Autumn Vegetable Chili

(c) Robin Grose

Robin:  Ed and I moved back to my native Indiana in the spring of 2022, but before that we’d lived several years in places (South Florida and Costa Rica) that don’t really get an autumn, and I missed that season most of all. I did my best to enjoy pretending to cycle through the four seasons like much of the rest of the U.S. and Canada does. Regardless of the fact that the leaves on our real trees there never sported bright orange and yellow leaves, inside the national chain stores—even in South Florida—it’s all about fall foliage during the autumn months. Stores all seem to be really cold inside there due to excessive air conditioning, so when you see a display of pumpkins and scarecrows and smell some cinnamon, you really do want to go put on a sweater and get all snug and comfy. Well, at least until you walk back out into the heat and humidity!

This vegetarian chili makes me feel all cozy. It’s one of the very few dishes I ever make that call for parsnip, so this is a great way to savor that root vegetable occasionally. Parsnip just sounds and feels old-fashioned, doesn’t it? I am sure that adds to the comfort food aura of this soup.

Which takes me to the next point: Do you think of chili as more of a chunky soup or more like a soupy stew? I grew up with the former concept (in fact, we sometimes even called it chili soup), but as I got older and learned about Tex-Mex cuisine, I saw that its origins lie in a more stew-like format and that a lot people in the Southwest U.S. wouldn’t call it a soup at all.

Whatever you name it, though, this is a good dish. I enjoy the slight kick from the canned tomatoes with hot peppers and the definite but not overpowering flavor of the chili powder; the quantities of these ingredients are, of course, adjustable to your own preferences.

• Learn the difference between chili powder and ground chile.
• Try another great fall-weather recipe: Autumn Spice Puppy Chow

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Autumn Vegetable Chili

Satisfying and multi-layered in flavor, you won’t even miss the meat in this vegetarian chili.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword autumn, chili, root vegetables, soup, vegetable

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 6

Calories 270 kcal

Author Robin Grose / comboplate.net

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large carrots chopped
• 2 large parsnips chopped
• 1 medium-sized onion diced
• 2 ribs celery chopped
• ½ pound tiny red potatoes ideally about the size of a grape
• 1 can 29 ounces/822 grams beans of your choice (kidney, pinto, garbanzo, etc.)
• 1 can 14.5 ounces/411 grams diced tomatoes
• 1 can 10 ounces/283 grams diced tomatoes & green chile peppers Ro-tel or similar
• 4 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon beef or vegetable bouillon powder OR 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 cup shredded or crumbled cheese

Instructions

1. In a large soup pot, heat the oil. Add the carrots and parsnips; sautee, stirring occasionally, until the veggies start to brown. Add the onion and continue to sautee until the onion becomes transparent. Add the potatoes (unpeeled) and celery.
2. Open the can of beans and pour half of the beans and all the liquid into the soup pot. With a fork or other utensil, smash the beans that are left in the can. They don’t have to be perfectly smashed, just broken up enough so that these beans will disintegrate and thicken the soup. Add to the pot.
3. Add both cans of tomatoes, the chili powder, the bouillon powder or salt, and 4 or 5 cups of water to the mix. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables and potatoes are tender and soup is of desired consistency. (Let reduce longer for thicker chili, add a little water for thinner soup.)

4. Serve your delicious Autumn Vegetable Chili in bowls and sprinkle with chopped cilantro and cheese. Store leftovers in the fridge; this is one of those dishes that are as good or better reheated.