This Vegan Lentil Chili has brown and red lentils, roasted red peppers, and olives and this flavorful meatless chili is also gluten-free. And even if you’re not vegan or vegetarian, you’ll love this lentil chili recipe!

Pin the Vegan Lentil Chili to try it later!

This Vegan Lentil Chili is is loaded with interesting and healthy plant-based ingredients that give it a wonderful combination of flavors. And this vegan chili recipe is so flavorful that I think it’s a perfect meatless dinner, even for people who aren’t vegans or even vegetarians.

I couldn’t resist adding red lentils along with the regular brown lentils this recipe started out with. I also added roasted red peppers and sliced olives for a little more flavor, and used canned vegetable broth as the base of the chili.

This was delicious as-is, but if you like tart flavors I think a generous squeeze of lime juice would add a pop or flavor to the Vegan Lentil Chili. And I’m guessing everyone who’s a fan of lentils will enjoy this tasty lentil chili recipe!

What ingredients do you need?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

What are lentils?

Lentils are the dried seeds of the lentil plant, and they’re legumes which are never eaten fresh but always dried right after ripening. There are many different kinds and colors of lentils, but the brown lentils and red lentils used in this recipe are the two I use most often.

Is the Vegan Lentil Chili low in carbs?

Lentils do have some carbs but they also have fiber, so this vegan chili with two types of lentils has about 16 net carbs per serving with 6 grams of protein.

Why do I use brown and red lentils for Vegan Lentil Chili?

You can definitely make this with all brown lentils if that’s have you have, but I love the additions of red lentils to this lentil chili recipe. Red lentils add a nice color to any recipe you use them in. They also cook more quickly than brown, green, or black lentils, so the red lentils will dissolve into the chili to thicken it.

Want more tasty recipes for chili?

Check out Healthy Chili Recipes Your Family Will Love! for more delicious chili recipes.

How to Make Vegan Lentil Chili:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Heat the oil and then cook the onions until they’re starting to brown. Add garlic and cook about one minute more.
2. Then add the chile powder, ground cumin, dried oregano, and ground chipotle powder (or cayenne) and cook about 90 seconds more.
3. You can use all regular brown-green lentils like you normally find in the grocery store, but if you have red lentils, they will dissolve a little faster and thicken the chili, and the red ones add a nice sweetness.
4. When the spices are fragrant, add the brown lentils, red lentils, vegetable broth, water, and tomato sauce and start to simmer.
5. When red lentils are mostly dissolved and brown ones are nicely tender, add the sliced green onion, sliced olives, and diced roasted red bell pepper and simmer about 15-20 minutes more.
6. Serve the Vegan Lentil Chili hot, with a squeeze of lime juice if desired.

More Vegan Recipes with Lentils

Weekend Food Prep:

This vegan lentil chile recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep where you’ll find ideas to prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Vegan Lentil Chili would be too high in carbs for strict low-carb diet plans, but lentils have fiber so this recipe has only 16 net carbs per serving. Dried beans and lentils are approved for all phases of the original South Beach Diet, but they’re limited to 1/3 to 1/2 cup serving for Phase One. In a recipe like this Lentil Chili where there are lots of other healthy ingredients besides the lentils, you could have a larger serving.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Soups and Stews to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This Vegan Lentil Chili recipe was first posted in 2012. It was last updated with more information in 2025.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Source link

Queso Chicken Chili! Creamy, spicy, and so easy. Made with roasted corn, jalapeño, and creamy Pepper Jack cheese. Super easy dinner!

Howdy hey!

We are in the midst of Deep Winter and I have a load of Queso Crockpot Chicken Chili with Roasted Corn and Jalapeño leftovers waiting for me in the fridge, brought to me by a weekend of relaxing. I think we’ve already talked about the beauty of a good Instant Pot or slow cooker meal in that it pretty much cooks itself, but in case it hasn’t been said enough: my ultimate favorite thing in life is when relaxing = flavorful, delicious, comforting, filling, warm dinner.

This soup is lots of things:

• creamy
• spicy
• full of veggies
• full of protein
• very filling
• queso-y cheesy
• only slightly trashy thanks to a little knob of cream cheese
• better as leftovers
• perfect for chip dippin’.

Some Tips For Making This Chili Awesome

• Skillet-roast the corn. With the jalapeño.
• Skillet-roast the peppers, too.
• If you don’t want to stand at a skillet – I GET IT! The whole point of this is easy-button cooking. In that case, roast the corn and peppers! Instructions for both are below, in the recipe. (The reason we aren’t adding them to the crockpot or Instant Pot is because they just kinda disappear. We want the good flavor and the non-disappearing.)
• The flavor just develops into something amazing the longer you let it hang out together in the crockpot or Instant Pot. What I’m saying is the leftovers will be amazing.
• Add or subtract whatever you want here. Like many-a-good crockpot or Instant Pot recipes, this is one where you can kind of do whatever you want. I mean, if you want it in there, just… throw it in there. You can follow the recipe and/or you can blaze your own trail.
• BLUE CORN TORTILLA CHIPS.

I love you, Mexican food. Or Tex-Mexican. Or Tex-Mex appliance cooking.

Only 27 days until spring. WE GOT THIS.

Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?

Click here to see the step-by-step web story instructions for this recipe!

Print

Description

Queso Chicken Chili! Creamy, spicy, and so easy. Made with roasted corn, jalapeño, and creamy Pepper Jack cheese. Super easy dinner!

---

---

1. Place the chicken breasts, 1 1/2 cups salsa, water, cumin, chili powder and salt in the bowl of a slow cooker or Instant Pot. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours, or low for 6-7 hours (or in the Instant Pot for 20 minutes on high pressure). 

2. Preheat oven to 450. Pat the peppers and corn dry with a paper towel. Place on a baking sheet with a little bit of oil. Roast for 10-15 minutes, until browned and… well, roasty-looking.

3. When the chicken is done, shred the meat directly in the pot using two forks. Add the roasted peppers, roasted corn and jalapeño, black beans, remaining salsa, and cream cheese to the crockpot. Stir and replace cover, allowing the cream cheese to melt. Adjust the consistency of the soup by adding another 1/2 cup of water if needed. Let the soup simmer for another 15-30 minutes until everything is smooth and melted. Just before serving, stir in the Pepper Jack cheese.

4. Spoon chicken chili into a bowl, top with avocado, scoop everything up with tortilla chips. REPEAT!

Notes

If you’d rather cook your peppers and corn over a skillet: Place the bell peppers in a large nonstick skillet over high heat without oil. Cook for 4-5 minutes WITHOUT stirring. This creates the browned, roasted look out on the outside of the peppers. Stir once and repeat until the peppers are nice and browned. Set aside. Repeat this process with the corn and jalapeño together.

• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 8 hours
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Instant Pot
• Cuisine: Tex Mex

Keywords: chicken chili, queso chicken chili, instant pot chicken chili, crockpot chicken chili

Other Yummy Chili Goodness

---

One More Thing!

This recipe is part of our flavor-packed jalapeño recipes page. Check it out!

Source link

I Honestly Wake Up In The Morning Thinking About These Chicken Bowls.

Yep, still here, still talking about that air fryer chicken but this time it’s in bowl form and there’s a new sauce in town.

Tonight we had these chicken bowls for dinner, and Bjork smothered his still-warm, juicy, golden chicken strips with that spicy tangy Calabrian chile sauce and declared it the best chicken he’s ever had. And as soon as I open my eyes in the morning, one of my first waking thoughts is: “YES I get to eat that bowl again for lunch today.”

This bowl is like a little symphony – the crunch of the tomato cucumber salad, the thin slips of bitey red onion, the golden crisped air fryer chicken cut into tender little strips, a big pile of perfectly chewy Banza, and a heavy pour of tangy Calabrian chile sauce on top. I am drooling.

If you need to scale it back and make it easier with fewer elements, just go for the chicken with the sauce and the salad. Or the chicken with the sauce and the Banza.

Or, really, just the chicken with the sauce. That Calabrian chile sauce is at the heart of it all.

January is long, but this bowl, for me, has been one of those super happy meals where I’m excited to eat it AND I feel good about the actual nutrition in it. Like, one of those meals that I look forward to and it becomes the highlight of my day. Belly full, tastebuds so exceptionally happy. Hope you like it!

Source link

This Chili Garlic Shrimp recipe is a savory delight! It takes four simple ingredients and 10 minutes to make, and packs some serious flavor. Serve as an appetizer or turn it into a full meal, and watch it disappear.

When you need a quick but super tasty meal, look no further than this easy Chili Garlic Shrimp. It takes so little effort and time, but it’s an absolute flavor explosion. And it’s one of my all-time favorite low carb-high protein recipes.

I have been making this recipe for decades, and I love pairing it with other easy recipes like keto coleslaw or Keto Sesame Noodles. I finally decided I needed to share it here, so that you too can enjoy the mouthwatering flavors.

Shrimp is a fabulous keto ingredient to have on hand and I almost always have some in my freezer. It’s a wonderful source of protein, and it pairs delightfully with a wide variety of flavors. It can be light and fresh, like Shrimp and Cucumber Salad. Or it can used in hearty comfort food like Keto Shrimp Chowder.

But Chili Garlic Shrimp is perhaps my favorite way to serve it. It’s quick, easy, and always delicious.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• Bold flavor: The combination of chili garlic sauce and cumin is astonishingly good!
• Ridiculously easy: You simply toss the shrimp with the seasonings and sauté for less than 5 minutes.
• Surprisingly light: Shrimp has very little in the way of fat, so it can serve as a lighter meal when you need one. I love using this shrimp over a fresh green salad.
• Low carb: Each serving has less than 1 gram of carbs. So you can pair it with your favorite low carb sides for a keto-approved meal.
• High protein: With over 30 grams per serving, this is a great way to max out your protein goals.
• Serving options: These tasty shrimp can be served as an appetizer, with a nice dipping sauce, or as part of a main meal.

Ingredient Notes

• Shrimp: I recommend using large peeled shrimp. It doesn’t matter whether the tail is on or off, it cooks the same way.
• Chili Garlic Sauce: This is not the same as chili crunch or sweet chili sauce, as both of those have sugar. It is a concentrated paste from Huy Fong (the makers of Sriracha) that has no added sugar. A little goes a long way, trust me!
• Cumin: I have been making this shrimp recipe for so long, I don’t even remember when I started adding cumin. But it’s a fabulous combo!
• Olive oil: Extra virgin olive oil is the best choice for cooking the shrimp, but you can also use avocado oil.

How to Make Chili Garlic Shrimp

1. Add the seasonings: In a large bowl, toss the shrimp with the chili garlic sauce and cumin until well coated.
2. Heat the oil: Get the pan nice and hot before adding the shrimp.
3. Cook the shrimp: Spread them out in a single layer in the hot pan and allow to cook for 2 minutes, then flip them over and cook another minute or two.
4. Serve: Sprinkle with a little chopped cilantro or parsley. Serve as an appetizer or main dish.

Tips for Success

Patting the shrimp dry prior to cooking helps them crisp up and brown better. Add moisture can make them rubbery. If using frozen shrimp, let them thaw completely in a sieve over the sink, then pat dry.

Chili garlic sauce can be quite spicy so start with 1 teaspoon the first time you try this, unless you know you like it. You can always add more spice, but you can’t take it away once the shrimp are cooked.

Get that pan and oil nice and hot before adding the shrimp. You want to sear them quickly to lock in the moisture. And be sure to use a large enough pan to hold all the shrimp in one layer, so each one is against the hot pan.

More Shrimp Recipes To Love

Chili Garlic Shrimp

Servings: 4 servings

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 10 minutes mins

This Chili Garlic Shrimp recipe is a savory delight! It takes four simple ingredients and 10 minutes to make, and packs some serious flavor. Serve as an appetizer or turn it into a full meal, and watch it disappear.

• 1 1/3 lb (604.79 g) large shrimp, tails on or off
• 1 to 2 tsp chili garlic sauce
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

• Pat the shrimp dry with a kitchen rag or paper towels.

• In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp with the chili garlic sauce and the cumin. Mix well to coat.

• In a large skillet over medium high heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the shrimp and spread out into a single layer. Cook 2 minutes.

• Using tongs, flip each shrimp over and cook the other side, 1 to 2 minutes more. The shrimp will become bright pink when cooked through.

• Remove immediately and sprinkle with salt and chopped parsley or cilantro.

Storage Information: Store the shrimp in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat gently in the microwave or eat cold (great over salad!). 

Serving: 0.25of recipe | Calories: 193kcal | Carbohydrates: 0.9g | Protein: 30.7g | Fat: 7.3g | Saturated Fat: 1.1g | Fiber: 0.2g

Nutritional Disclaimer

Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.

Free Bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!

Sign up for your favorite recipes delivered straight to your inbox plus get our FREE bonus: Secrets to Keto Baking!

Source link