I love food, it's no secret, and that includes vegan and plant-based foods. I have been trying to figure out what I wanted a hearty vegan chili to taste like for a few years. I've done various combinations of spices, plant-based protein options, and a few varieties of tomato options, but nothing felt like "the one" until now. You can even fool the meat eaters in your life with this delicious chili recipe because of the depth of flavor you get by using miso paste and the pressure cooker, leaving them thinking that a traditional chili has their taste buds dancing.
I am so excited to share this recipe with you for instant pot vegan chili, it has been several years in the making, and now it's finding its place here on my blog.
Prep is minimal, and the recipe is a quick one, so that makes this even better. Then you add the addition of cooking the chili in the Instant Pot on "Pressure Mode." Add all those things together, and you have an impossibly easy and good chili made with Impossible Meat.
If you like a lot of heat in your chili, leave the seeds and veins in your diced jalapeño chili peppers. If you prefer minimal heat, use only one jalapeño with the veins and seeds removed, or you can also substitute the jalapeño with bell peppers.
In this recipe, I use brown miso, an ingredient that cannot be omitted but can be substituted with white or red miso.
The Mexican oregano gives you a nice citrus hint, but you can use regular oregano. The cumin and chili powder will be the smoky flavor you find in Texas-style chili.
You could easily use 4 cups of fresh tomatoes, but canned is so much easier, and unless those tomatoes are perfectly ripened and picked from your backyard, the taste wouldn't be that different at the end. If you decide to go with fresh tomatoes, I suggest you add one small can of tomato sauce to the pot.
I use Impossible for my vegan ground meat, but any vegan crumble will work.
Feel free to use different kinds of cans of beans, as there are so many types of beans that can make a meatless chili. I prefer the chili beans since they already have a good variety of beans in the can, typically a mixture of kidney beans, black beans, and pinto beans.
Because you are using pressure to cook this meal, you need a minimal amount of liquid, so it is not necessary to add any water or vegetable broth for this easy vegan chili recipe or top it with some dairy for the perfect vegetarian chili recipe. A few fresh, simple ingredients make this the perfect cozy meal for fall dinners and meal prep.
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Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Onion, finely diced
- Jalapeños, seeds and vein removed
- Cloves of garlic, finely minced
- Salt
- Cumin
- Mexican oregano (sub oregano)
- Chili powder
- Tomato paste
- Brown miso (sub white miso)
- Chopped or diced tomatoes
- Impossible Meat, frozen
- Chili beans, rinsed and drained
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
- Set up the Instant Pot. Place on saute (high)
- Add the onions and jalapeños.
- Add the garlic and spices.
- Add the miso and tomato paste, and mix into onions.
- Add the diced tomatoes and mix together.
- Cancel sauté mode
- Nestle the frozen block of Impossible Meat into the tomatoes and top with chili beans.
- Seal Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Place Instant Pot on Pressure High for 10 minutes.
- Allow the Instant Pot to naturally release for 10 minutes once the pressure mode has ended.
Serve with a variety of toppings.
Substitutions
- Mexican oregano - this is one herb that doesn't really have substitute that brings the same level of flavor and scent. Yes, you can use regular oregano, but the flavor won't be exactly the same. I highly suggest grabbing some Mexican Oregano to add to your pantry. Nothing can meet the lemony taste this herb offers.
- Impossible Meat - to keep it vegan, you can omit the Impossible and just add another can of beans. Or any type of frozen "meat" crumble.
- Brown Miso - the miso offers the umami flavor that we need in dishes like this chili. You can sub any kind of miso, but if you don't have miso you can also substitute with a "beef" bouillon.
Variations
- Spicy - keep the seeds and veins in your jalapeños if you want to make this spicy. Or add crushed red pepper flakes on top.
- Deluxe - serve with a variety of toppings or serve on top of corn chips.
- Kid friendly - make sure jalapeños are clean and all seeds and veins have been removed. Or skip the jalapeños and add 1 teaspoon black pepper.
See this spicy version of this recipe on my website! (placeholder for in-content link)
Equipment
Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker
Storage
Enjoy the chili the next day; be sure to place it in an airtight container, and you can continue to enjoy it for up to four days in the refrigerator or three months in the freezer. You can enjoy the best vegan chili recipe anytime you crave it because leftover chili is so good on those chilly days, which we know are right around the corner.
Top tip
Miso paste is a great way to add umami to your dishes while keeping it natural. Miso is made from fermented soy beans and is my preferred flavor method over salt, bouillon, and especially Knorr bouillon, which is full of artificial ingredients and we try to keep it real here at The Whole Revolution.
FAQ
No. This is used for dried beans. Use high pressure mode for this recipe.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with [this recipe]:
The Best Instant Pot Vegan Chili
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion finely diced
- 2 large jalapenos seeds and vein removed
- 2 large cloves of garlic finely minced
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano sub oregano
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons brown miso sub white miso
- 26 oz chopped or diced tomatoes
- 1 package Impossible Meat frozen
- 2 cans chili beans rinsed and drained
Instructions
- Set up the Instant Pot, press the sauté button, and place it on "sauté mode high ". Add the olive oil and let heat for two minutes. Add the onions and jalapeños. Sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the cumin, oregano, and chili powder, and toast the spices cooking for 2 minutes. Add the miso and tomato paste, and mix into onions. Add the diced tomatoes and mix.
- Cancel sauté mode and put lid on the Instant Pot, place on "Pressure High" for 10 minutes.
- Nestle the frozen block of Impossible Meat into the tomatoes and top with chili beans.
- Allow the Instant Pot to naturally release for 10 minutes once the pressure mode has ended. Carefully release any remaining pressure manually. Open Instant Pot and break apart the Impossible Meat block, do this with a wooden spoon or, my personal favorite, a potato masher. Mix the now crumbles into the chili. Enjoy!
- Serve with a variety of toppings. See notes
Video
Notes
Food safety
Do not substitute with a frozen block of raw meat.
Marisa Keith
do you know if this version is lower in calories/fat than if you used beef?
Karolina Longoria
Hi Marisa,
Thank you for your comment. No, Impossible meat is not lower in calorie or fat compared to lean ground meat. In our house we use Impossible as a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to beef. You can however use beef in this recipe, just replace the Impossible meat, with cooked ground beef and you will be good to go. Please drop any additional questions you may have. Happy cooking!! 🩷 Karolina