One Pot Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili [vegan]

I’ve been familiar with chili for a long time now. Here in Albania we have two main recipes that we usually cook beans, the famous bean stew and my favorite of all time the bean casserole with veggies. My family is a big fan of the first one the bean stew recipe. They like to have this dish almost every week. So, to spice things up, I made for them one of our most delicious and easy recipes including beans. I used black beans and sweet potato to make this amazing chili.

During weekends this sweet potato black bean chili is one of my go to when me and my boyfriend have a long week ahead and a lot of work to do. I store it in containers and it stays in fridge up to 5 days. This dish is an excellent source of protein for anyone, whether vegetarian, vegan or not.

This recipe is delicious if you serve it with cooked rice, corn bread, salsa on the side, sauerkraut, etc.

What is sweet potato black bean chili made of?

• This tasteful dish is made with cooked black beans. You ca use canned black beans or you can cook them yourself. If you are making this dish with canned black beans, you need to have two cans of beans, about 400 gr (15 ounce) each.
• Sweet potato. Sweet potato is a veggie that never fails. Every time I use it in a dish, it always taste delicious. It is healthy and contains lots of fibers too.
• Onion, Celery and Garlic. That is the base of deliciousness. I always start my dishes with onion, garlic and celery.
• Spices like chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin seeds and cinnamon. This combination makes the chili smoky but sweet at the same time. It has a rich earthy flavor from mixing sweet potato and cinnamon.
• Lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. I definitely have a thing with apple cider vinegar! I use it in everything. They both give this recipe an acidic flavor that it fails to get boring. The acidic flavor is the most important key ingredient in my recipes.
• Liquid sweetener. I used date syrup but you can use honey, agave, maple syrup or coconut blossom.
• Tomato sauce. I used a can of diced tomatoes, about 400 gr. This is the ingredient that combines all the other ingredients in this recipe.
• Salt and pepper. Of course the key of every tasteful dish.

Why you have to make sweet potato black bean chili more often?

• It takes 5 minutes to prepare and 30 to cook.
• It is perfect for meal prep, it stays in the fridge well and freezes well too up to 3 months.
• It is delicious!
• It is easy to make since it doesn’t require special ingredients or special steps to follow when cooking it.
• It is a one pot recipe! You have to just add all the ingredients in a pot and let it cook.
• It is rich in proteins and fibers.
• It is healthy.

We like to top our sweet potato black bean chili with diced onions, avocado, parsley and lemon. You can also add things like plant yogurt or eat it with nachos. Let us know on our social media, what is the best way to eat this chili.

One Pot Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili [vegan] is a delicious dish that you can enjoy warm or store it in containers for the week. It stays well in the fridge and it is made from simple ingredients. The combination of smoky paprika, cinnamon and sweet potato is everything you’ve been wanting to taste on a cold day.

One Pot Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili [vegan]

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

• 2+1/2 cup black beans cooked* or 2 cans (15-ounce or 400 gr) of black beans,drained
• 2 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 stalk of celery, diced
• 1 (15-ounce or 400 gr) can of diced tomato
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups of water
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp date syrup or any other sweetener
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

1. Put a pot over medium heat and add the olive oil, onion,garlic and celery. Let it cook for about 2 minutes until the onion is soft.
2. Then add the spices (cinnamon, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin seeds), pepper, salt and date syrup. Give it a stir and let the spices cook with the onion for about 2 minutes, so the onion gets a caramelization form the spices and date syrup.
3. Then add the sweet potatoes to the onion mix and sautee them for another couple of minutes before adding the black beans and apple cider vinegar. Let it cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Then add the diced tomatoes and water and give everything a stir. Let it cook for about 30 minutes until the potatoes are softened.  Check it once in a while so it has enough water to cook.
5. After you have removed the pot from heat, add lemon juice and serve it warm. Top it with chili flakes, yogurt, lemon, avocado, guacamole, parsley, cilantro or any other topping of your choice. Enjoy!

Notes

1. To make 2+1/2 cup of cooked beans it takes 1 cup dried black beans. Soak them overnight and boil them for about 1 hour.  If you are using canned beans instead, you need to have 2 can (15-ounce or 400 gr) of black beans.
2. I added cinnamon to the dish because I love the combination of sweet potato with date syrup, cinnamon and paprika but you can definitely let it out.