Budget Friendly Vegan Sweet Potato Chili Recipe for You

According to my research assistant, DuckDuckGo Search Assist, there are many budget-friendly vegan recipes that are both delicious and nutritious, such as lentil chili, vegetable stir-fries, and chickpea tacos. These meals often use affordable ingredients like beans, rice, and seasonal vegetables, making them easy to prepare without overspending.

So, I'm going to be tracking down and sharing some of the best budget friendly vegan recipes out there. We're starting out with vegan chili. One of my favorite comfort foods and one of the few things I'm really good at making.

I went to my bestie, Martha Stewart for this one. She got a tad fancy on me with extra virgin olive oil and ancho chiles, but you could easily make more budget friendly, easier to find swaps. The comments also mentioned that it's watery. Like several people said that so I'd recommend adding much more of the tomato paste than the original recipe below calls for and maybe even some canned diced or crushed tomatoes, drained to thicken it up.

I've been looking for ways to work sweet potatoes into my diet for health benefits, so I really like that this recipe features them. I despise av0cados, so they would not be playing a role in my personal chili creation. But that's the great thing about recipes. You can tweak them to your heart's content. They're just jumping off points in my opinion. Let's get to it, shall we?

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 dried ancho chiles (1 ounce), stems removed, split lengthwise, and seeded

• 1 medium onion, chopped (1 ½ cups)

• 3 cloves garlic, minced (1 tablespoon)

• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 2 teaspoons chili powder

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional

• 1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes (2 medium), peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces (4 cups)

• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

• Sliced avocado, thinly sliced scallions, and crushed corn chips, for serving

Hey, before we jump into the how to, be sure to check out my super short shameless self promotion article about my customizable, ready to personalize cookbook you can buy online to record and pass down your own recipe creations or just your favorite finds. End o' commercial break.

Directions

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chiles, onion, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened and lightly browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Add tomato paste (I'd dump a whole small can in to thicken mine up), chili powder, cumin, and cayenne, if using; cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in sweet potatoes and 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Maybe a longer simmer would make it less watery, too. Just saying. Let cool 5 minutes.

Transfer chiles, 1 cup sweet potatoes, and 1 cup cooking liquid to a blender and puree until thick and smooth. Return to saucepan along with beans. Cook over medium heat until beans are warmed through, 5 minutes more. Adjust seasoning as desired. Serve, with avocado, scallions, and corn chips. I don't understand this step. Why not just add the beans to the simmered concoction above and then simmer a little more? Like I said, tweak, customize, make it your own. Oh, and here's the link to Martha's original article so she doesn't sue me. Holla!

Need some stuff to cook with? I got you, boo! Affiliate links to feed me and the kitty cats.

Garden of Eatin', Corn Tortilla Chips, Red Hot Blues , 10 oz (283 g)

• Made with Organic Blue Corn

• Kosher Parve

• Certified Gluten Free

• Non GMO Project Verified 

• Vegan

• Certified Organic by QAI

• Hain Celestial 

• Made with Expeller Pressed Oil

• No Hydrogenated Oil

• No Artificial Flavor

• No Artificial Preservatives 

Frontier Co-op, Chili Powder With Cumin, Garlic & Oregono, 1.76 oz (50 g)

• Non GMO Project Verified

• Non-ETO*

• Non-Irradiated

• Kosher

• We're a Member-Owned Co-op

• Responsible to People and Planet

Frontier Co-op® Chili Powder Blend uses the kick of chili pepper, along with garlic, cumin and coriander, to create lively and authentic Mexican, Tex-Mex, Indian and Asian fare. This zesty blend's robust flavor adds pep to chili, rice, mixed nuts, meat and bean dishes.

*ETO (ethylene oxide) is a sterilization chemical commonly used in the spice industry, but never by Frontier Co-op.