Easy Vegan Crockpot Chili

If you’re not really in the mood to cook, why not let the good ol’ crockpot do it for you with this easy vegan crockpot chili? Cooking with a crockpot only requires that you combine all the ingredients together, turn it on the appropriate setting, and…wait. Time will marry the flavors together without your help, so they’ll be no senseless sautéing or frivolous frying on your part. That’s essentially the aim of this easy vegan crockpot chili: a hands-off bowl of delicious, homey chili that a requires little effort to achieve big flavors.

Of course, let’s assume that there are some of you who are up for a bit of cooking, and don’t mind doing a bit of extra step along with this easy vegan crockpot chili, then I would recommend that you serve this chili on a bed of creamy oven baked polenta (recipe for this can be found below). I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Grits/Polenta.

Also, another great compliment to this recipe are these vegan cornbread muffins, which you can use like an edible sponge to soak up the chili.

While the separate elements of this easy vegan crockpot chili are each quite simple, they come together to form complex flavors. Firstly, we have three different chilis: fresh jalapeño, chipotle jalapeño, and roasted red pepper – that’s the main body behind this dish. Accompanying the peppers are complimentary flavors like savory diced tomatoes, garlic and onions; unctuous, creamy red beans – rehydrated and cooked from their dried state; and threads of grated carrot, which add a subtle sweetness. And seasoning these ingredients the vinegar, cumin, chili powder, and surprisingly, Hatch enchilada sauce, all of which gives the chili a zippy punch.

This is also an exceptional recipe for people who are avoiding processed oils. Crockpots tend to circumvent the need for any kind of processed oil, since the cooking method involved is essentially just a long, steady boil over the course of a couple of hours. Moreover, for people on a budget, crockpots are about as inexpensive a means of cooking your own food as you can get.

And yes, this chili has beans in it – the crux and defining division that sometimes pits one chili-lover against another. I have been informed several times in the past that genuine chili ought not to have beans in order to be considered as such. But let’s be real here: beans are delicious, nutritious, and give anything a pleasant, smooth texture and taste. So flying in the face of tradition, the addition of beans, at least in my opinion, is wholly appropriate and an improvement in every way. Also, as someone who makes plant-based food, which tends to conflict with so much culinary tradition already, I find that breaking tradition can be far more appealing and interesting than adhering to it.

With that said, this chili isn’t necessarily a wild revamp that turns chili on its head – it’s just a tasty, easy, delicious bowl of chili. But the beans vs. no beans argument is important to address because what we call something is of course important and shapes the way we see something. For example, if you were to call a group of musicians sitting together a symphony, but it’s only a tuba, violin, and triangle player, it’s wildly inaccurate and misleading.

But in contrast to that, there is also a kind of creative limitation that comes with worrying too much about labels and fixed ideas. Pretentiousness aside, sometimes a chili is more of a feeling, an experience, a symphony of harmonious flavors, rather than simply a checklist of specific ingredients.

So – feeling for a good bowl of easy vegan crockpot chili? Then get that crockpot out and get started already.

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