Lazy Vegetarian Comfort Food: Lentil Chili

Good morning and happy Saturday! This morning, I’m excited to share with you a guest post written by Jillian Gile, a guest blogger for An Apple a Day and a writer on online nursing classes for the Guide to Health Education. Please enjoy Jillian’s recipe for healthy lentil chili, and have a great weekend!

I’m not a strict vegetarian, but I do try to eat healthy, which means avoiding red mean and other “processed entree options. I’m also something of a lazy cook (I admit it!) which means my go-to standards are all a soup, a stew, or a chili. One of my absolute favorite vegetarian recipes came to me from AllRecipes.com, when I happened to be Googling “lentils,” “canned tomatoes,” and “quick” – because those are the ingredients I had (time was not one of them). The first lentil chili effort was such a hit that it inspired me to keep trying, and now I have a great recipe that I can reliably trot out when vegetarians and meat eaters are at the table. This chili will stick to your ribs, and if you don’t say anything, chances are no one will even notice that you didn’t add meat. Even better, it’s quick and easy, with a lot of room for error. I’ve added and forgotten ingredients and it always turns out great – I promise.

Lazy Vegetarian Comfort Food: Lentil Chili

Ingredients

2 TBSP vegetable oil

½ onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup lentils

3 cups broth

1 can tomatoes

2 TBSP chili powder

1 TBSP cumin

Salt and pepper

In a large pot (I use my Ikea 7 cup pot) sauté the onions and garlic in the vegetable oil over medium heat. The original recipe called for a whole onion, but I love onions and even I found this a little overwhelming. I also tend to not keep fresh garlic around, so using the pre-mined-in-a-jar garlic (or even garlic powder later) is totally fine.  

Once the onions are soft (about 5 minutes) add the lentils and broth. The original recipe calls for chicken broth, but veggie broth is equally delicious.  

Add the tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder if you didn’t use fresh garlic. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for an hour. You shouldn’t need to add any more liquid, but keep an eye on it, just in case. The original recipe also called for a cup of bulgur wheat, which I found absorbed all the liquid, almost immediately, and resulted in a pretty mushy chili. Occasionally I add ¼ a cup of bulgur, but one of the reasons I usually omit it is because I don’t keep anything that exotic around (see: lazy cook), and you can always eat the chili over rice, anyway. You can also get fancy with the type of tomatoes you add – simple diced, diced with green chilis, Italian seasons. Your only limit is the variety your local grocery store carries.  

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not add salt until the very end, when you salt and pepper to your family’s taste. Cooking lentils with salt makes them hard, and you can simmer until the lentils disintegrate and you’ll still have tough lentil mush. On this note, you should also try for a low-sodium broth, because the ones that have a lot of salt in them will obviously have the same effect on the lentils.

Follow these steps and you’re guaranteed to have a quick, easy (one pot clean up!), delicious recipe that your family will request over and over.

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Chili recipes and more from Reader’s Digest.