Recipe: Red Lentil Chili 2.0 — 3ten — a lifestyle blog (2024)

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This red lentil chili is both gluten free and vegan. A few weeks ago I was at work and an email came across my desk – Chili Cook Off! Talk about fun, right? Well, I decided to take the Lentil Chili recipe I shared a few years ago and jazz it up. This new 2.0 recipe has charred corn and toasted spices. Let’s get cooking.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil
• 3 peppers, 1 yellow and 2 red
• 5 jalapeños
• large red onion
• 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons of chili powder
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin and morita chipotle
• 1 teaspoon of chipotle and aleppo chili flakes
• 5 fresh tomatoes
• 5 ears of corn
• 2 cups of red split lentils
• 1.8 litres of vegan vegetable broth
• salt to taste

First – where to get all of those spices? I love the Spice Merchant on Whyte Avenue. Don’t worry – they mail spices, too!

Okay, once you’ve got all of your ingredients put on a large pot of salted water and bring it to a boil. When the water is boiling, turn the burner down a touch and add in the corn. Cook for 8 minutes.

During those 8 minutes chop the peppers, jalapeños, and the onion. And, if you have time dice the tomatoes and put them aside for now.

This next step – roasting the corn – is easy for me because I have a gas stove. If you don’t, you can use your BBQ.

I use a wire basket for cooking over the BBQ and put the corn in it and then turn the gas burner on medium-high. Roast well until about half is nice and charred.

Then, once the corn is cool enough to handle, cut the corn off the cobs. Set that aside.

The Secret Step

Time to toast the spices! In a large pan add in all the dry spices and turn the burner on medium – shake the pan every 30 seconds or so and toast them for about 3-5 minutes. It’s this step, the toasting of the spices, which really brings out the heat in this red lentil chili.

Once the spices are toasted add in the grapeseed oil, peppers, jalapeños, onion, and garlic. Cook for about 8-10 minutes until the onions are translucent.

Now, add everything – the pepper mixture, the roasted corn, and the tomatoes into the slow cooker. Add in the broth and the lentils. Cook on low for 6 hours and add salt to taste.

Any time after it’s been cooking for 3 hours and before you’re ready to serve take out 4 cups and blend in your Vitamix or blender and add back in. This will help thicken the chili and give it some depth.

That’s it! Done.

Eat with avocado or any toppings you like.

This red lentil chili recipe makes enough for 8 and freezes well.

Thanks so much for stopping by and happy cooking!

Recipe

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