Instant Pot Three Bean Chili

Instant Pot three bean chili is a one pot dish great for any night of the week. If you have canned beans in your pantry and you’re wondering what to do with them this may be the recipe you’ve been looking for!

I’m always looking for low fat whole food plant based recipes that are easy to prepare with basic ingredients in my kitchen. One of the benefits of using the Instant Pot is that you can cook everything in one pot and walk away.

Cooking Oil Free?

For this dish, the onions, garlic and jalapeño are sautéed in the Instant Pot using a little bit water.  Hit the Sauté Button on the Instant Pot and add your onions and a little water for a no oil sauté.

Why make this Chili?

• Beans are a great source of protein, fiber, antioxidants, and great for your metabolism and helping to control your appetite
• This chili is freezer friendly.
• Great for meal prepping ideas. You can easily add to this chili some greens like spinach or kale, or add in some broccoli or frozen corn.

Instant Pot Three Bean Chili Ingredients:

• Onion
• Garlic
• Jalapeño
• Kidney Beans, Black Beans & Chickpeas
• Chopped Walnuts (optional)
• Chili Powder
• Cumin
• Diced Tomatoes
• Tomato Paste

Important tip on the jalapeño!  Where disposable gloves to protect your hands from the oil from the jalapeño. I found out the hard way.  The oil from the jalapeño burned my hands. Thank God for Google! The solution I found is to soak your hand in a fat. I luckily had some vegan yogurt to put my hand in and that did the trick.

FYI..For some extra protein and healthy fats, I added in chopped walnuts to the chili. It gives a meaty texture and umami flavor. But nuts aren’t for you no worries, you can just skip it!

Instructions for the chili in the Instant Pot:

• Dice up the an onion, garlic and jalapeño
• Rinse and drain the beans
• Turn the Instant Pot on sauté.
• Add the onions and a little water to the Instant Pot. Sauté for a couple minutes.
  

  Sautéed onion, garlic, and jalapeño in the Instant Pot

• Add in the garlic and stir for about a minute. Next you can add in the jalapeño and stir. If anything begins to stick, you can add a little water to the pot.
• The next step is to add the tomato paste and stir for about one minute.
• Add the chili powder and cumin and stir. You add in the chopped walnuts if using.
  

  Sautéed onion, garlic, jalpeano in the Instant Pot with tomato paste

• Add in the diced tomatoes, water and the beans and stir.
  

  Preparing the chili in the Instant Pot

• Add the lid to the Instant Pot and change the setting to manual and set for 20 minutes on high pressure. Let the Instant Pot have a Natural release.
  What is a Natural Release for the Instant Pot?  The float valve drops down after the Instant Pot cools down.  You can remove the lid. That could take about 35-45 minutes..
• Optional: Remove the lid to the Instant Pot and add 2 cups of chili to a blender or Vitamix for about 20-30 seconds. Add the blended chili to the chili in the Instant Pot and stir. This will thicken the chili.

Chili is ready to serve! You could also top the chili with green onions or vegan sour cream.

No worries if you don’t have a Instant Pot!
If you do not have an Instant Pot or a pressure cooker, you can make this chili in a soup pot on the stove. You just need to stir the chili more often.

P.S. If you make this recipe, leave a comment below, share your pictures on Instagram and tag me with @plantbasedfoodylife … I’d love to see what you make!!!