Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili
You won’t miss the meat in this Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili! It’s hearty, healthy and delicious – filled with lentils, beans, quinoa and vegetables.
First post of 2019! I’m excited to finally share with you a reader favorite slow cooker recipe of mine that I updated into an Instant Pot recipe. This Slow Cooker Lentil and Quinoa Chili has been one of the most popular and most cooked recipes from the blog, I love that everyone enjoys it so much! Now you can make it in the Instant Pot!
I’ve had my Instant Pot well over a year now and cook a lot of basics in it (chicken, pork, spaghetti squash, hard boiled eggs and now rice), but I don’t make enough full meals in my Instant Pot. I am going to change that this year, that is my goal – starting with this Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili recipe.
I do, however, love making soup in the Instant Pot. Soup in the IP is easy and forgiving so I’m pretty comfortable with it and make it often. This vegetarian chili recipe with lentils and quinoa turned out absolutely perfect and I couldn’t be happier. It is hearty and really hits the spot. Especially when you top it with cheese, green onion, cilantro and something crunchy like tortilla chips or crackers (I love the Crunchmaster multigrain ones). I almost added diced avocado to my bowl, next time.
This recipe is also a vegan chili recipe – just don’t add the cheese as a topping (or use a vegan cheese instead).
How do you make vegetarian chili in the Instant Pot?
Easy! You just add the ingredients and press a couple of buttons. Genius.
- Add all ingredients to Instant Pot. After adding the spices, give everything a gentle stir.
- Close lid and turn pressure valve to Sealing.
- Set on high pressure for 20 minutes. Will take about 15 – 20 minutes to pressurize and start timer so make sure you count that as cook time. Once 20 minutes is complete, let natural release for 10 minutes. If there is any remaining pressure, you can turn to Quick Release and open lid. It is ready to serve now, or keep on warm until you are ready.
- Serve with shredded cheese, chopped green onion, cilantro, tortilla chips or crackers.
I made this meatless chili early in the day and after it was done (and I had a small bowl to try) I decided to leave it in the Instant Pot on warm so that it was waiting for us when we got home from volleyball practice. It stayed on warm for 4 hours and was just as good, if not better, when we were ready to sit down for dinner at 6:30pm. I don’t know if that works for all recipes cooked in the Instant Pot but it worked for this one and it was a lifesaver. If you are looking to purchase an Instant Pot, this is the one I use (affiliate link).
Hope your 2019 is off to a great start! Enjoy the recipe!
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PinIngredients
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 2 bell peppers, chopped
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 cups water (I use the can of diced tomatoes to grab all the leftover flavor)
- 1 cup dried lentils
- 1 15 oz can Bush’s Pinto Beans
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to Instant Pot. After adding the spices, give everything a gentle stir.
- Close lid and turn pressure valve to Sealing.
- Set on high pressure for 20 minutes. Will take about 15 – 20 minutes to pressurize and start timer so make sure you count that as cook time. Once 20 minutes is complete, let natural release for 10 minutes. If there is any remaining pressure, you can turn to Quick Release and open lid. It is ready to serve now, or keep on warm until you are ready.
- Serve with shredded cheese, chopped green onion, cilantro, tortilla chips or crackers.
Notes
Can be left on warm for up to 4 hours if you are not ready to serve when ready.
Store leftovers in airtight container in refrigerator for 3-4 days. I love storing my leftovers in these glass storage containers.
Salt will need to be adjusted according to taste, depending on the broth you use as well as the canned tomatoes and beans. I added 1/4 teaspoon to the recipe initially and then after tasting added a pinch or two until I thought it was right.
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This sounds great and I would love to try it. However, I have a Mini Instant Pot (got for Christmas) and I am wondering how to fix this in it. Half all the ingredients?
Thanks!
Hi Sue! I’m not very familiar with the Mini IP, do you know how many quarts it is? The one I use is 6 quarts.
Thanks for responding to my comment. The Mini IP is 3 ounces.
is it 3 quarts? If so, you may be able to just cut everything in half. The most important thing is to make sure your ingredients fall below the MAX line in your pot. If you try it please let me know how it works out, thank you!
This looks yummy! I have a slow cooker so this would be a perfect use for it I don’t use it anywhere near enough. Plus i’m veggie and love chilli. Thanks for posting!
Would love to make – can you recheck the print link as it is not working for me. thanks!
Hi Kel, thanks so much for letting me know! I’m looking into it (seems like a glitch that occurred when my site was updated recently), I will let you know as soon as it’s fixed! 🙂
Hi Kel! I believe the issue has been resolved and you should be able to print now. If you still can’t, would you mind letting me know? Thanks so much! Aggie
I love your vegetarian column. People say, there are no varieties in vegetarian food. Now I have an answer to them.. and that’s Aggies kitchen. Thank you dear, thank you so much 😊
looks yummy! I have tried lot of recipes and my favorite session Aggies kitchen is Vegetarian session..
Great recipe with lots of flavor. Did you use dried oregano?
More Instant Pot recipes, please!
Hi Mary – thank you! So glad you enjoyed the recipe. Yes, I used dried oregano, I will update the wording in the ingredients – thank you for asking!
I’m confused, why set the IP to 20 min of pressure cooking if it should take 1-5 minutes of actual cooking and then 10 minutes of release? Or did I read that wrong?
Set the IP to 20 minutes – the timer will not start for the cooking process until it pressurizes which takes 10-15 minutes. Once the IP pressurizes, the cook time will start and the timer will begin to count down. Then you naturally release for 10 minutes. I mention the 10-15 minutes time to pressurize so you can plan for the total amount of time it will take in the IP – so total would be 10-15 min (pressurize) + 20 min (cook) + 10 min (natural release). Hope that makes more sense!! I find some IP misleading when you see it 20 minutes on the timer but then it takes a while for the timer to even activate because you need to wait for the IP to pressurize.
Loved the way cooking style and Veggie is my favorite.