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Today I’m sharing a recipe for Vegetarian Chili perfect for Weight Watchers. It’s my personal favorite. This vegetarian chili is so thick and flavorful, you won’t miss the meat!
It’s a crowd pleasing hit with vegan, vegetarian, and meat eaters alike.
Through the years, I’ve made dozens of different kinds of chili from mild to spicy, with meat and without. This simple and delicious vegetarian chili recipe has become a personal favorite.
It’s lighter and healthier than traditional chili with meat but still hearty and satisfying. It’s perfect for parties, potlucks and watching football games with a crowd, since it’s a hearty meatless option that carnivores will also enjoy.
How Do You Make Vegetarian Meatless Chili?
That’s pretty easy. To make your chili meatless, just skip the meat! For a meaty consistency you could use vegetarian crumbles but I prefer using bulgur, which provides a chewy, hearty almost meat like consistency.
What is Bulgur?
If you’re not familiar with bulgur, it’s a quick-cooking form of whole wheat that’s been partially cooked, dried and ground and is commonly used in Middle Eastern cooking.
It’s the main ingredient in tabouli. You can find it in health food stores and most well-stocked grocery stores.
Additions and Variations
Chili is one of those dishes that can be made a million different ways and is really hard to mess up, unless you try to get too creative with your spice combinations.
If you stick to the basics and control the amount of spice, it’s hard to go wrong. That being said, this recipe can be adapted and modified in lots of ways to suit your preferences.
Here are a few ideas for changing it a bit
Spicier: Increase cayenne pepper or add fresh chiles with the onion, garlic and bell pepper. You could also stir in a little chipotle chile in adobo.
Fresher/Zestier: Finishing off the chili with a little splash of vinegar and fresh cilantro will make it taste super fresh.
Thicker: When done blend a small portion of the chili to give it more body.
Bulk it Up: Add more vegetables. chopped zucchini, sweet potato, butternut squash, or corn would all be good.
How Many Calories and WW Points in this Vegetarian Chili?
According to my calculations, this vegetarian chili has about 293 calories.
To see your WW Points for this recipe, track it in the WW App!
(You must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)
6 SmartPoints (Green plan)
2 SmartPoints (Blue plan)
1 SmartPoints (Purple plan)
6 PointsPlus (Old plan)
If you enjoy this recipe for vegetarian chili, be sure to check out my other easy, healthy Weight Watchers friendly recipes including Easy Black Bean and Corn Soup, Pepperoni Pizza Chili, WW Lentil Sausage Stew, Slow Cooker Spicy Cajun Soup, WW Slow Cooker Chuck Wagon Chili, WW Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Chili, Slow Cooker Pumpkin Black Bean Chili and Slow Cooker 3 Bean Turkey Sausage Chili
If you’ve made this Meatless Chili, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Healthy Vegetarian Chili Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1-1/2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika (I sometimes use smoked paprika)
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup bulgur, preferably coarse
- 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
- 3 cans (15 ounces each) beans (kidney, black, pinto or any combination), rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 5 cups water
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Put a large soup pot on medium heat and add the oil.
- Add the onions, garlic, and bell pepper and cook, stirring often, until softened. This should take about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, cayenne, bay leaves and bulgur. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add the tomatoes, beans, soy sauce, water, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often so the ingredients don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Before serving, taste and add more salt, pepper and/or cayenne if needed.
Notes
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.) 6 SmartPoints (Green plan) 2 SmartPoints (Blue plan) 1 SmartPoints (Purple plan) 6 PointsPlus (Old plan) Vegetarian Chili Additions and Variations This recipe can be adapted and modified in lots of ways to suit your preferences. Here are a few ideas: Spicier: Increase cayenne pepper or add fresh chiles with the onion, garlic and bell pepper. You could also stir in a little chipotle chile in adobo. Fresher/Zestier: Finishing off the chili with a little splash of vinegar and fresh cilantro will make it taste super fresh. Thicker: When done blend a small portion of the chili to give it more body. Bulk it Up: Add more vegetables. chopped zucchini, sweet potato, butternut squash, or corn would all be good.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe source: Slightly adapted from Vegetarian Classics: 300 Essential and Easy Recipes for Every Meal (affiliate link) by Jeanne Lemlin.
Here’s a video that shows you how easy it is to make spicy vegetarian chili at home:
The Domestic Goddess shows how to make chili three different ways (Beef and Bean, Vegetarian and Green Chile Chicken):
More Weight Watchers Chili Recipes
- Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili (Cookin’Canuck)
- Slow Cooker Vegetarian Quinoa Chili (SnackGirl)
- Chili Cornbread Bake (EmilyBites)
- Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili (SkinnyTaste)
- Crock Pot Chunky Chicken Chili (SkinnyKitchen)
- Dan-Good Veggie Chili (HungryGirl)
- “Meaty” Vegetarian Chili (MealPlanningMommies)
- Slow Cooker Butternut Squash and Farro Chili (EatYourselfSkinny)
This is delicious and I’ve made it a few times but I found that the amount of chili powder ( 1 1/2 Tbsp) was way too strong. It overpowered the flavor of the entire batch. I’m reducing it to less than 1/2 Tbsp. I love how the bulgur thickens the chili and makes us think we actually have meat in there.
Very good post. I will be dealing with some of these issues as well..
Thanks for finally talking about > Weight Watchers Vegetarian Chili Recipe | Simple Nourished Living < Loved it!
Best vegetarian chili ever!!!
I made the Fresher/Zestier version and it was so good! Making it again for a pot luck this week.
So very happy to hear it! Thanks for taking the time to let me know 🙂
I made a huge pot of veg chili, using brown rice in place of bulgur
Then added meatless grounds to 1/2 of pot. Delious