March still means winter vegetables in my part of the world. Over-wintered kale and root vegetables, purple sprouting broccoli, and, if you’re lucky, some hardier herbs like parsley.
Even though we’re seeing hints of spring in the crocuses and first shoots of wild garlic, it’ll be a little while longer before true spring produce starts to arrive. This sweet potato chili is flexible depending on what you have as well as being an excellent hungry gap meal.
I did manage to make a batch of spelt biscuits in my toaster oven to have as a side here, which was nice! There’s no real temperature control so proper recipe development can’t be done with it, but it is nice to have something (anything) that’s been baked.
Scroll to the bottom of the post or click “skip to recipe” above to see the recipe card with full ingredient measurements and instructions.
Ingredients
- Mushrooms: plain button. Always sear the mushrooms first to get the best meaty texture and avoid chewiness.
- Onion and Garlic: red or white onion, it doesn’t matter.
- Sweet Potato: a little more or less will be fine here – about one medium sweet potato will work.
- Spices: cumin, (smoked) paprika, hot pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and salt.
- Tomatoes: canned diced tomatoes are best. Fresh work in summer, too, in an equal amount.
- Black Beans: rinsed very well, especially if canned.
- Corn: I always go for frozen corn rather than canned, it’s usually much sweeter and keeps a better texture.
- Kale: lacinato kale for the chili pictured, but it doesn’t really matter.
- Top with pickled onions, avocado, lime, and herbs.
Tips and Notes
Top with anything you like. I love the acidity of pickled onions with a bit of freshness from chives and avocado, but you could also add cheese (vegan or not), sour cream, or yogurt. A dollop of avocado aioli would be great.
Make sure to adjust the level of spice based on your personal preference. I don’t consider black pepper to be spicy and like quite a bit of heat, but sometimes readers find a half teaspoon of black pepper to be overwhelmingly hot. If different people in your household need different levels here, leave it out and top your dish with hot pepper flakes.
The chili keeps well for a couple of days without the toppings and reheats well. It’s pretty good from frozen, though the sweet potato in particular will soften slightly after being in the freezer.
If you have a half-drunk bottle of red wine sitting around, switch out half the water or vegetable broth for wine. Add it before the tomatoes go in, and simmer for a couple of minutes. Wine adds a bit of extra richness which, while not really necessary, is very nice.
Substitutions
Use pumpkin or carrots as an easy sub for the sweet potato. Pumpkin is great but we have usually run out by this time of year.
Switch out the kale for chard, spinach, rucola, or other greens, depending on what you have on hand. Kidney beans are a good substitution for black beans.
A chili spice blend can be used in place of the spices listed if you’d rather. Smoked paprika adds a delicious smokey note, but sweet paprika can be used instead.
If you’re making this in summer or early autumn, try adding some red pepper, zucchini, or eggplant. As long as you keep the base ingredients (spices, mushrooms, tomatoes) the same, there is a lot of room for flexibility.
More Warming Stews and Curries
Cauliflower, Sweet Potato, and Chickpea Curry
Winter Vegetable Minestrone
Moroccan Spiced Carrot Chickpea Stew
Chickpea Pumpkin Curry
Vegan Aloo Gobi
Newsletter
Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 250 grams mushrooms diced
- 1 small onion diced
- 300 grams sweet potato or 1 medium sweet potato, cut into roughly 3 cm (1 inch) pieces
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes to taste
- 400 grams canned diced tomatoes
- 300 grams black beans cooked or canned, drained and rinsed
- 300 grams frozen corn
- 125 ml water or vegetable broth
- 50 grams kale de-stemmed and roughly chopped
Toppings
- 1 Avocado
- Pickled onions
- Chives
Instructions
- Heat a large pot over medium heat.
- Once the pan is hot, add the olive oil and the mushrooms. Sauté for five minutes, avoiding stirring, to sear the mushrooms* and reduce the water content.1 tablespoon olive oil, 250 grams mushrooms
- Add the onion and cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until softened and fragrant.1 small onion
- Add the sweet potato and cook for 3-4 minutes.300 grams sweet potato
- Stir in the garlic, followed by the salt, cumin, black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, and pepper flakes. Cook another 30 seconds, until fragrant.2 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
- Pour the tomatoes into the pot and stir to combine. This will lift any spices that may be sticking to the base.400 grams canned diced tomatoes
- Add the black beans, corn, and water or broth. Increase the heat to bring the chili to a low bowl, then reduce and simmer, covered, for 25-30 minutes.300 grams black beans, 300 grams frozen corn, 125 ml water
- After simmering, the sweet potato should be fork-tender. Remove the chili from the heat and stir in the kale.50 grams kale
- Serve hot, topped with avocado, pickled onions, and herbs, or other toppings as you like.1 Avocado, Pickled onions, Chives
- Leftovers will keep for 2-3 days, refrigerated in a sealed container, and can be frozen for up to a month.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was first published in December 2017. It has been updated most recently as of March 2021.
Allison says
Hi! Do you have recommendations on cook times for using an instant pot? I was going to saute everything in the pot on sautee setting and then pressure cook for step 7 following sweet potato times (2-3 minutes), since the beans will be canned/cooked already.
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Allison, I’m really sorry I can’t be of help for this, but I really have no idea what any of that means! I’ve never used an instant pot, but I think about 3 minutes in a pressure cooker would be enough to cook all of the vegetables. I think you won’t get as good of a flavour from the shorter cooking time (because of the tomatoes, mostly) but don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Ella says
Hi Alexandra! Thank you so much for the recipe, they are always delicious. One question, I want to print some recipes (because I love them 😂) but in the option of print doesn’t include a picture 🙁 and I want to print them with the picture because they are beautiful, there is a way to update this it would be amazing ❤️
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Ella, I had the pictures turned off because I was worried people would be upset about them using too much ink, but they’re turned on now!
Ella says
Thank you so so much just ordered your book 😊 love your recipes!
Alexandra Daum says
Thank you so much, Ella!