Full of hearty beans and vegetables and made completely in your electric pressure cooker, this Vegan Instant Pot Black Bean Chili couldn't be easier to make or more delicious!
Chili is one of my favorite vegan dishes.
Not only is chili super delicious and filling, but it's also easy to make.
I've shared a number of chili recipes on the blog over the years including this reader favorite Pumpkin Chili Recipe, this Vegan While Bean Chili Recipe and even a Vegan Three Bean Chili Recipe!
Chili is already really to easy to make on the stove, as it usually is made in one pot.
However, today's recipe for Vegan Black Bean Chili is even simpler as you can make it all in your pressure cooker or instant pot!
Let me walk you through how to make it!
Ingredients You Need for Vegan Black Bean Chili
This black bean chili recipe calls for dried beans.
Before you start making this chili in your instant pot or pressure cooker, you'll want to think ahead and have the dried beans soak for around 8 hours.
Other than soaking the beans, there isn't too much prep-work outside of chopping some veggies!
To make this black bean chili, you'll need the following ingredients:
- Dried black beans
- Garlic
- Red bell peppers
- Red onion
- Carrot
- Salt
- Chili powder
- Cumin
- Tomato paste
- Tomato sauce
- Tomatoes
- Water
- Corn kernels
Just a note on chili powder. The chili powder I'm talking about here is the American spice blend that has a mix of spices such as cumin, paprika, etc.
I don't mean chili powder made with ground up chilis!
Also, you can always use whatever veggies you have on hand when it comes to chili.
Only have a yellow bell pepper and a yellow onion? Use those instead!
Do You Need to Soak Beans Before Pressure Cooking?
Some people say that you definitely need to soak beans before pressure cooking and others say that you don't.
In my opinion, I always like to soak my beans before pressure cooking as it allows them to soften and cook quicker.
However, it's not always mandatory to soak beans before cooking them in your Instant Pot. They just might take longer to cook!
I also like to soak my dried beans first whenever I'm using them in a recipe with other ingredients. This allows everything to cook more evenly.
How to Soak Beans
There are a couple different ways you can soak dried beans.
Cold Soak: Pour your dried beans into a large bowl and cover generously with water and allow them to soak overnight or for about 8 hours.
Hot Soak: You can also soak dried beans in hot water for about 4 hours.
Boil Method: Place the dried beans in a large saucepan and cover them with 2 inches of water. Bring the water to a boil and then turn the heat off. Cover the pan and allow the beans to soak for 1 hour.
Drain and rinse the soaked black beans.
Pressure Cooker Vs. Instant Pot
I'm guessing many of you are like me and are wondering, what is the different between a pressure cooker and an Instant Pot?
Both are types of pressure cookers, however the Instant Pot is a lot more user friendly and safe!
Old school pressure cookers would often explode causing a mess and possible injury.
The Instant Pot thankfully has safety features in place that make it much more user friendly, no matter how much experience you have in the kitchen!
The Instant Pot also provides a higher level of control for the user as it is digital and provides a wide variety of different cooking methods.
I, personally, have the Philips version of the Instant Pot, but it works great!
How to Make Chili in Your Pressure Cooker
Like I mentioned above, (at least for this recipe) I highly recommend soaking your beans for about 8 hours before you throw everything into your Instant Pot.
Once your beans have soaked, drain and rinse them.
Next, excluding the frozen corn, add all of the ingredients, including the soaked beans into your electric pressure cooker.
Stir everything to combine and secure the lid on top.
Cook on manual or the bean setting for 40 minutes
Allow the chili to sit for about 10 minutes before releasing the steam.
Carefully remove the lid and stir in the corn kernels.
Best Foods to Serve with Chili
In my opinion, chili isn't chili unless it's served with corn bread or something similar!
I'll list out my favorite foods to serve with, or on top of, this vegan black bean chili below so that you can whip up a complete meal!
- Whole Wheat Vegan Cornbread
- Vegan Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins
- Vegan Creamed Corn Cornbread
- Perfect Baked Potatoes
- Oil-Free Baked Sweet Potato Fries
- Vegan shredded cheese
- Vegan Sour Cream
- Super Simple Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce
- Cilantro
📖 Recipe
Vegan Instant Pot Black Bean Chili
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried black beans soaked for 8 hours
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 red bell peppers chopped
- 1 large red onion chopped
- 1 large carrot chopped
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons chili powder*
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 3 medium tomatoes chopped
- 3 cups water
- 2 cups corn kernels
Instructions
- Pour your dried beans into a large bowl and cover generously with water and allow them to soak overnight or for about 8 hours. You could also soak them in hot water for 4 hours.
- Drain and rinse the soaked black beans.
- Excluding the corn, add all of the ingredients into your electric pressure cooker.
- Stir everything to combine and secure the lid on top.
- Cook on manual or the bean setting for 40 minutes
- Allow the chili to sit for about 10 minutes before releasing the steam.
- Carefully remove the lid and stir in the corn kernels.
- Serve warm with Vegan Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins and cilantro as garnish!
Jen says
What is a ‘packet of tomato sauce’?
This looks yum!
Faith VanderMolen says
I can find tomato sauce in a can. It might also be called tomato puree where you live! The ingredients should just be tomatoes and maybe some salt.
gary says
Hi Faith, this recipe calls for 40 minutes of pressure cooking. That seems to me to be well over the standard 10 - 20 minutes for beans. Are you using a high pressure cooker or one with lower pressure? Mine is high only and I have no low pressure setting. I love the idea of putting all ingredients in the pot to cook (less the corn)! Yours also does not require precooking or sauteing the onion and garlic, etc beforehand.
Faith says
Hi Gary. Thanks for your comments and questions. I have a pressure cooker that I bought in China and it has a bean setting. Since I didn't soak the beans, I find they need longer to cook, but if your beans cook faster, just go with the time that works best for you. All pressure cookers are so different! And you can definitely sautee the garlic, onions, etc. beforehand, but I love quick and easy meals and find it tastes delicious both ways. Let me know if you try it and how it turns out!
Lindsay says
I would love to see more vegan pressure cooker recipes! I love my pressure cooker, but don't do much more than cook single things like rice or beans in it since going vegan. I'd love to get back to meals, but have no recipes and also no courage to make up my own. First thing I'm going to try? This chili. 🙂
Faith says
Okay! I was just thinking today how I need to use mine more so hopefully I'll be able to share some more recipes in the future. I hope you this chili works out for you and that you like it!
Oscar says
Didn't know that (onviously). I just renewed mine with the 52 pages.
Faith says
That's the way to go! Which I had gotten more pages from the get go!
oscar says
Why don't you just add pages to the passport -unless you're toward the end of the 10 years. I always get extra pages. It used to be free. Last time, I had to pay US$80. I think with a brand new passport, there is no extra cost (but I'm not 100% sure).
Faith says
They don't add pages anymore:( I would so love to keep my current passport, but they changed the policy. Sad day!