Serves 10 to 12
Active time: 15 minutes || Total time: 40 minutes
You know those food magazines that you flip through while in the checkout line at the supermarket? The ones you put back on the rack, all the better for knowing that you can make a casserole out of a can of soup and 35 egg whites? Yeah, well, I buy those magazines. All of them. It is my secret shame.
But this week a magazine cover gave me the chutzpah to do what I’ve always wanted to… put Thai red curry paste in everything. Or at least chili! To be fair, the magazine was Clean Eating, which usually has pretty awesome non-soup can ideas. And the original recipe was even vegan, so yay.
This isn’t their exact recipe, I just ripped off the idea (jeez, I have some integrity). It’s just as awesome as you would imagine if you threw together a Thai curry and a chili. OK fine, maybe that doesn’t sound awesome, but it was! I used red lentils for texture and kept the main ingredients as is: sweet potatoes and big meaty kidney beans. It’s really satisfying and blessedly easy so make it the next time you want to switch up your chili repertoire. It makes a lot so freeze the leftover and have chili whenever you want.
Olive oil (1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons, however much you feel like using)
1 large yellow onion, diced medium
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced medium
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 ½ lbs sweet potatoes cut into ¾ inch chunks
1 cup red lentils
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups vegetable broth
2 15 oz cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
1 15 oz can lowfat coconut milk
28 oz can diced tomatoes
½ cup fresh cilantro, plus extra for garnish
Limes for garnish (optional)
Preheat a 4-quart pot over medium heat. Saute onions and pepper in oil with a pinch of salt, for 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and saute a minute more.
Add chili powder, sweet potatoes, lentils, salt and vegetable broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. When lentils are cooked and sweet potatoes are tender, add the remaining ingredients and heat through.
Taste for salt and seasoning, top with cilantro and lime and serve!
I think I’ve commented here all too many times about this chili already, but just tried it today in the slow cooker as per someone else’s suggestion and it still reigns supreme! (granted, know your slow cooker, I was way off, ended up taking six hours on low plus two on high, then one more on low with the addition of the coconut milk and cilantro). Freezes beautifully for batch cooking, I’ve found.
Good to know, thanks!
I’ve made this a a handful of times and have always loved it. Today I was thinking of making but didn’t have any tomatoes, red peppers or sweet potatoes. I used squash instead of potatoes, added chili garlic sauce and nutritional yeast. The results were fantastic. I love recipes like this where you can substitute/leave out some ingredients and come out with something very similar and quite tasty.
would love for you to add the nutritional information to this!!
It’s really easy to do that yourself. http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php
Just made this….delicious. I am a new veg – a – something and discovering this world of cuisine. I think a different bean would be better…I served it with hot sweet chile sauce and chopped pickled ginger and jasmine rice- really good. This might be my favorite recipe of 6 weeks of experimenting with vegetarian/vegan cuisine. I highly recommend MAESRI brand red curry paste, available in asian grocery stores – it is excellent; I have used it in a variety of thai curries and have never been disappointed.
The only Thai Red Curry Paste I was able to find was the Mae Ploy brand and it contains shrimp paste… which brands are Vegan? And where are they available for purchase? (I’m located in Las Vegas). Thanks for your help!!
Shawnee, I’d go to an Asian market, I’m sure there’s one near you if you’re in Las Vegas. They should have many varieties!
I made this for the third time tonight and changed up the recipe. I used heirloom lentils and added some sweet frozen white corn. An awesome recipe!
I found this through Pinterest and made it for a once-a-month cooking group. It turned out delicious! My husband loved it, and he is a total carnivore. I cooked three giant batches, each in a slow cooker. The batches are HUGE (easily 12 + cups) and I would recommend putting the slow cooker on high for about 45 minutes, then on low until the sweet potatoes are tender (I think it took about 3 1/2-4 hours).
You can get Thai Red Curry sauce (and light coconut milk) relatively inexpensively from Trader Joe’s. I found dried red lentils in the Asian foods section of the grocery store.
Good stuff. Just made it. I’m on for bringing dinner tonight to our board gaming weekly event. And this is going. I’m eating it for a late lunch. The flavors will meld well between now and then. The lentils really add a nice texture.
I did chop up two corn tortillas into small dice and add them towards the end of the frying of the onions & peppers phase. I also added about 6 ounces of frozen corn to mine. It could actually use more beans, I think.
Just lovely. Another winner!
Isa, just found this recipe a couple of days ago as I was trolling around your site looking for that certain something that I felt like eating. This chili was it!! Went together so fast and is absolutely amazingly good! Felt compelled to make the raspberry truffle brownies just to gild the lily a bit — 16 year old son got most of those, but I managed to sneak a couple!
I found this recipe while riding the bus. It was one of the overheads. I couldn’t wait to go home and check it out. Chili is delicious. I made it for my fourth of July cookout and it was a big hit. I have one question “what is the nutritional values?”. I’m keeping a log and just needed to know.
I cooked wheat berries yesterday to make a chili…so I’m going to try this recipe with wheat berries…That can’t be bad, can it?
This was delicious! I had co-workers taste test and everybody liked it. It is definitely a keeper and will make again.
I love this chilli soooo much. its the only vegan chilli that I’ve ever really loved. It’s literally become a staple of my diet. I live alone so I make a big batch and freeze it. Thanks so much for this!
Oh my goodness. When i read all the other reviews, I thought to myself, could tasty could it be possibly be?! I stand corrected……it is absolutely amazing and has so many levels of flavour to it (and with so little effort)!
Thank you for this awesome vegetarian recipe. I am always looking for ways to incorporate vegetables in a healthy and delicious way so that my 2 year old can appreciate healthy eating!
I made this recipe for a chili cook off tonight. I was the only vegetarian in a room of about 25 carnivores and 6 different crockpots of chili. I took second place! I only missed being champion by one vote! One guy came up to me and said he had decided before I even arrived that he wasn’t going to like my chili because it was meatless, but I proved him wrong. Fantastic recipe, Isa! I’ll be making this one again and again! Thanks for posting!
Way to go!
This may be a dumb question, but are the sweet potatoes peeled? Or, do you leave the peel on? It’s 20◦F here in Colorado, so I think this will be a great recipe to make!
I added hot Rotel in place of the diced tomatoes. It gave it an added kick of spiciness, just the way I like it. What a great recipe!
One of my favorite dishes to make and everyone loves it! Thanks for sharing!!!
Hi- I am looking for freezer recipes- would you put this all together minus the coconut milk and then reheat and then add the remaining ingredients and coconut milk? I want it to be as put together as possible.
I would just freeze the whole shebang.
Has anyone made this in a slow cooker? I can make it on the stove, but wondering how it will hold up with the coconut milk if I bring it to an event where it will sit for a couple hours.
I used Thai Kitchen Red Curry paste with this and it was AWESOME.
this chili rules. I followed recipe, adding cumin and some cayenne for smokiness and kick. I serve it with lime zest/cilantro rice. Really hearty and balanced.
Just made this with a homemade thai curry paste. It was really good. Goes well with bread. thanks for the recipe.
PS: I have no integrity whatsoever:-) I made exactly as is here.
Isa, you are a genius! Yet another one of your recipes that I made thinking “this should taste pretty good,” and it turned out fan-freakin’-tastic! Both me and my meat-eating hubby loved this. And since this recipe could feed a small army, we’ve been eating leftovers for a few days. Tastes even better re-heated. Even though I prefer to make my own curry pastes, I made an exception and bought A Taste of Thai red curry paste, and I’m glad I did. The only change I made to the recipe is I added a bunch of shredded purple kale, because lately I’ve been throwing kale in everything. This will now be on the weekly/monthly meal rotation, and I’m already dreaming up different types of lentils and beans to try next time! Ooh, or butternut instead of sweet potatoes …
OMG this is the best thing I’ve ever made. EVER. It’s a taste explosion! You are my god.
OH STOP! (go on…)
Hi Isa! Do you have any suggestions as far as sides? (I love your recipes, btw!)
I followed the recipe to a T and was not super thrilled with it. It smelled and tasted great up until the coconut milk. It just gave it the weirdest flavor after that. Might just be my personal taste but if you know for sure that you don’t like it I wouldn’t put it in.
Oh my, sooooo delicious!!!!! I deviated slightly by tossing everything except the cilantro and lime juice into the slow cooker at once, using soaked but not cooked dry kidney beans. Also crumbled 2 lbs of tofu into the mix as I’m a protein junkie. What has resulted is truly the yummiest chili/curry ever, with an authentic chili consistency. I’m a newly converted former carnivore, and can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
I have a pot of this chili going right now. Third time I’ve made it. Seriously SO GOOD!!! Thank you Isa!!! 🙂
Just made it, awesome !!! Added spoonful of sesame paste.
This was delicious! I added an entire can of chunk pineapple, juice and all, for a little more sweet and fruity. Fantastic.
We’ve made this several times, and I just had to say thanks! One time my husband even used the”chili powder” he mistakenly bought from the Indian market, super spicy that time but still great! You rock, chica!
Just made this and it was sooooo delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe.