Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili

An easy vegetarian bean, quinoa, and sweet potato chili made in the Instant Pot pressure cooker or slow cooker. 

We’ve had a few days of cold weather lately and that always leaves me wanting something really warm for dinner. Vegan Chili has long been my go-to cold weather dinner. I make it on the stove, in the slow cooker, and now in my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker too. My Instant Pot Lentil Soup was such a big hit (thanks, guys!) that I wanted to share another hearty Instant Pot recipe with you. Next, be sure to try my Instant Pot Minestrone Soup! Actually, you can see all my favorite Vegan Instant Pot Recipes HERE! 

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, don’t worry, I’ll leave slow cooker instructions too. If it seems like I’m posting a lot of Instant Pot recipes lately, there are two reasons for that. First, I’m really enjoying using it. I love that I can toss everything in and forget about it while I go about tending to other things. Second, I know many of my blog visitors are looking for Instant Pot recipes, so I’d like to have a nice batch of recipes living here.

This Instant Pot vegetarian chili is bulked up with two types of beans, quinoa, and sweet potato. It’s mildly spiced, so it’s not too spicy for kids. You can add more chili powder if you like more spice, or a dash of hot sauce on top. I love the contrast of the sweet potato and the other savory ingredients.  This is another one of those recipes you might already have most of the ingredients for. Those are the best kind!

I often make this chili in the Instant Pot or slow cooker right when we get home from school and leave it on the “keep warm” setting until we are ready to eat. It’s so nice to have dinner ready at a moment’s notice when you have a family where one person doesn’t get home from work at a regular time each night and the kids are suddenly “so hungry.”

I usually serve this easy vegetarian chili with corn bread for a hearty stick-to-your-ribs meal. Bean and veggie chili is cheap, easy, and nourishing. I love to stir a handful of nutritional yeast into the pot for a mild cheesy flavor and added vitamins and minerals. My favorite nutritional yeast is from Bragg’s or Trader Joe’s. The kids hate it, but have never noticed it in soups and chilis. It cracks me up when they see me sprinkling the “nooch” and say, “Get your YEAST away!” The only thing I was missing with this dinner was some greens. I think next time I would slice some kale and wilt it in at the end. What do you think?

Continue to Content

Yield: Serves 6

Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

An easy vegetarian bean, quinoa, and sweet potato chili made in the Instant Pot pressure cooker.

Print

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
• 1 large onion, diced (yellow or red)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 cup diced peeled sweet potato
• 1.5 cups cooked/canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1.5 cups cooked/canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies
• 1.5 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 (26 oz.) box chopped or diced tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• fresh cilantro, for garnish
• 1 avocado, peeled and diced, for garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the electric pressure cooker on saute mode. Add the onion and saute 1 minute. Add the garlic, bell pepper, and sweet potato and saute another minute. Add the beans, chilies, spices, salt, tomatoes, quinoa, and broth. Stir and turn the pressure cooker to manual mode. Set for 5 minutes with the valve set to sealing. Carefully, with hand covered, quick release the valve. Carefully remove the lid facing away from you.
2. Taste and add more salt or chili powder if desired. Serve warm with cilantro and avocado.

Notes

*I do my best to calculate approximate nutrition information for my readers who like it. However, I can't guarantee accuracy as I'm not a nutritionist and I use a third party site. If your health depends on nutrition information, please use your favorite calculator to re-calculate. Information is based on 1/6 of this recipe without garnishes.
*Slow cooker option: Follow the same recipe, but set the slow cooker on low for 6 hours.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1/6 recipe
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 256Saturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 0mgCarbohydrates: 43gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 12g