A super easy sweet potato chili recipe, with everything you could ever want in a quick and healthy weeknight meal!
The best sweet potato chili
This classic homemade vegetarian chili recipe has been a favorite in my family for over ten years.
Packed with delicious and wholesome ingredients like sweet potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and black beans, what’s not to love?
Leftovers freeze well too, so it’s a really great healthy recipe for meal prep!
Along with my Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies, this chili is one of the first recipes I ever made without following instructions in a cookbook.
The chili can be vegan, gluten free, Whole 30, paleo, high in protein, and oil free.
Also try these Buffalo Cauliflower Wings
Chili serving suggestions
Sliced Avocado
One of these Cauliflower Recipes
Serve over rice or quinoa
Serve over spaghetti squash
Or make up a batch of Applesauce Muffins or these Oatmeal Muffins to go along with your chili.
To make the sweet potato vegetarian chili, start by peeling your sweet potatoes and chopping the onions.
(I love roasting the sweet potato before beginning, but it’s not required.)
In a large pot, bring all ingredients except the zucchini to a boil. Turn the heat to medium-low, and cook uncovered (adding zucchini about halfway through) until the sweet potato is soft.
Depending on the size of the potato, it should take around 15 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired.
I haven’t tried the recipe in an instant pot, so be sure to report back if you try. There is a slow cooker chili version here: Crock Pot Sweet Potato Chili.
Add a shake of hot sauce for smoky or spicy chili, and feel free to use whatever beans you have on hand. I especially like it as black bean sweet potato chili.
Leftover Sweet Potato? Make this Sweet Potato Salad or these Sweet Potato Brownies.
Above, watch the video of how to make sweet potato chili
The recipe was adapted from my Vegetarian Chili Recipe.
Sweet Potato Chili
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato (10 oz)
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 can black beans, or beans of choice
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup chopped zucchini, optional
- 2 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1/2 tsp each: cumin and salt
InstructionsÂ
- Peel sweet potato, and chop or dice, depending on desired size. (If you have time, I love roasting the sweet potato now, but it's not required.) Bring all ingredients except zucchini to a boil. Then turn to medium-low and cook uncovered (add zucchini about halfway through) until sweet potato is soft. It depends on the size of the potato but should take around 15 minutes. Taste, and add salt and pepper as desired. I add an additional 1/2 tsp salt. Serve with sliced avocado, tortilla chips, or whatever you wish.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Healthy Dinner Recipes
Currently making this chili right now, added lots of garlic and plan on serving it with garlic na’an. I’m excited!
Made this tonight… literally the best chili ever. The orange zest goes perfectly with the sweet potatoes.
I made this chilli in my slow cooker. Let it cook on low for 10 hours – it was amazing!! Such a comforting meal to come home to on a cold winter evening 🙂
I tried this recipe by making it the night before and eating it for supper the next day and it is fantastic! It’s so good its addictive! This will definitely be a new staple for me! Thanks Katie!
Has anyone made this in a crockpot?
Yes, it works well!
Made this last night–it was GREAT! Thanks so much for the recipe! I love it when vegan recipes turn out delicious 😉
I wasn’t kidding when I said I am cooking my way through your blog…earlier today. Does that make me a chocolate-covered stalker? 😉
Anyway, after making and devouring your delicious polka dot banana bread, I wandered around your blog and found this recipe. I am at the point in my fridge/pantry that it is almost inexcusable to not go to the store, but alas, sometimes I am just lazy and wait until the absolute last minute.
I was THRILLED when I saw this recipe fit exactly what I had left in my fridge! Hallelujah! It was fate. I had made a sweet potato chili in the past from a different recipe that just wasn’t for me, and I had been dying since then to try a different one, because the idea is so brilliant. When I found one on your blog, I KNEW that this was the one. Let me just say, this was DIVINE! So simple and so freshly flavored.
The only things I changed to fit my scantily stocked kitchen was use 2 cups of chicken broth instead of 1 cup of water, swapped 1 of the 2 cans of black beans for a can of chili beans, and I used lemon zest instead of orange. I also topped it with a dollop of greek yogurt. I will be making this over and over!
Hi Katie!
Just saw this yummy recipe, but I can’t have beans for health reasons, do you think this could work with chicken or ground turkey? Have you or anyone you know tried it with those ingredients? Thank you!
Stay Happy and Healthy
Amber
I’m honestly not a huge sweet potato person- but when I first tried this chili it was all I wanted to eat for a while! LOL
My family and I have made this ahead of time and taken it camping and taken it for vacations and picnics- just heat it back up on a gas camp stove if you’ve got one. I’m sure over a fire would be nice too. This chili is going to be the star of my thanksgiving meal!
Hi Katie …I have a problem ..I want to save your recipes and I usually print them..but when I go to print the recipe I end up getting everything ..including all the comments people write. Is there any way to just get a printable recipe? Or do you know a way I can save your recipes on my computer ..I have an iPad. It is new & I am just learning all it can do. Do you know of an app I could save them to? Thank you for your help….can’t wait to make this sweet potato chilli recipe. Barbara
You can save just the recipe and print it this way: hi-light just the recipe itself, then right click and hit copy; then open a new Word document, right click and hit paste. Then you can give a title to the document and save it in a separate folder of CCK recipes.