Charred Vegetable Chili with Tortilla Pepita Crisps
This vegetable chili tastes spicy and smoky from charred tomatoes and chili peppers, has a crunchy, salty, and sweet tortilla pepita crisp topping, and a silky texture from a surprise ingredient.
I’m curious about chili. It’s so popular and comes in so many iterations. I learned that it originated as far back as the 16th century in Mexico City and quickly migrated over the border into Texas, leading to its status as a Tex-Mex dish around the country. I reflected on some of the reasons chili seems lackluster, such as the basic flavor profile, and the method of dumping pantry ingredients in a pot and leaving them to cook. While this is easy for sure, I’m looking for more flavor excitement. As a result, I landed on three flavor hacks and an inventive topping/garnish I am excited to share with you, so you can make a better chili!
Three hacks to make chili taste better (and a new topping!)
Chili is a simple “Tex-Mex” recipe that includes chili powder and cumin, a lot of tomatoes, beans, and in this case it is vegetarian. I wanted to level up my recipe for vegetarian chili, and have done so with the three following hacks and a new topping to try:
A smoky, silky textured chili that’s so much better
RECIPE RECAP:
~ This chili is a leveled up version of a basic vegetarian chili. We’ve all made chili, but here, with no more time than usual, we get smokiness from charred veg, silkiness from blending some of the chili, and flavor enhancements that will have you coming back for more again and again.
~Plan of attack:
1. char veg on grill or under broiler. 2. cook pantry ingredients then add charred veg. 3. while the chili cooks, mix tortilla crisp ingredients and bake. Voila!
Ingredient notes
Most of the ingredients are nothing unusual, found in your pantry, but here are a few notes:
- Cherry tomatoes: It’s important to use cherry, so they are whole for grilling/broiling. You can sub any variety (shape or color) of cherry, large or small, as long as they are in tacts when broiling. If you prefer, you can try the small Roma tomatoes (sub 4 of those) and cook whole. They are sturdy enough not to fall apart.
- Chile peppers: for the mildest chili, use all poblano, or try two poblano, 1 jalapeno, and 1 serrano for more heat. You can sub any type you want, but overall the amount should look similar to 4 poblanos.
- Canned beans: I’ve chosen a blend of 3 beans often called “chili beans” but you can use any plain (not baked beans) canned bean such as pinto, black, or kidney.
- Chili powder: you can use basic chili powder, or any of the others sold such as chipotle, Ancho, or Aleppo chili powder, depending on your preference for heat. That said, this recipe was developed using the basic chili powder. I wanted to be sure it tasted fantastic, without any fancy ingredients.
- Dark chocolate: you can use any dark chocolate you prefer (but not choc. chips, which have other ingredients). I recommend 70-90% dark chocolate. I came across this ingredient in a variety of Mexican cooking and love the fact it adds flavor without tasting like chocolate!
- Oregano: if you can find Mexican oregano, try it! It is more fruity and floral, whereas typical (Mediterranean) oregano is actually part of the mint family. Either will work.
Substitutes summary: You can vary the chile peppers depending on how hot you like your chili, use any size cherry or Roma tomatoes, use any type of canned bean, chili powder or dark chocolate. Try Mexican oregano if you can get it, but regular oregano is fine.
Step-by-step instructions
- Prep tomatoes and chili peppers on pan for broiling
- Broil approximately 20 minutes, until vegetables are charred, turning peppers after 10 minutes.
- Alternatively, leave peppers whole and prep for grilling outside
- Grill for approximately 10 minutes, turning peppers after 5. Turn tomatoes after 5 minutes as well, without bursting them, if you are able.
- Chop roughly once finished, either way you cook them.
- Meanwhile, chop the onion and mince the garlic. Saute onion in oil for 5-8 minutes until golden and soft. During the last couple minutes add in the garlic. I use a small amount of oil, and employ the cover to allow a bit of steaming/help prevent any scorching.
- At this point, add in the tomato paste and spices, and stir almost continuously for 3-5 minutes. The spices will “bloom”, releasing their oils and flavors, and the tomato paste will caramelize, sticking a bit to the bottom of the pot. Use a wooden or silicone utensil to keep the mixture from scorching. A bit of sticking is fine- that is the paste developing flavor.
- Time to add the charred vegetables, crushed tomatoes, beans and water, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stirring occasionally to be sure nothing is sticking. Additional water can be added if needed, but not likely.
- Here is what the chil looks like at the 30 minute mark. Feel free to cook longer, if you have the time, but I have developed the recipe to be finished after 30 minutes.
- Use the immersion blender to partially blend the chili, leaving some larger pieces of veg and beans.
- Here you can see the velvety texture the chili has after blending. Add in the chocolate and stir for a couple minutes off the heat until incorporated and melted.
- The silky, velvety chili is complete. Taste and adjust for salt, pepper (if desired), cumin, and chili powder. I have found the flavor perfect as written, but it depends on the type of chile pepper used, if you went for making your own chili powder or not (see recipe card for that option).
- See flavor footnotes below.
- While the chili is cooking, you can make the tortilla pepita crisp by measuring all the dry ingredients into a bowl, and crunching up 12-15 tortilla chips into bite size pieces that vary in size.
- Drizzle 1 tbsp of olive oil over ingredients, mix with fork, then use the same oil coated spoon to drizzle 2 tbsp of honey over the mixture, so the honey slips off the spoon easily.
- Use a fork to carefully and lightly mix/fold the ingredients to fully incorporate the honey without breaking up the tortilla chips anymore.
- Spread the mixture onto a parchment lined sheet pan and gently press into a uniform slab about 1/4″ thick (the thinner the better).
- Bake at 325 for approximately 30 minutes until golden, remove and let fully cool (you can use the fridge to cool it down in about 10 minutes if in a rush).
- Break the crisp up into uneven pieces to serve on top of the chili as well as at the table on a small plate.
Footnote on flavor: this recipe is developed for great flavor using storebought chili powder. That said, there is a link to my homemade chili powder in the recipe card, if you like more gourmet or involved cooking. Cooking the chili for 30 min, blending, and adding chocolate are central to the flavor of this chili. Try chipotle chili powder for more heat, add a bit of cayenne and/or incorporate hotter chile peppers as mentioned above in the ingredient notes.The tomatoes offer enough acidity for my taste, but add a squirt of lime when serving if you like more. No elaborate ingredients, but great flavor; that was my aim. I hope you find it easy and delicious!
Nutritional highlights: The chili beans and crisp ingredients create a chili with 17 g protein, over 2000 mg of potassium, and 15 g of fiber. It’s a nutritional powerhouse. Using no salt added tomato products and water instead of broth, keeps it lower in sodium (419 mg.) but full of flavor. I’m accustomed to minimizing salty ingredients in my recipes.
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Charred Vegetable Chili with Tortilla Pepita Crisps
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Start CookingKitchen Tools
- 1 sheet pan or grill, to char vegetables (broil or grill outside)
- 1 soup pot, or dutch oven, 3.5 quart or similar size
- 1 blender, immersian or typical blender
Ingredients
Charred vegetables
- 4 ea poblano chili peppers (see NOTES)
- 2 boxes cherry tomatoes (can include the small on-the-vine type)
- 2 tsp oregano (regular or Mexican variety)
- 2 tsp cumin ground
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil (coat veg as much or as little as you like)
Rest of chili ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 ea medium yellow onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 4 tbsp tomato paste (I use no salt added, but either works)
- 1 tsp chili powder (see notes)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes (I use unsalted but either works)
- 1 15 oz can chili beans (any bean you like is fine)
- 1 cup water
- 1 oz 70% dark chocolate (shhh, this is the secret ingredient!)
Tortilla pepita crisp
- 3/4 cup crumbled tortilla chips (about 12 chips)
- 1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds
- 2 tbsp raw sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp honey (can sub maple syrup )
- 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt (ok to sub normal sea salt)
Instructions:
Grill or broil veggies to char: 10 min prep, 10 min outside grill or 20 min broil in oven.
- If grilling outside, leave 2 boxes cherry tomatoes and 4 ea poblano chili peppers whole, toss them with 1-2 tbsp olive oil and liberally sprinkle with 2 tsp cumin ground, and 2 tsp oregano. Char the veggies on outside grill on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, turn peppers (and tomatoes if you can without the bursting) using tongs, and grill another 5 minutes until nicely charred. Cool, remove any tomatoe stems, cut stems off peppers and roughly chop both, removing seeds from peppers as you cut them open.
- If broiling inside, leave tomatoes whole, but cut peppers in half, remove stems and seeds, then toss with oil and herbs same as above. Broil about 10 minutes, turn pepper halves over and broil another 10 minutes until nicely charred. Cool and chop, same as above.
Make chili – 5 min chop, 30 min cook
- Chop 1 ea medium yellow onion and add with 1 tbsp olive oil to the pot. Add pinch of salt and pepper. Saute until the onion develops some color, about 5-8 min. Add 4 cloves garlic, minced during the last couple of minutes (but not any sooner, as you don't want the garlic to burn).
- Add the 4 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tbsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp chili powder, and 1 tsp ground cumin to the pot with the onions and garlic.
- Stir the added tomato paste and spices into the sauteed onion for 3-5 minutes over medium heat, allowing the paste to caramelize and the spices to bloom in the heat. Take care not to burn. The tomato paste will begin to stick a little here and there, which is ok, it is caramelizing.
- Rinse canned beans.
- Add 1 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes , the rinsed 1 15 oz can chili beans, chopped charred tomatoes and peppers, and 1 cup water. Stir, then cover and cook for 30 minutes on med-low heat, stirring occasionally.
- Partially blend (25%) the chili by pulsing an immersion blender in the chili in various locations 10-12 times. The result will be a chili that sill has many whole beans and chopped veggies, but will also have a silky, velvety texture, only improved by the following step!
- Stir in 1 oz 70% dark chocolate, until it melts.
- Taste and adjust for seasonings (salt, pepper, chili, cumin, oregano).
Make tortilla crisp topping – 10 min prep, 30 min cook
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Crumble tortilla chips into small pieces (similar to a pumpkin seed size, but the pieces can vary a bit in size, and some can be a bit larger). Either place in plastic bag and roll with rolling pin or break chips up by hand.
- Place 3/4 cup crumbled tortilla chips , 1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds, 2 tbsp raw sesame seeds, 2 tbsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp chili powder in bowl and toss to mix thoroughly.
- Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil over the mixture and follow with honey- see next step. By using the same tablespoon to measure the honey after the oil, the honey will slip off the tablespoon more easily for you!
- Carefully drizzle 2 tbsp honey over seeds, then use fork to carefully incorporate the honey into the mixture. This doen't take long, but does take care to distribute the honey evenly. Work gingerly, so as not to pulverize the tortilla chips anymore.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment and lay the coated seeds/tortillas out, pressing with fork and fingers lightly to get a uniform slab. Don't stress over this process, it will all stick together and does not have to look perfect.
- Sprinkle the slab with the 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt.
- Bake for approximately 30 minutes, then leave to completely cool. The honey must completely cool in order for the crispy texture to take form (warm honey = soft texture). You can refrigerate it for 10 min to speed process along if needed.
- Break the tortilla pepita crisp up into different size pieces and top your chili with them and/or serve alongside the chili.
Other toppings:
- For a crema that nicely balances out the spicy, smokey chili, you can use a variety of dairy products. See notes.
- In addition to the tortilla pepita crisp you can garnish with pickled and/or candied jalapenos, scallions, lime zest, or cumin seeds!
Serving and reheating
- As shown, crema is drizzled over the top of each serving and broken up pieces of the crisp are scattered over chili, with a larger piece set into the chili for fun.
- When reheating any leftovers, you may want to add 1/4-1/2 cup water and stir to reheat, as the beans and pureed chili will thicken a bit.
