a couple more adjustments. You can buy tomato purée in tubes cheap and I put a whole tube in (approx 4 tablespoons). Cumin, can easy do 3 tbsps and the secret ingredient really is smoked paprika, but it’s strong stuff. 3 teaspoons and it becomes another level of awesome. Don’t be scared of using salt but taste often to be sure.
Add water of course if it seems to be going too dry and that it.

Thanks again, great recipe idea

Fantastic recipe! It has replaced my usual chilli con carne and I think lentils actually work better. I add a cinnamon stick and a tsp of ground coriander too.

I made this in the instant pot and it’s so delicious!! I made my own chili blend so the sodium content wasn’t too much and I loved it 🥰

This recipe was so delicious!!! I made it in a slow cooker on low for 8 hours, sautéing the veggies beforehand. I also substituted dry green lentils (I was out of red lentils) and used an entire 6 oz can of tomato paste (was too lazy to save it, haha) with no issues. Serving with cheese and avocado made the perfect dinner!

I had to make some changes but really like the recipe! My kiddo doesn’t like onions or peppers yet and I didn’t have corn on hand, so I used onion powder and garlic powder and used less of each spice than what it says. I put 3 diced carrots in instead of corn. My one issue is when a recipe calls for part of a can of something and I end up wasting the rest of the can. So I put the whole little can of tomato paste in it. Worked fine! The one mistake I made was to rush the lentil cooking stage. I was in a hurry and should have made sure they were done before moving on.

I am from Texas and this chili gets a double thumbs up in my book. Thank you for all your great recipes. This one is a keeper.

As always, you killed it with this recipe- super tasty! Served it on baked potatoes, cheese, avocado, cheery toms and corriander. Absolutely delish <3

This is my go-to chili AND lentil recipe. Whenever I feel like something very nutritious I go to this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing it!

I have made this recipe twice now (in the past two weeks). It is the BEST Vegan chili recipe I have ever found. Will be making it often I am sure! Thanks for the recipe!!!!

I absolutely LOVE this recipe! It is easy to follow and easy to add my own little flare. I’ve made this several times and its always a hit! Also love that it is freezer friendly, as I usually make it for a meal prep week. Thanks for all the awesome recipes Minimalist Baker!

I get so excited when I google for a recipe that I would like to make WFPB and I see Minimalist Baker pop up and I get so excited because so far, your recipes have never failed me. This was no different!! My new go to chili recipe!! It was delicious!!!

Most amazing chili I have ever made. Delicious!!!!

Hi just wanted to say that I made this for a dinner party and it was delicious – even the non vegans/vegetarians commented on it. I have made a few vegan chilli just with beans but they always lack substance and taste just like stews. The combination of lentils and beans in this recipe is perfect – this will be my ‘ Go to Chilli” from now on. It had a nice kick too with the chill powder and the jalapeño.
Thank you for sharing ! The pressure was on as my husband used to make a mean meat chilli so we needed something that was just as good in our plant based diet . This is spot on !

Made this chili multiple times and we love it! I’ve even added in other veggies to disguise them from the picky hubby. Pair it with some cornbread and it’s an awesome meal!

Wonderful! The spice blend is perfect! Love that everything is made in one pot! Very flavorful! The texture with red lentils and beans, other veggies laced with fragrant tomatoes and chilis…Amazing!

Delicious. Added 4 Carrots, 2 Celery to saute grouping in my Instant pot then added rest of Ingredients as listed on this recipe except increase Red Lentil to 1 full Cup increase Water content to 3.5 cups to eliminate Burn on Instant pot ( next time will add 1 cup more comes out thick) High Pressure on INSTANT pot for 7 minutes and dinner was done. Served with Brown rice and avocados. Fabulous!!!

This veggie chili far exceeds any other I’ve tried! Rarely do I make a recipe multiple times without tweaking it a little to suit my tastes, but I have made this one as-is on repeat! I keep expecting an eye roll or a protest when I say we’re having chili AGAIN, but instead I get a “hell yeah!” every time. I think the addition of the red lentils that break down as they cook is key to achieving a nice thickness that many veggie chilis lack. I’m always just as excited for it on day four as I am on day one. Thanks for another delicious and easy recipe!

This was the first recipe I ever made from your blog, and I’ve been going back to it for years! It’s delicious and hearty and flavorful enough to be able to feed to meat eaters, which is a big win. I usually double the lentils and use pureed tomatoes instead of diced, just because it tends to make it more appealing to picky eaters. I also triple the garlic and roughly double most of the spices for more flavor, but no matter how you swing it, this recipe is an all time favorite! It’s enough to feed me for a week, so I love making it a few days before I know I’m going to be really busy.

Really delicious lentil chilli though next time I think I’d want more lentils in there. Word of warning, the quantities in the recipe could serve 12 people at least NOT 6 – I’m not complaining as I’ll freeze portions but just be prepared if you’re not looking to do that.

The BEST chili ever! I’ve made this SEVERAL times and it is such a crowd pleaser. Even my non-vegan boyfriend LOVED it. It’s such a simple but flavorful recipe. I’m serious when I say I don’t need any other chili recipe…this is the one for me!

This is delicious! I tried a different lentil chili recipe once and wasn’t really into it, but this was great. I followed the recipe almost exactly other than using canned diced jalapenos. I now have plenty of leftovers that will hopefully last me a while!

I made this recipe for the Fourth of July once and it’s now an annual favorite! Love how the spice builds, how easily you can sub different cans of beans on hand, and I added sweet potato for some more heartiness to this freezer-friendly meal. Will make some fresh biscuits this year to go with the chili!

Love this chili recipe…healthy & delicious ??

Love this . Our favorite chili recipe. The grandkids love this and they are very picky eaters.

This has become our fave chilli recipe! Was so happy to find red lentils at the supermarket today so I could make it. Thanks for another amazing recipe :)

We made this for the first time tonight. It was a hit for all of us. You don’t miss the meat at all. I added a little oregano and decreased the chili powder to 2 tbsp for the kids’ palate. We’ll definitely be making it again.

Loved this recipe – had to make some modifications due to ingredients I had available. I used pickled jalapeños, red onion and chipotle spice mix (instead of cumin) and dried Chili flakes! Came out delicious and made a nice big batch so I’ve frozen a few portions. Really easy to make too!!

Had this over a dozen times but we add mushrooms and instead of black beans usually some cannellani bean. Honestly we’ve had this since becoming vegan and a big staple meal in our house

Amazing recipe! Thank you so much for sharing. I had to substitute Beyond Beef for red lentils(I pre-cooked the beef, skipped the 15 minute lentil cooking time and added it with the beans) and it still came out great. Thanks again!

This is a huge hit with my husband! I’m vegan, and it can be hard to alter recipes for him because he’s such a picky eater, but I’ve made this probably a dozen times at this point and it’s always a favorite we go back to. I usually go heavy on the spices, so I’ll use overflowing measurements. It’s filling, so flavorful, and lasts the two of us a few days for leftovers. Definitely worth making!

This is a great recipe. Very filling, which is good considering it’s hit and miss on what you’ll be able to get in the shops right now. which is why I ended up subbing a lot. I had butter beans, red onion, sweetcorn, a few peas and stirred in rice at the end. It still tastes good even though it’s no Mexican flavour exactly. Especially since I omitted the chilli entirely as that opens up all the tearducts in my face. Still thanks a lot for the recipe. I’m glad to have two future meals sitting in the freezer.