How Much Vegan Chili Can I Make for $36?

Hey Everyone! Let me know if you liked the format of this video! I'd like to do more budget, grocery haul style videos!

A few general chili notes: -bay leaves add a depth of flavor that tricks your mouth into thinking something has been cooking for much longer. I don’t consider them optional in any broth/soup/stew/etc. -Oregano (preferably Mexican) also adds a very typical chili flavor. Add it to the veg after the garlic is cooked -I’m not a fan of chocolate in chili, but I highly second the cinnamon. A pinch in taco seasoning is also amazing. The warmth compliments the other flavors and enhances the whole dish. -Chipotle in adobo is another amazing multi-purpose flavor component. Heat, smoke, acidity, and general depth of flavor on one tiny package. Definitely don’t skip it. -If you have a texture aversion to whole beans (like I do), make your chili a bit thinner than normal and stir in cans of refried beans towards the end of cooking. They can be hard to fully meld into the rest of the chili, so I do almost exactly what he did with the veggie base. Ladle out some of the liquid from the pot & mash/whisk the beans into it, then add the thickened bean/broth back into the whole pot. It gives flavor, nutrition, and richness. Just make sure to use vegetarian, because regular refried beans usually have animal fat.

Any time someone says that cooking vegan food is expensive, I just get confused.

Loving these tvp recipes lately! It's a pretty underrated vegan protein source where I'm from, since the recipes in the packages always instruct to boil it in plain water, making it all mushy and bland. If only people saw your videos on it

I've been looking for a good chili recipe, and I trust you more than others. Thank you!

And to think, Vegan chili used to be with beans as the main protein! The TVP works beautifully along with beans and your recipe adds wonderful extra depth of flavor! Awesome !

Recipe notwithstanding (looks utterly delicious, I wish I was a guest at yours for dinner!), the price comparison in this video is also really helpful, especially during the current economic squeeze. Thanks Vegan Burger Dude!

If I'm adding canned beans to my pot of chili, I use a can of black, a can of red and a can of pinto beans. I'm trying this recipe soon!

i was in Ecuador for the whole month of October and shopping at the Mega grocery store there, $36 got me five full grocery bags of food. take your results and times them by 5 and that's how much chili you could make down there. i had your cookbook with me on that trip and i'm planning on going again in March. i'll bring it again and do a photo op in front of the City Display Sign the next time = )

Look awesome, Dude. Another good tip for anyone trying to perfect the thickness of their chili is to use Maseca. Me, personally, I love really thick chili.

That looks really good. I made some burritos with squash, canned lentils, corn, black olives, taco seasoning and the real kicker was the Chipotle in Adobo (which I blended into a sauce). Basically, you don't need a meat substitute to make good vegan alternatives. Just get creative with seasonings. I actually preferred it to when I use the gardein b'ef grounds.

I need to hunt chipotle adobo to enhance my next chilli for sure! Thanks !! If we say that making vegan chilli is a privilege, definitely the ability to cook any meal is priviledge in itself - and it shouldn't be. Everyone should have access to food! Donate to your local food banks folks :)

Love this! Kinda like the Cincinnati chili I grew up on. Also a big fan of batch cooking (I do tofu scramble on sheet trays, giant pots of lentil soup etc and save them for my partner's lunch so I only need to make lunch like once a month 😂) . Would absolutely love to see more of that type of large batch freezer meal prep vs what people usually do which is premade fridge lunch boxes.

This was an amazing video! I love this format. Anything to show how accessible vegan food can be!

I'm from West Virginia and I use a jar of Oliverio's peppers in sauce in my chili. It's a WV product, made from a family recipe & they come in sweet, mild & hot, so you can use them in just about anything! They're sold in most grocery stores in WV, Inc our Walmarts. I chop the pieces up a little before adding them to my pot after I've sautéed my onions & warmed my spices, but you could add them the last 15 minutes or so if you wanted to. I just like mine super soft & squishy. Lol 😋

I don’t like Walmart but when I’m budgeting Walmart is a better choice. Great chili recipe! Might have to try adding tvp to mine to see how my family likes it.

Looks lovely, but I‘m once again shocked at how expensive food can be in the US. I just returned to Germany from an internship in Boston and only now got used to „normal“ prices again. This brings me back to a year ago in Boston when I couldn‘t believe my eyes when I went grocery shopping for the first time! 😅

This is genius! I hate it when people (especially vegans) just mindlessly recite the propaganda that eating vegan is expensive. Also, somebody gave me a bunch of cans of beans and tomatoes. I've never made chili, so I've been looking for a recipe. I think this video will send me in the right direction. So thanks!

YUM! I've been making very lazy chili lately. I'm making it in the microwave in one bowl servings. lol. It's just some cherry tomatoes, pickled jalapenos with some juice, mixed greens, drained can of black beans, chili powder, paprika, smoked paprika, chipotle chili powder, cayenne, lactic acid, nutritional yeast, and black pepper. It's quite tasty for how quick it is!

you're always a lifesaver!