• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • All Recipes
  • About
Occasionally Eggs

Occasionally Eggs

Healthy Vegetarian Recipes for Every Season

  • Cookbook
  • Contact
  • All Recipes
  • About
  • Cookbook
  • Contact
Mains

Hearty Lentil Chili

September 9, 2022 by Alexandra Daum
With meaty mushrooms, lentils, and kidney beans forming the base for this easy lentil chili, you have a delicious plant-protein packed dinner.
Jump to Recipe
Chili in a shallow bowl with avocado and pickled red onion.

With meaty mushrooms, lentils, and kidney beans forming the base for this two lentil chili, you have a delicious plant-protein packed dinner. Ready in about half an hour, it’s also a speedy weeknight option.

This is a flexible, base recipe that works just about year round. As much as I like sweet potato chili, sweet potatoes are only in season for a relatively short period, and it’s nice to have a good vegan chili recipe that doesn’t need extra vegetables.

Serve the chili with spelt naan, sweet potato flatbread (gluten-free) or zucchini cornbread as pictured to round it out and make a full meal. Top with avocado and pickled onions as pictured if you’d like.

Table of Contents hide
Why You Should Try This Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Step by Step
Recipe Notes
How to Store
Expert Tips
Hearty Lentil Chili

Why You Should Try This Recipe

This is a great basic vegetarian chili that you can change up as needed. Leave out the corn, add other vegetables like zucchini, whatever you have on hand.

  • It’s a one pot recipe: everything is cooked in the same pot, no need for extra dishes – just a cutting board and a large pot.
  • It’s protein packed: with about 19 grams of protein per serving (and 15 mg of iron) this is a stick to your ribs meal.
  • It stores well: like most chili recipes, it keeps well and tastes just as good on the second or third day after cooking.

Ingredients

Lentil chili ingredients.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

  • Mushrooms: if you hate mushrooms, they could be replaced with a store bought veg ground round. I haven’t tried this but it should be fine.
  • Spices: adapt the spices to suit your personal preference. Omit the hot pepper if needed.
  • Tomatoes: an equal amount of fresh tomatoes can be subbed for canned.
  • Water or broth: I always use broth for this recipe because it has so much going for it – there’s no need for the extra flavour boost. If you want to, though, you can use vegetable broth.
  • Lentils: brown, black, or green lentils can all be used interchangeably. If you don’t have red lentils, they can also be replaced with another lentil type, but the textural change is nice.

Step by Step

1. Cook mushrooms: cook the mushrooms over medium heat until the water has evaporated, then sauté the onions.
2. Add garlic: cook the garlic for a minute, then stir in the spices.

Lentil chili steps 1 to 4.

3. Add tomatoes: stir in the diced tomatoes, being careful of splatters.
4. Add water: and bring to a boil. Add the lentils and kidney beans.
5. Simmer: cook for about 20 minutes, or until the brown lentils are tender.
6. Add corn: stir in the corn and taste, seasoning as needed. Serve hot.

Lentil chili steps 5 and 6.

If you can’t see the video in the post, please watch it on YouTube instead.

Recipe Notes

It is key to cook the mushrooms first. The goal is to sear, rather than steam, so avoid stirring as much as possible. This results in the best flavour and texture.

You can add a little more liquid if you prefer a more soup-like chili. Any kind of broth can be used in place of water – mushroom broth will add a more intense mushroom flavour.

How to Store

Storage: leftovers can be kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to three days. The chili may thicken during this time – simply thin with a splash of water when reheating and season if needed.

Freezing: this freezes very well. Keep in airtight containers in the freezer for up to six months. Thaw in the refrigerator when needed and reheat as usual.

Expert Tips

  • No need to soak: while I would usually soak any lentils before cooking, it isn’t necessary for this recipe. If you are using soaked lentils, the water can be reduced slightly.
  • Do a fine chop: the mushrooms should form the base of the chili without it feeling like a mushroom-centric dish. Very finely chopping is key.
  • Salt as needed: a teaspoon of salt is a guideline, as I season fairly heavily. I use at least double what’s listed in the card but it should be to your taste.

More Chili and Stew Recipes

Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili
Chickpea Pumpkin Curry
Winter Vegetable Minestrone
Spicy Black Bean Soup

If you make this Lentil Chili or any other stew recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.

Yield: 4

Hearty Lentil Chili

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
5 from 3 votes

Ingredients

Metric – American
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 300 grams mushrooms very finely chopped
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt to taste
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes optional, to taste
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 400 grams canned diced tomatoes
  • 300 ml water
  • 200 grams cooked or canned kidney beans rinsed
  • 100 grams red lentils
  • 100 grams brown lentils
  • 300 grams frozen corn

Instructions

  • Heat a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, add the olive oil. Stir in the mushrooms and cook, stirring as infrequently as possible, for about 5 minutes, or until golden.
    1 tablespoon olive oil, 300 grams mushrooms
  • Add the onion and cook until transluscent, another 2-3 minutes.
    1 small onion
  • Add the garlic and cook for another minute, then stir in the cumin, salt, pepper, paprika, pepper flakes, and cinnamon.
    3 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Add the tomatoes and stir. Add the water and cover, increasing the heat to bring to a boil.
    400 grams canned diced tomatoes, 300 ml water
  • Once it's reached a rolling boil, add the beans, red lentils, and brown lentils. Cover again and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the brown lentils are tender.
    200 grams cooked or canned kidney beans, 100 grams red lentils, 100 grams brown lentils
  • Once the lentils are cooked, add the corn and turn off the heat. Taste and season if needed. Serve with avocado and pickled onions if desired.
    300 grams frozen corn

Video

* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.


Nutrition

Calories: 341kcal Carbohydrates: 60g Protein: 19g Fat: 6g Saturated Fat: 1g Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g Monounsaturated Fat: 3g Sodium: 765mg Potassium: 1308mg Fiber: 19g Sugar: 5g Vitamin A: 341IU Vitamin C: 19mg Calcium: 118mg Iron: 15mg

Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.

© Alexandra Daum
Course: Autumn, Mains, Pantry Recipes, Soups and Stews
Cuisine: American
Print

Newsletter

Sign up for weekly updates and subscriber-only recipes.

More Mains:

Pasta with mushroom sauce on two plates with drinks.Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff
Three rice-stuffed pumpkins on plates.Vegetarian Stuffed Pumpkins
Plates with pieces of puff pastry pie on them.Roasted Vegetable Pie with Puff Pastry
Bowls of pumpkin curry with naan and small pumpkins around.Chickpea Pumpkin Curry

Previous Post: « Roasted Summer Vegetable Pasta
Next Post: Homemade Peanut Butter »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Comments

  1. Amy says

    October 2, 2022 at 8:52 pm

    5 stars
    This was incredibly easy and fantastically delicious!! I will make this again and again! And it made my home smell wonderful!

    Reply
    • Alexandra Daum says

      October 3, 2022 at 8:59 am

      I’m so glad to hear it, thanks Amy!

      Reply

About Alexandra
Recipes
FAQ
Contact
Work With Me

STAY IN CONTACT
get weekly updates, exclusive recipes, and more

   

Get the cookbook

© 2023 Occasionally Eggs | Images and text may not be used without permission | Privacy Policy