Vegetarian Tofu Chili Recipe
This Vegetarian Tofu Chili recipe is a comfort food dish with smoky, deep, rich flavors that will have you and your guests wanting seconds and thirds. Skip the cheese on top, and it’s vegan. Either way, this chili is hearty, healthy and incredibly delicious!
Servings: 4 to 6
Calories: 269kcal
Ingredients
- 1 pound block super firm tofu
- olive oil for the pan
- 2 cups yellow onion, medium dice
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans (including the liquid)
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Optional toppings
- grated cheese
- diced avocado
- diced red onion
- finely chopped chives
Instructions
- Prepare the tofu. Unwrap the block of tofu, drain and pat it dry with paper towels. Then add two layers of dry paper towels to a sheet pan. Cut the tofu into a few pieces and place them on the towels to dry out even more. Press down gently on the tops of the tofu pieces with more dry paper towels — you want it as dry as possible. Then crumble the tofu into small pieces and set aside.
- Cook garlic and onion. Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil (ideally a 5-quart Dutch oven). Place it over medium-low heat and add the onion and garlic. Stirring often, cook until everything is nicely caramelized, about 15 minutes.
- Brown the tofu. Add the dried, crumbled tofu to the pot. Turn the heat to medium and brown the tofu. Stirring often, this should take about 10 minutes. (You can ad a bit more oil at this point if the bottom of the pan is dry.)
- Add and cook chipotles and spices. Add the chipotle peppers in adobo, chili powder, oregano and cumin to the pot and stir. Cook until it’s very aromatic, about 30 seconds.
- Add and cook tomatoes and beans. Add the tomatoes, kidney beans (including all of the liquid from the can) and the drained black beans. Turn the heat up a bit and bring to a boil. Once it boils, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, cover and simmer this way for about 30 minutes.Remove the lid and turn the heat up a bit, and simmer for another 15 minutes.
- Season and add toppings. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Here’s How to Season to Taste.) Add any toppings you like and serve.
Notes
If you don't want the chili to be too spicy, do not include any of the seeds from the chipotles. And to keep it even more mild, only use the adobo sauce.
Calorie count is only an estimate.
Nutrition
Calories: 269kcal