Vegan White Chickpea Chili
This White Chickpea Chili is a vegan twist on the ever popular white chicken chili. It’s loaded with veggies, beans and plenty of spice in a broth of coconut milk, vegetable broth, and salsa verde. Make room in your monthly meal rotation for this 30 minute dinner!
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You Will Love This
- If you’re a chili lover like me, it’s fun to try something a little different than your traditional tomato-based chili recipe. Although I enjoy classic red chilis (as evidenced by the wide variety of chilies on my site including Shredded Short Rib Chili, Creamy Enchilada Chicken Chili, and Vegan Black Bean Chili) but I love the unique flavors that this white chickpea chili has and it’s fun to switch it up with some plant-based meals.
- You won’t even miss the chicken, I promise! This type of white chili is typically made with chicken breast, but in this recipe, I’ve replaced the chicken with chickpeas, and I’m telling you – it’s AMAZING. Chickpeas can literally replace any meat in any of your favorite dishes and they really shine in this chili. A few of my other favorites that showcase chickpeas instead of meat include my BBQ Chickpea Sandwich, Creamy Chickpea Noodle Soup, Greek Chickpea Gyros, Sheet Pan Chickpea Fajitas, and BBQ Chickpea Pizza. If you’re looking to add more vegan meals to your family dinner rotation – try switching out the meat in the dish for chickpeas!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Yellow Onion – You can use white or red onion in place of the yellow onion if you prefer.
- Red Bell Pepper – You can use any color of bell pepper for this chickpea chili. I love the flavor of red bell pepper.
- Jalapeno – You can omit the jalapeno if you don’t have any on hand but it adds delicious flavor. If you like a real spicy chili, don’t remove all the seeds and ribs.
- Garlic – I like to use fresh garlic but if you don’t have any in the pantry, you can use about 3/4 of a teaspoon or more in place of the fresh garlic.
- Spices – Cumin, chili powder, ground coriander, and dried oregano combine to create a delicious layering of flavors.
- Garbanzo Beans – Also known as chickpeas, the garbanzo beans replace the chicken breast that is usually used in white chili.
- Pinto Beans – You can use any type of bean for this recipe – black beans, kidney beans, or even Great Northern beans, but I love the flavor and creamy texture of pinto beans.
- Salsa Verde – I like to use green salsa (salsa verde) for this recipe because it has a little kick. You could also use red salsa in this chickpea chili recipe.
- Coconut Milk – The coconut milk is going to give this chili a deliciously creamy texture. If you aren’t worried about this soup being vegan, you can substitute about half the amount with heavy cream.
- Vegetable Broth – If you aren’t keeping this chili vegan or vegetarian, use chicken broth in place of the veggie broth.
Instructions
Sauté onion, red pepper, and jalapeno in oil along with a couple large pinches of salt and pepper for 5 minutes.
Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, coriander, and oregano and cook, stirring frequently for another minute.
Add a splash of vegetable broth and deglaze the bottom of the pot, scraping all the yummy bits off the bottom.
Add garbanzo beans, pinto beans, salsa verde, coconut milk, and vegetable broth along with a couple pinches of salt and pepper.
Stir to combine, then bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in fresh lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Garnish with your favorite toppings – don’t forget the homemade fried tortilla strips – and enjoy!
Tips
- This chickpea chili has a bit of a kick to it! Our family enjoys the amount of spice, although for our daughter we added a scoop of sour cream and mixed it in just to mellow it out a bit. If you’d like a more mild chili, try using mild green salsa and omitting the chili powder.
- If you like a thicker chili, try adding less vegetable broth. The coconut milk will make the chili super creamy and then the vegetable broth helps to thin that out a bit, but if you want a creamier chili, add less vegetable broth – you can always add more later!
- Be sure to moderately salt this chili! The ingredient list is simple, and while it does have a few spices in it, salt is going to go a long way in boosting the overall flavors of the dish. I recommend using Kosher salt to season as you have more control over how much you add. It’s easy to get heavy handed with traditional table salt and add too much.
Make Ahead, Storage, Freezing, Reheating Instructions
- Make Ahead: This chickpea chili is a delicious make ahead meal! It’s perfect for Sunday night meal prep and will taste great throughout the week!
- Storage: Store this chili in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Freezing: You can freeze this soup for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Before eating, thaw in the fridge overnight.
- Reheating: I like to reheat this chili in a saucepan over medium heat. You may need to add a bit of broth to loosen it up. Cook, stirring frequently, until warmed through. Season to taste with salt and pepper and enjoy!
Try these easy soups next!
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Vegan White Chickpea Chili
This White Chickpea Chili is a vegan twist on the ever popular white chicken chili. It’s loaded with veggies, beans and plenty of spice in a broth of coconut milk, vegetable broth, and salsa verde. Make room in your monthly meal rotation for this family favorite!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
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- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, petite diced
- 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1.5 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 (15 oz.) cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 16 oz. salsa verde (green salsa)
- 1 (13.5 oz.) full fat coconut milk
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
- Kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
Serve with:
- tortilla strips
- sour cream
- crumbled cotija cheese
- fresh chopped cilantro
- sliced jalapeno
- lime wedges
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat.
- Add onion, red pepper, and jalapeno along with a couple large pinches of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes.
- Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, coriander, and oregano and cook, stirring frequently for another minute.
- Add a splash of vegetable broth and deglaze the bottom of the pot, scraping all the yummy bits off the bottom.
- Add garbanzo beans, pinto beans, salsa verde, coconut milk, and remaining vegetable broth along with a couple pinches of salt and pepper.
- Stir to combine, then bring to a simmer over medium high heat.
- Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Stir in fresh lime juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Garnish with your favorite toppings – don’t forget the homemade fried tortilla strips – and enjoy!
This is AMAZING!! So delicious and so quick and easy. We LOVE it!!
Thanks!!!
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Holly! Thank you for leaving a review 🙂
This turned out SO good! I will be making again and I loved that this is vegan!
I am SO glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Denice!! Thank you for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
Excited to make this for the Halloween celebrations this weekend! Can it be done in a crockpot?
Yes! I think this would do well in a crockpot for sure! I’d recommend 2-3 hours on high for 4-5 hours on low!
Did you try in in the crockpot or did anyone else?
I think this chili would work great in a crockpot! I haven’t tried it before but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work!
Really excellent. Simply the best white chili I’ve ever eaten. We used great northern beans with chickpeas, because that’s what we had on hand, but no matter. Thanks for the great recipe!
WOW – what a compliment, Paul. Glad you were able to use what you had on hand!! Thank you so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!
You’re welcome! We also used Glucommanan to thicken the chili to suit us. It’s an awesome thickening agent that will thicken most anything while only adding fiber to the dish. Thanks again.
I haven’t heard of that before – I will definitely check that out, Paul! Thanks!
This was absolutely delicious! Definitely making again, omitting the jalapeños for my 16 month old, but so hearty and warming! Used my Ninja Foodi and it turned out amazing!
Woohoo! So glad that you enjoyed this chili, Misty! This is one of our family’s favorites too! Great idea on leaving out the jalapeno. Thanks for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!
Delicious, great flavors and a bit of a kick.
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Cecilia! Thank you for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
Hello, I will be making this over the weekend as my meal prep recipe. I see it makes 8 servings can you tell me the serving size please?
Unfortunately, I don’t have exact measurements for those. Each time I test the recipe I mostly pay attention to how large of a batch it makes and how many servings we are able to get out of it. I don’t have an actual measurement for the serving size other than 1/8 of the recipe.
It’s almost 8 cups- a little short- so 1 cup each
Perfect! Good to know – thank you so much!
What is a serving size?
1/8th of the soup is one serving.
Yum, yum, yum! My non-vegan family loved this chili. I made the tortilla strips using both flour tortillas and corn ones. I liked the flour ones better, my daughter liked the corn – said they tasted like Frito corn chips. The corn ones were harder to work with, they crumble a bit.
Thank you for the delish dish!!!
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Roberta! I’ll have to try the tortilla strips with flour next time! Thanks for leaving a review – I really appreciate 🙂
This soup is soooo good!! It’s spicy (which I love) but perfect with some sour cream!! Easy to make and will last a few days!! Will definitely make again.
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Rachel! Sour cream is the perfect way to mellow out the spice 🙂 Thanks for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!
Made this last night, such a yummy vegan/gluten friendly option for dinner! I don’t LOVE garbanzo beans whole, but they could easily be swapped out for any other kind of bean. Will be adding this to my little recipe collection I’m gathering.
So true – you could use any of your favorite beans in place of the chickpeas! I’m so glad that you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for leaving a review, Kaci!
I was skeptical—this is the first vegan dish and the first white chili dish I’ve attempted—but it was absolutely delicious! Will def make again and highly recommend!
I am so glad that you enjoyed this recipe, Stefany! It’s always fun to try something new and I’m glad that this one was a hit. Thanks for leaving a review – I really appreciate it 🙂
Honestly I made this thinking it looked good but as I was making it I wasn’t sure how it would be – however, it has ended up being one of the best things I have made in a while! So much simpler to make than I initially thought and so delicious.
I love this! I’m glad you stuck with it and were happy with the results! This is one of our family’s favorites – I think the salsa is what really gives it that extra flavor. Thanks so much for leaving a review – I really appreciate it!
This is so good! The coconut milk helped calm down some of the spice. I added half the amount of my husband’s homemade “mild” salsa and it was still a little too spicy. Maybe just add a couple of spoonfuls next time! Still very good!
So glad that you enjoyed this recipe, DeeDee! I can only imagine how good this was with homemade salsa 🙂 Thanks for leaving a review!
Whole family loved it!
I am SO GLAD. This is one of our family’s favorites too. Thanks so much for leaving a review, Myiea! 🙂