Quinoa Chili
This vegetarian, protein-packed chili is the perfect bowl of comfort food that you can eat guilt-free!
It’s been a bit warm here in San Francisco but I’ve been wanting to make chili for weeks now. Chili gives me the perfect excuse to have oh-so-crumbly cornbread on the side, except I overdo it and make it a main course. Either way, I still wanted a piping hot bowl of chili. Desperately. But this time, I tried something very different with my batch of chili – I added quinoa, and lots of it!
The quinoa added such a fun texture, soaking up all the flavors and goodness of this chili. It’s also loaded with kidney beans, black beans, tons of veggies and just enough lime juice to give you a subtle kick in the pants. Plus, this batch will make enough to feed an army so it’ll keep you and your family well fed for days!
Quinoa Chili
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes
- 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 4.5-ounce can diced green chiles
- 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder, or more, to taste
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 ½ teaspoons paprika
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cups corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- Juice of 1 lime, optional
- 1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and diced
Instructions
- In a large saucepan of 2 cups water, cook quinoa according to package instructions; set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in quinoa, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chiles, chili powder, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper and 1-2 cups water, making sure to cover most of the ingredients; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, until thickened, about 30 minutes. Stir in beans, corn, cilantro and lime juice, if using, until heated through, about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately with avocado, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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This has got to be the prettiest bowl of chili I’ve ever seen! And healthy too?! Double bonus!
Perfect fall meal!
This looks great – I like using similar flavours in my vegetarian chili. I’m definitely going to try adding quinoa 🙂 Pinned!
so hearty and perfect for fall weather. my husband would actually loove this.
Great! I ‘m glad to have found a recipe with quinoa that changes from my usual recipes.. I had lost inspiration to make it more original! 😛
Dang, I totally made black bean chili tonight, sans quinoa! Kicking myself that I didn’t read your blog post beforehand. Obviously I’ll need to make your version soon–I need this in my life, along with a big slice of cornbread. 🙂
The cornbread is a must!
Niiiiiice! I’m jealous of your warm weather… it’s freezing here :(. BUT it’s the perfect weather for this beautiful chili!!
Yes! This chili sounds fabulous!
Woah there. You can add quinoa to chili?! Is there any dish that can’t contain this grain?
I’m so glad you made this Chung-Ah! Your pictures are gorgeous! Teach me the tricks!
Thanks for such an amazing recipe! And you need to teach me YOUR tricks!
This looks great! I’ve only recently realised how delicious quinoa is.
I love your photos Chung-Ah.
This chili looks crazy delicious!!! yum!
Leftovers, you say? I’ll be right over. 😉
There’s a bowl here with your name on it!
This sounds amazing! And your pictures are always so gorgeous!!! I will have to show my hubby this recipe…he is on quite the quinoa kick right now 🙂 Pinned!!!
Thanks for the pin, as always! 🙂
GORGEOUS, Chung-Ah! Love this recipe…so healthy with quinoa and all of its protein…perfect for vegetarians who need it in their diet. Beautiful styling and color pop! You are truly inspiring, girl. Thanks for sharing. Pinning!
How yummy looking, I just made Chili the other night and now I’m craving this one. I used to be an all veggie girl so I still love good vegetarian meals, thanks for the recipe and for stopping by me blog 🙂
I have that bowl! I made soup in it and posted about it last week. Yours is WAY MORE photogenic than mine. Had major lighting issues that day. It’s so beautiful and I’d love a big bowl of it!
I wish I could share some with you, Averie – we have a ton of leftovers!
I LOVE that there is quinoa in this!!
The perfect chili for vegetarians, I love all those colorful toppers!
THIS WAS THE BEST CHILI EVER. The quinoa is great added protein to go with the beans. I used all organic ingredients, but left out cilantro and lime juice since I did not have them in fridge. Used himalyan pink salt, and a dash of red pepper flakes. Made everything in slow cooker, added cooked quino into cooker during last 10 minutes to infuse it with flavor. I am going to freeze multiple containers worth for lunches at work. THANKS!!
How long did you cook the ingredients in the crockpot before adding the quinoa? High or Low? THANKS!!
How long did you cook the ingredients in the crockpot??
This was the best Chili recipe I have made. The quinoa made the dish so textured. I’ve never eaten avocado with chili but I was surprised as to how refreshing it was. Totally delicious!
I love this Chili! I started eating Quinoa instead of rice and noodles about 6 months ago so I was so excited when I found this recipe! I added ground turkey for my meat loving family and it is a huge hit 🙂 Looking forward to more from Damn Delicious
Hi, when in the recipe did you add the turkey? How much did you add and did you change any of the other ingredients?
Thanks!
Add the meat in the beginning with the onion and garlic!
Great recipe! I added some yellow squash and garbanzo beans to the mix!
WAY WAY WAY Too much sodium! Just look at those numbers! I will need to locate a great chili recipe made without all those canned items, and sub-in quinoa for meat!
Not sure about your grocery store, but Wegmans sells no-salt-added canned goods, such as black beans. I diced fresh tomatoes since I had a huge surplus. You could probably also replace the canned green chiles with fresh jalapeños. Good luck!
Completely agree about the sodium content, but I think you can find the same ingredients with no added salt and still come up with a great dish!
Agreed! I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I noticed the amount of sodium.
Also, I agree with many others…you can make this with less sodium and I am sure it will be delicious! I am looking forward to making it.