Skip to Content

Quinoa Vegetarian Chili

Quinoa Vegetarian Chili is the ideal choice for a “Meatless Monday” dinner. It’s chock full of flavour and nutrition.

Quinoa Vegetarian Chili image of single serving with tortilla chips in a white bowl.

Quinoa Vegetarian Chili

Originally published February 2014. 

We don’t necessarily always have a “Meatless Monday” on a regular basis at our house as a rule. However, like many other families, we will on occasion have a vegetarian meal as a healthy option. 

I think it really helps to keep our dinner menus varied too.

Canned red kidney beans on white plate.

Canned red kidney beans, should be well rinsed before using in the recipe.

It also gives me the chance to experiment a little with recipes to serve when we have vegetarian guests for dinner.

In order to bump up the protein factor in this vegetarian chili, Spouse came up with the idea of adding cooked quinoa. Adding quinoa to the mix of flavours, gave it a little bit of a nutty flavour contribution to this delicious dish.

Close up of quinoa seeds on a wooden spoon

Uncooked Quinoa Seeds

These powerful little seeds are a real superfood. They are very high in essential minerals as well as being high in protein.

Their high protein content makes them particularly ideal to replace the meat protein in a regular pot of chili. With all the legumes and vegetables, this is a nutritional powerhouse of a meal.

The chili was even better the next day and we even served the leftovers as a sort of hot dip, along with tortilla chips when friends dropped over to visit; a very versatile chili indeed.

Looking for more healthy recipes?

You’ll find many more delicious soup ideas in our Soups Category and lots more leftover ideas in our Leftover Recipes Category.

Be sure to check out our collection of Best Healthy Eating Recipes, chock full of delicious and nutritious easy meal ideas.

Best Healthy Eating Recipes 9 photo collage for featured image

Best Healthy Eating Recipes. 25 delicious meals!

Looking for another great vegetarian meal? Try our delicious Spicy Ratatouille with Orzo.

Spicy Ratatouille with Orzo

Spicy Ratatouille with Orzo

Like this Quinoa Vegetarian Chili recipe?

It’s easy to keep up with the latest home style cooking & baking ideas from Rock Recipes. Be sure to follow Rock Recipes Facebook Page and follow us on InstagramPlus you’ll see daily recipe suggestions from decadent desserts to quick delicious weekday meals too. 

Quinoa Vegetarian Chili image with title text for Pinterest.

You can also sign up for our FREE newsletter to know immediately when we add new recipes. You’ll also get weekly suggestions for great family friendly  meals and desserts too!

Quinoa Vegetarian Chili image of single serving with tortilla chips in a white bowl.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Vegetarian Quinoa Chili

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Packed with flavour and nutrition, this vegetarian chili is an ideal choice for a "Meatless Monday" meal.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 cup carrot, diced small
  • 1 cup celery, diced small,
  • 3 cloves minced garlic
  • 1 cup red onion, diced small
  • 4 cups canned tomatoes, diced.
  • 3 tbsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp chipotle powder
  • 1 tsp dry thyme
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt to season
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 cups cooked kidney beans, rinsed if you are using canned
  • 1 cup cooked quinoa, about 1/4 cup dry quinoa slowly simmered in 1/2 cup salted water

Instructions

  1. In a dutch oven or large saucepan over medium heat add the olive oil, carrot, celery, garlic and red onion.
  2. Sauté until the onions soften, then add the tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, chipotle powder, thyme, black pepper, salt, corn and brown sugar.
  3. Simmer slowly for 20 minutes then add the cooked quinoa and kidney beans.
  4. Simmer for only another 10 minutes or so before serving with a dollop of low fat sour cream or Greek yogurt

Recommended Products

Rock Recipes 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. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1 serving

Amount Per Serving Calories 211Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 0mgSodium 404mgCarbohydrates 35gFiber 9gSugar 8gProtein 8g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

Did you like this recipe?

Do you love our "Real food recipes for real people'? Share the recipe on Facebook to let your friends know about us. They'll thank you for it.

 
 

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Joy Brett

Sunday 9th of June 2019

Just made your Vegetarian Quinoa Chili with a few adjustments. (I don’t enjoy a lot of heat and garlic). It turned out so delicious! I made it in my slow cooker (high 2 hrs). I made 12 servings out of the recipe and each serving is just 1 freestyle point on Weight Watchers! Keep coming with the vegetarian options. Please put the Weight Watchers freestyle points on any vegetarian options.

Melissa

Thursday 23rd of October 2014

Any suggestions for time/adjustments if doing this in a slow cooker?

Barry C. Parsons

Monday 27th of October 2014

None that come to mind. Hope you enjoy it.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to Recipe

Sharing is Caring

Help spread the word. You're awesome for doing it!