This Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili is packed with healthy summer vegetables. It’s fresh, filling, and easy to make.
How many of you have an Instant Pot? I got mine a few months ago and honestly have only used it three times so far, haha. A while ago, I asked on my Facebook page if people would be interested in vegetarian Instant Pot recipes, and I got an overwhelming yes, so I’m trying to deliver!
My husband is convinced that they created the Instant Pot only to find a way to make pressure cookers cool, and I can’t say that I disagree with him. 🙂 My goal is to make a lot of non-soup recipes, but I figured I’d start with something easy, like chili to get the hang of things. This is no ordinary Instant Pot vegetarian chili, though! It’s packed with summer vegetables like zucchini, squash, and corn.
Vegetarian Instant Pot Chili Recipe Ingredients
- Olive oil
- Vegetables – I used yellow onion, fresh garlic, zucchini, yellow squash, red pepper, tomatoes, and corn kernels. You can use fresh or frozen corn.
- Beans – I drained and rinsed three cans of beans. I like to use black, kidney, and pinto, but you can use your favorite beans in any combination, or just one type if you like.
- Vegetable broth – The quantity depends on how thick you prefer your chili. I usually use 2 1/2 cups.
- Spices – This chili calls for chili powder, cumin, paprika, dried Italian seasoning,black pepper, and salt.
- Coconut sugar – Brown sugar also works.
- Tomato paste
How To Make This Instant Pot Chili with Summer Veggies
Chili is thick and has lots of beans. It can be eaten with crackers and avocado. I probably eat chili more often in the colder seasons, but I really enjoy it in summer, too. It’s one of my favorite one-pot meals and tastes even better the day after you make it.
- Press the ‘sauté’ button on your Instant Pot. Add the olive oil and the onion. Cook for 1 minute, then add the garlic. Cook for another 30 seconds, and add the tomatoes, red pepper, zucchini, squash, and corn.
- Cook the vegetables until slightly softened, 2-3 minutes. Add the beans, broth, and all the spices. Stir until combined, and add the tomato paste on top of everything. You don’t need to stir it in. If you do, there’s a chance it will be too thick and burn.
- Turn the sauté mode off. Securely fasten the lid on the Instant Pot and set the pressure valve to closed. Press the ‘pressure cook’ button and set it for 8 minutes.
- Once it’s finished cooking, carefully open the pressure valve and wait for all the steam to be released. Open your instant pot and give the chili a good stir before serving. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy!
Recipe Thoughts and Tips
- I also used fresh tomatoes instead of canned ones, which I usually use in my chili recipes. Truth be told, I’m not a huge soup person. I’m unsure if it’s because I live in the desert, and it’s hardly ever soup weather here, or if it’s just not my cup of tea. But I can totally get on board with chili!
- The Instant Pot makes this recipe really quick and easy! You have to spend some time chopping the veggies, but it goes quickly once they’re in the instant pot with all the other ingredients. Close the steam valve (don’t forget to do this! Trust me, it doesn’t work if you don’t). Then, set it to pressure cook for 8 minutes, and you have delicious, perfectly cooked chili!
- If making this chili vegan, you can top it with vegan sour cream, or none at all.
- This recipe is gluten-free (be sure the veggie broth you use is gluten-free).
- This chili will freeze well in an airtight freezer-friendly container for up to three months. Leftovers should last in the fridge for up to five days, but use your judgment. I find chili always tastes best days after making it.
I hope you enjoy this recipe! I’d love to hear from you if you want to see more Instant Pot recipes here. Let me know if you have any suggestions for recipes you’d like me to make! 🙂
Have a question about this recipe? Ask me in the comments, and I’ll get back to you ASAP.
Looking For More Chili Recipes?
Zucchini, Corn, and White Bean Chili
Vegetarian Pumpkin Chili with Black Beans
Spaghetti Squash, Sweet Potato; Black Bean Chili
Print
Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili with Summer Vegetables
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium zucchini, diced
- 1 medium yellow squash, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 3 medium tomatoes, diced
- 1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
- 3 cans beans, drained and rinsed (I like to use black, kidney and pinto)
- 2–3 cups vegetable broth, depending on how thick you prefer. I usually use 2 1/2 cups
- 2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
Instructions
- Press the ‘sauté’ button on your instant pot. Add the olive oil and the onion. Cook for 1 minutes and then add the garlic. Cook for another 30 seconds and add the tomatoes, red pepper, zucchini, squash and corn.
- Cook vegetables until slightly softened, 2-3 minutes. Add the beans, broth and all the spices. Stir until combined and add the tomato paste right on top of everything. You don’t need to stir it in. If you do, there is a chance it will be too thick and burn.
- Turn the sauté mode off. Securely fasten the lid on the instant pot and set the pressure valve to closed. Press the ‘pressure cook’ button and set it for 8 minutes.
- Once it’s finished cooking, carefully turn the pressure valve to open and wait for all the steam to be released. Open your instant pot and give the chili a good stir before serving. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy!
Notes
Chili can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Soup, Dinner, Gluten Free, Vegan
Is it freezer friendly?
Yes!
Love this recipe ?
Thank you!!
Maybe I missed this but what size can of beans did you use?
Thx
15 oz!
Super easy and super delicious!!!
So glad you enjoyed it!!
Great recipe! We cut back on the portions a bit because we have a smallish instant pot. But everything turned out well–wonderful flavors. Thanks for posting!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Any idea what the nutritional information is?
Sorry, I don’t currently have that information available but there are a few websites you can use to calculate it yourself 🙂
The best veggie chili! Love it.
Thanks so much!!
Because I’ve used my new Instant Pot a couple of times by now, I realized you might want to bump up the spices a bit, I used 3 cups of homemade chicken stock and it was thick and delicious. My family is oohing and aahing right now! So good!! And so fresh tasting. A quick yummy vegetarian meal
Thanks for the feedback! I’m glad the family is enjoying it! 🙂
Just made this for my fiancé and me. It is a lot more soupy than the Chili I usually eat, but still it is very delicious. I added some cooked jamin rice to my bowl and it was the most comforting meal ever ! My fiancé ate his bowl with a cream cheese bagel (can you guess we are a mixed race couple ? Lol) and he loved it too. I will make this again for sure.
haha! 🙂 I’m so glad that you both enjoyed it!
This was great! The fresh tomatoes and minimal spices were perfect. The flavors are so complex though! I ended up having chicken broth laying around so I used that and threw some frozen green beans in that needed to be cleared out of the freezer. I’ve been bringing it for my lunches this week and threw it over rice. I’m a big fan!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Putting it over rice sounds perfect!
I am really glad you have this recipe. I live in the heat as well, and we have 2 instant pots. We try very hard not to use canned anything (except tomatoes) so we cook all our rice, beans, chickpeas, and such in the pressure cookers. We can meal prep all weekend long, run both pressure cookers, and not heat up the kitchen. Living in a place where it can get up to 115, there is nothing worse than sweltering in a hot kitchen. I am looking forward to seeing more instant pot recipes for you. We have recently started our journey to being Vegan and I love your recipes. You are my goto site. I love the fact that your recipes are easily adaptable to various lifestyle choices.
I’ve had my instant pot for a while and really want to start using it more! I’ll have to focus on developing more instant post recipes this fall. I agree, when it’s 115 outside you definitely don’t want to heat the kitchen if you can help it! I’m so glad to hear that you enjoy my site!! 🙂
Hi Izzy, new viewer coming over from Pinterest. Do you think the squash and zucchini could be pureed for this? I am madly in love with them but, my husband (who I madly love also), doesn’t like them. Would it be runny?
Hi! I’m glad you’re here! Yeah, I think that would work just fine! If they seem a little runny after you prep them you could just strain some of the watery part off and use the thicker puree to add to the chili 🙂
Have lots of this chili left over and don’t feel like another bowl? Here’s an easy, fun, filling option my mother used to make which we called “American Enchiladas”. All you need is a few tortillas (maybe 2 per person) and some toppings like onions, cheese, olives and sour cream. Just heat up some chilli, spread some down the center, roll up and pour a little more chili across the two then heat in the microwave for a minute or so. Top with your favorites and enjoy!
That sounds delicious! I love that idea!
Yes, I have an Instant Pot and yes, I would like more recipes. I think I might have liked this better but all I can taste is the cumin. It overwhelmed everything. I knew it, when I was adding it and should have trusted my instinct. Most likely I will make it again, with about 1/4 as much. Also, since my Instant Pot is small, I had to use my crock pot, which was fine for me since I started early in the day. Thank you Izzy, for a healthy meal.
Can this be modified for slow cooker?
I think that it definitely could be but I have never made it in a slow cooker myself so unfortunately I can’t give exact directions. I’d suggest looking up a vegetarian slow cooker chili recipe and using those temps and cook times. I hope that helps!
I’ve had an instant pot/pressure cooker for over a year and only used it twice! ???? But I definitely want to use it more – I’m so glad you posted this recipe! Did you use fresh or frozen corn and how much, I didn’t see it in the ingredient list. I’ll be checking back for your other instant pot recipes to try, too! ????????????
Haha, sounds like me! I was so excited for it and it was a month before I even took it out of the box 🙂 Oops, thanks for letting me know about the corn, it’s in there now! I used fresh, but I think frozen would work great too! I used about a cup. Hopefully I’ll have some more IP recipes up soon haha! Thanks, Kaylee 🙂
How much corn did you use and when did you add it? Sounds delicious!
Sorry about that, Elizabeth! I just added it in there, thanks for letting me know! I used 1 cup of corn and added it in with the zucchini and squash 🙂 Thanks!