Recipe: Quick and Easy Vegetarian Chilli That’s Full of Flavour

Recipe: Quick and Easy Vegetarian Chilli That’s Full of Flavour          

I love homecooked food but I’m not a huge fan of the actual cooking. I’m responsible for all our meals in the week and after working and looking after the kids all day, I’m often quite exhausted come dinner time and want to make something that doesn’t require too much effort and time but is also healthy and tasty.

One of my busy mum hacks is to cook big batches of food so that we have intentional leftovers and can enjoy a nice and healthy meal for two or three days in a row with only one cooking session. It saves me so much time and work!

One of our favourite family meals that also works very well for batch cooking is vegetarian chilli that we all love. It doesn’t need much preparation, it’s budget-friendly and very tasty too. The recipe is very adaptable as well — you can add any beans or vegetables you like and work out how much of the different seasonings you prefer.

Here are the ingredients that I usually put in our chilli:

• 1-2 chopped onions
• 2 cloves of garlic (or two teaspoon of Very Lazy Chopped Garlic)
• 2 cups of sliced peppers
• 1 cup of frozen sweet corn (or one large tin of sweetcorn)
• 1 tin of baked beans
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin of kidney beans or mixed Mexican beans
• Half a tube of tomato purée
• 1 cup of dried soy mince (the Holland & Barrett one is brilliant)
• 2 vegetable stock cubes + a cup of boiling water to dissolve them in
• Mixed Italian herbs
• Chilli flakes
• 4 tablespoons of Jack Daniels Barbecue Sauces (we love to use a mix of Full Flavor Smokey and Tennessee Honey Barbecue — yum!)

Method:

• Chop your onions and peppers (or buy chopped frozen ones for an even easier meal!). Fry the onions and garlic in a bit of oil, then add the peppers and fry for a bit longer.
• Once cooked, add the sweetcorn, tins of beans and chopped tomatoes.
• Add the tomato purée, the dissolved stock cubes and the soy mince.
• Now it’s time for all the flavour! Add herbs and chilli flakes and your favourite Jack Daniels Barbecue Sauces. They add so much flavour and are a great way to add depth to dishes like these. I really like the smokiness of the Full Flavour Smokey one and the sweet richness of the Tennessee Honey Barbecue one. They make a wonderful duo too.
• Cook for 10 minutes or so until the chilli has thickened a bit and then it’s ready to serve!

Serving suggestions:

Chilli goes amazingly well with things like rice, wraps, jacket potatoes or nachos. We vary what we serve it with to keep it fun when we’re having it three days in a row.

This time, we served our vegetarian chilli with cauliflower rice, sour cream, grated mozzarella, mixed salad leaves, tomatoes and a side of oven roasted Brussel sprouts with cashews.

The beauty of this meal is that it goes with so many things and that it can be varied so much. The chilli is suitable for vegans too so if you serve it without cheese and sour cream, you have a vegan meal and if your side is potatoes or rice, you have a gluten-free meal. If you prefer, you can of course make it with meat, as well — whatever suits your family.

Collaborative Post.