This Veggie Loaded Chilirecipe is packed full with healthy vegetables and fiber-rich beans – it’s great for any occasion from game day to a family dinner. It’s a diabetic-friendly recipe too.
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When we were first married, David was totally against having chili for dinner because he had it so much as a kid. I didn’t have it often as a child, so I welcomed the idea of chili for dinner, and I especially loved how inexpensive it was to make.
Over the years, David slowly started to accept the idea of chili as a meal. It mostly came about in 2009 or so when we started changing the way we ate. We wanted to eat healthy meals that didn’t always include a chicken breast, and making chili was a perfect fit.
The Veggie Chili recipe I am sharing with you today is very similar to the chili we’ve been throwing together for years, with one big (and delicious) difference: it’s loaded in vegetables. I never considered adding this many vegetables to our chili, but now that I’ve made this Veggie Chili, I’m not sure I could ever go back.
This recipe comes from the American Diabetes Association cookbook called Healthy Calendar Diabetic Cooking by Lara Rondinelli-Hamilton, RD, LDN, CDE, and Chef Jennifer Bucko Lamplough. It contains a full year of menus and easy recipes. As I mentioned two weeks ago, I never would have considered using a diabetic cookbook for my own healthy eating. I would have just assumed that they are for those with diabetes, and if you don’t have diabetes, there is no sense in cooking with such recipes, right?
I’vequickly learned that diabetic cookbooks, like Healthy Calendar, have the kind of wholesome recipes that we need. The Healthy Calendar Diabetic Cooking cookbook includes hundreds of recipes too — all of them laid out according to month, which also includes weekly menus and shopping lists. As someone who loves timesavers and things perfectly organized, I am a huge fan of all of this.
Now, as I mentioned this chili is packed full of veggies. When you make it, be sure to prep everything beforehand and then it’s a breeze to cook up. For the zucchini, I cut it in quarters lengthwise and then sliced to give little triangle chunks. The carrots were peeled and then sliced in my food processor (you could do it by hand). The original recipe called for green bell peppers, but we decided to go with a red bell peppers, which definitely made this a colorful chili.
While you could have this chili anytime, I think it’s particularly great for game day. So often game day food isn’t the healthiest and while I love those things as much as the next person, this recipe is something everyone can enjoy, even if they aren’t losing weight or a person with diabetes.
I served our Veggie Chili with optional toppings, such as shredded cheese, light sour cream, sliced jalapenos and hot sauce for those who wanted it spicier. Of course, adding toppings willalter the nutritional content of the recipe. You don’t have to use extra toppings — this chili is delicious without extras —but everyone in our house liked creating their own chili masterpieces.
Veggie Loaded Chili Recipe
If eating healthier is important to you too, I encourage you to check out the catalog of American Diabetes Associationcookbooks – there is lots of great titles available for every type of cooking.
Here’s the full Veggie Loaded Chili recipe – be sure to pin to Pinterest for safe keeping!
This Veggie Loaded Chilirecipe is packed full with healthy vegetables and fiber-rich beans – it’s great for any occasion from game day to a family dinner. It’s a diabetic-friendly recipe too.
Ingredients
Scale
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion (chopped)
4 carrots (sliced)
1 green bell pepper (chopped)
1 zucchini (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1, 16- ounce can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1, 16- ounce can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1, 15- ounce can tomato sauce
2, 14.5- ounce cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes in juice
Instructions
Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.
Add onion and carrots and sauté 5 minutes. Add green pepper and zucchini and sauté another 2 minutes.
Add garlic and sauté 30 seconds. Add chili powder and all remaining ingredients; bring to a boil.
Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30-35 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Notes
Calories 179 Carbohydrate 33 g Protein 9 g Fat 3 g Saturated Fat 0 g Dietary Fiber 10 g Cholesterol 0 mg Sodium 492 mg
Elevate your chili recipe by adding an extra layer of flavor. Cocoa powder, bacon, cinnamon, ground coffee and tomato paste will all add a rich sweet & salty flavors that are sure to surprise and delight.
Ideally, chili should simmer low and slow. This allows some of the liquid to evaporate and results in a thicker consistency and deeper, more complex flavor as the aromatics and spices release their superpowers.
Chili cooks low and slow, so you need enough liquid to tenderize the meat and keep everything from drying out. That liquid should also add flavor to the chili, so use chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, or beer.
Most Common Chili Spices. Cumin, Chile Powders, and Paprika are the most common spices in chili followed by garlic, onion, coriander, Mexican oregano, and bay leaves. These ingredients can be combined to create a savory and well-balanced pot of top notch comfort food.
With only about 1 tablespoon per pot added toward the end of the cooking process, the vinegar will make the flavors more vibrant without overwhelming the dish with its biting tang. Through just a splash, everything becomes a little brighter, and the chili's flavors are more balanced.
Onion, garlic, and red bell pepper – These savory veggies build delicious flavor. For an even bigger veggie punch, toss in a chopped carrot or celery rib too! Fire-roasted diced tomatoes – A chili essential! I prefer fire-roasted tomatoes to regular diced ones because they add smoky depth to the chili.
The best beans for chili are pinto, kidney, and black beans, like in this easy and tasty recipe. This 3-bean chili freezes great for meals later in the week. If you prefer thinner chili, add an extra can of tomato sauce. The green chiles are not hot and add a wonderful flavor, so don't be afraid to use them.
Cornmeal does an excellent job of absorbing extra liquids so adding a tablespoon of it to the chili will thicken the final dish. Mix 2 parts of cold water and 1 part of cornmeal, make it a slurry, and add this to the pot. Allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes after you add the slurry.
Tomato paste. This is probably the easiest and maybe most common addition to add thickness to a chili recipe. Tomato paste is super thick and not only adds texture but adds a richer and deeper flavor to chili.
Mmm! Now for the piece de resistance: 1-2 heaping Tablespoons brown sugar. The chili tastes completely different without the brown sugar so if you like a subtle sweetness in your chili then you've just got to go for it! Trust me, it will not make your chili taste like candy.
Beans and non-vegetable fillers such as rice and pasta are not allowed." If that sounds a bit uptight, the ICS's Homestyle Chili competition defines chili as: "any kind of meat, or combination of meats, and/or vegetables cooked with beans, chili peppers, various spices, and other ingredients.
A cup of strong, brewed coffee will work wonders for your pot of chili, imparting a deep, roasted flavor that will make the chili taste like it simmered away all day long. For maximum flavor, reduce the coffee along with a blend of tomato paste, aromatic veggies and spices like we do in our Spicy Vegetarian Chili.
Tomato paste is a great way to add bonus tomato flavor, and thickness, to a chili recipe. To get the best flavor it needs to be browned. Add a couple tablespoons (or a whole can if you want a thicker soup base) directly to the pan after cooking the meat and onions.
With only about 1 tablespoon per pot added toward the end of the cooking process, the vinegar will make the flavors more vibrant without overwhelming the dish with its biting tang. Through just a splash, everything becomes a little brighter, and the chili's flavors are more balanced.
The brown sugar gave it a sweet/tangy flavor that reminded me of BBQ-sauce! Th chili was so good - it was hard to stop eating it! I did had some extra veggies (1 cl. garlic, 1 celery stalk, 1 carrot, 1 bell pepper, 1 hot pepper) and used a can of diced tomatoes rather than tomato juice.
In this chili recipe, baking soda (that same thing the fluffs up cakes and cookies) tenderizes the ground beef while making it brown better. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is alkaline.
Introduction: My name is Neely Ledner, I am a bright, determined, beautiful, adventurous, adventurous, spotless, calm person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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