Just wanted to let you know that this chunky and delicious Instant Pot Meatless Easy Vegan Chili Recipe is sponsored by my plant-protein loving friends over at Gardein!
This Vegan Chili Recipe is a quick, delicious weeknight dinner that’s packed with plant-based protein! Even meat-eaters will love it!
PIN Instant Pot Meatless Easy Vegan Chili Recipe
Oh hi, it’s me again. Your new best food friend instant pot chili.
I just figured that you were a very important person who lives a VRY VRY busy-important-person kinda life, so you just might need another stupid-easy dinner recipe to whip out of your back pocket.
I also thought that since the temperature has (finally!) cooled down, you might be VERY into face-planting into yet another bowl of cozy, slurpy and THICK chili, swirling with spicy cumin, tender tomatoes and chewy beans. Wiiiiith a few other secret ingredients <–SUSPENSE.
Okay, this is the real Taylor talking again. Not “Taylor-who-is-akwardly-trying-to-make-you-think-your-soon-to-be-dinner-is-talking-to-you Taylor.” Hi!
Like awkward-chili-me just said, I know it’s only been a hot minute since we had keto chili but, YOU GUYS, this one has a TWIST. A SURPRISE.
We’re giving one of my current favorite “go to” dinner recipes (because, HELLO, it’s so easy!) a little MEATLESS upgrade! This is a VEGETARIAN chili recipe. And, not to toot my own horn or anything, it’s the best vegan chili that you’re ever gonna taste, for REAL.
Current life happenings are looking something like me going meat-free a lot more than usual. <– Nope, not just on Monday’s. Doin’ the meatless mambo a FEW times a week over here.
Don’t get me wrong, I still have a carnivorous inner-soul, B-U-T I’ve been trying to balance it out with eating more vegetable friends.
And, CONFESSION, I can tell a difference in how I feel. My tummy is happy, less bloat-y and it just FEELS good.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Update your chili with this meatless, #vegan chili recipe made in the #InstantPot! @Gardein” quote=”Update your chili with this meatless, #vegan chili recipe made in the #InstantPot! @Gardein” theme=”style2″]Kinda like how a bowl of this plant-protein PACKED (HI MUSCLES) bowl of homemade vegetarian chili is going to make yours feel to. LOVE <3
I used Gardein (garden+protein=Gardein!) Beefless Ground as a super-sneaky ground beef switch and, you guys, it’s just so awesome. It’s perfectly crumbly and a little bit chunky, and has this texture that will make you flip your lid when you realize that – PSYCH – you are actually not eating the most meat-y, carnivore-y chili recipe.
The fun part about Mr.FFF not being home during the week is that he isn’t around to see what I put into my recipes. I didn’t tell him about the vegetarian situation at hand and you know what? HE ATE 3 BOWLS of this Instant Pot meatless easy vegan chili recipe without even batting one of his (annoyingly long and perfect) eyelashes.
If I had a dancing GIF, I would insert here right here. RIGHT NOW.
Gardein has 30 delicious, vegan friendly and non-GMO products that are all made from wholesome soy, wheat and pea proteins, along with real-food veggies and ancient grains! <– The beefless ground packs 18g of plant protein per serving! Also, check out that FIBER.
Pump, pump, pump, PUMP IT UP.
Plant style, of course.
How to make vegan chili
Making a vegan chili is almost exactly like making a “normal” chili in the sense that you follow all the same steps:
- Slice your veggies and sauté them until they soften.
- Add in your spices and cook until nice and fragrant – your nose will KNOW when the time is right!
- Add in all your “liquid” ingredients like diced tomatoes (the fire roasted kind adds an ADDICTING smoky PUNCH) tomato sauce and tomato paste.
- Simmer it all together until it’s thick, bubbly and downright MAGIC in a pot (or, in our case, the Instant Pot!)
- THE SWITCH: Now you stir in your beefless ground until it’s warmed and you’re ready to get your slurp on.
Serve it with a side of sweet vegan cornbread and you will 100% not be mad at all about your dinner-eating-life-decisions.
Other Recipes You Might Like:
Vegan Sloppy Joes with Cauliflower
One Pan Mexican Quinoa Casserole in the Slow Cooker
Easy Homemade Crockpot Vegetable Soup

Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- 1/2 Cup Onion, Diced
- 1 Red pepper, Diced
- 1/3 Cup Celery, thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp Garlic, minced
- 4 tsp Chile powder
- 2 tsp Smoked paprika
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
- 1/8 tsp Ground Allspice
- 1 Can Dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 Can Fire roasted diced tomatoes (14oz)
- 1 Can Crushed tomatoes (14oz)
- 2 Tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 tsp Sea salt
- Pinch of pepper
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 1 Bag Gardein Beefless Ground
- 1/4 Cup Parsley, Minced
Instructions
- Pour the oil in your Instant Pot and turn it to sauté mode. Once hot, sauté the onion, pepper, celery and garlic until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes.
- Add in the chili powder, paprika, cumin, cayenne and Allspice and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Add all the remaining ingredients, except the water, Beefless Ground, and parsley, and stir until well combined. Cover the Instant Pot (make sure it's set to sealing) and turn it to manual mode (it should immediately be set for high pressure) set it for 10 minutes. Once cooked, let it steam release naturally.
- Once the steam is released, remove the lid and turn it to sauté mode. Add in the water and Beefless Ground and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the Beefless Ground is warm.
- Stir in the parsley and DEVOUR!
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY MY FRIENDS AT GARDEIN. THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME TO CONTINUE CREATING GREAT CONTENT FOR YOU BY SUPPORTING PARTNERSHIPS WITH SUPER-FAB BRANDS THAT FOOD FAITH FITNESS LOVES TO WORK WITH! AS ALWAYS, OPINIONS REMAIN 100% MY OWN!
Keep in touch with Gardein on social media for more delicious ideas: Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/ Pinterest/ Youtube
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS PER SERVING: FREESTYLE POINTS: 9 POINTS+:7 . OLD POINTS: 6
(Per serving – based on the recipe making 4 servings)
Brenna says
This recipe was fantastic. My husband is essentially ANTI vegetarian meals and he loved this. His actual words were“wow this is good. I’d eat this again.”
Taylor Kiser says
I love when my husband says that! YAY!
Shawon Blythe says
Came across this recipe to try for meatless Mondays and I love my food to have a kick but this was too spicy for me to even enjoy and had the whole house coughing from the spices used. I’m not sure which spice it was, but if I make it again I will definitely cut back on using the full spice measurements the recipe calls for.
Taylor Kiser says
Definitely make it work for you!
Jennifer says
Don’t you need the water prior to putting it on manual pressure? If I don’t add at least 1 cup of water before pressure cooking, the instant pot turns to burn mode. You can’t even stir the ingredients or leave any remnants from the saute mode without it going to burn mode, so I’m just wondering how that doesn’t happen or if maybe we have different models?
Taylor Kiser says
Hi, Jennifer! I personally have never experienced that. There’s enough liquid from the canned diced tomatoes and the can of crushed tomatoes that you should be fine.
Jennifer Gavlin says
Thank you! I’m braaand new to vegan cooking, and after I commented this I noticed all the other recipes I saw said the same or similar things. So I’m thinking it maybe it’s just the meat that used to cause the burn error!! One more reason to get rid of it hahaha! Thanks again can’t wait to try it!
Taylor Kiser says
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy it!
Denise says
Absolutely the best vegan chili since we began our vegan journey six months ago. My husband asked me to be sure to save the recipe to use it again.
Taylor Kiser says
Thank you so much for the feedback Denise! I’m so glad to hear this!
Mj says
I just made this and my husband who will try things “ vegetarian “, but not his first choice. My gauge if he likes something? If he has seconds. He did for this! I didn’t have a can of the crushed tomatoes and the 2T of tomato paste, so I substituted a large can of tomato sauce. It worked and I added another can of the kidney beans. Our grocery store didn’t have the recommended meatless crumbs but I found what I thought was similar. To me it tasted great even with the substitutions. I will be anxious to try it again with the right ingredients and see what it is suppose to taste like. I am sure it will be even better.
On another note, I had no burn with the liquid called for in the recipe.
And I made cornbread from a Jiffy mix and use my Mini Bundt maker. I love that cute little thing! Good way to make quick desserts and other items like cornbread.
Taylor Kiser says
I am so glad to hear your substitutions worked out for you! Thanks for letting me know!
Carin says
Thank you for the recipe! I added tofu as as well. So good!!
Taylor Kiser says
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!
Marcela Firth Gouveia says
I was craving a good hearty chili for dinner but needed something vegan for my daughter. This chili was delicious! I didn’t have any celery but I did have a poblano chili so I added that instead. I also added some chipotle chili seasoning because I was short on my smoked paprika. The flavor in the end was complex and had just the right amount of kick. Definitely will become a regular go to recipe for our family. Thanks!
Taylor Kiser says
So glad everyone loved it! Thanks, Marcela!
CHARLIE says
We love this recipe! It has become a staple in our house. Depending on what is in my pantry/refrigerator I can make some adjustments and utilize what I have (like meatless patties instead of crumbles) on hand. I can easily double it and freeze half so that we have an extra batch on hand. Thank you 🙂
Foodfaithfitness says
Great!
Miranda Singer says
How many oz of kidney beans do you need?
Foodfaithfitness says
Hi Miranda, you need 12 ounces of kidney beans. Let me know how it tastes 🙂
Kim says
Hi Can you tell me if you put the beefless ground in frozen or should you cook it first? Thanks!
hausea says
Hi Kim! In this recipe, you’ll be adding the Gardein Beefless Ground after the pressure cooking process in your Instant Pot. You don’t need to cook it separately before adding it to the chili. Just follow these steps:
1. Pressure cook the chili in the Instant Pot as per the instructions.
2. Once the steam is released, remove the lid and turn the Instant Pot to sauté mode.
3. Add the water and frozen Beefless Ground to the pot.
4. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the Beefless Ground is warm.
By adding the frozen Beefless Ground at this stage, it will heat up and incorporate with the other cooked ingredients while still retaining its texture. Don’t forget to add the minced parsley at the end for some extra freshness! Enjoy your delicious chili!