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Award Winning Black Bean Chili

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Today I’m sharing my Award Winning Black Bean Chili recipe with you.  I use the term “award winning” loosely since I won first place with this recipe in a chili cook-off many, many years ago.  There was no prize other than bragging rights, but I’ll take it!

I’m not sure where I stumbled upon this black bean chili recipe.  I’ve had it forever!  It’s was my favorite vegetarian chili from back in the day when I was a vegetarian.   Now that I’m regularly eating more plant based, I thought it was a perfect time to pull it out and make it again.  I made a couple minor changes from the original recipe this time around and will make a note of them in the recipe below.

If you’re looking for some meatless meals to add to your repetoire I recommend you give this Award Winning Black Bean Chili a try!  Top with a variety of your favorite toppings and serve it up with some cornbread.  Perfect football watching fare!

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Award Winning Black Bean Chili

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Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 lb. uncooked dried black beans*
  • 6 C. water (I like to use Better than Bouillon No Chicken Base)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 Tbls. vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
  • 2 lg. onions, chopped**
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 2–3 fresh jalapenos, stemmed, seeded and minced***
  • 2 Tbls. chili powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. paprika (I used smoked paprika)
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
  • 1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp. cumin
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 Tbls. red wine vinegar
  • Condiments of your choice: sour cream, cilantro, shredded cheese, avocado, squeeze of lime

Instructions

  1. In large dutch oven or soup pot, sort and soak beans according to package directions. Drain soaking liquid. Add water or broth and bay leaf, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, 2 hours.
  2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are tender. Add tomatoes with juice to skillet. Add jalapenos, chili powder, salt, paprika, oregano, cocoa powder, cumin and cinnamon. Simmer 15 minutes. Add tomato mixture to the beans. Stir in wine vinegar. Continue simmering another 30 minutes or until beans are very tender and chili has thickened slightly. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.  Discard bay leaf prior to serving.

Equipment

Notes

*If you prefer to use canned black beans to save time use 3 cans, drained and rinsed.   Then you’ll need to add liquid to make up for the loss of cooking liquid from the beans. Use vegetable broth, 3-4 cups (I just eyeball it so it’s not too runny)

**I used 1 1/2 lg. onions and 1/2 large red bell pepper

***I used chipotle peppers with adobo (I blend a can of chipotles en adobo then freeze in ice cube trays.  I used one cube)