Black Bean Chili With Mushrooms

LOL at the tip: "To quickly mince mushrooms, pulse them in a food processor." That may, indeed, be true but any time you save will be lost by the time it takes to clean the food processor. At least in my experience. I actually like chopping vegetables. It's therapeutic.

For those asking, 1/2 cup of dried beans makes the equivalent of 1 15 oz can of beans. So for this recipe you would use 1 cup dried beans.

3 1/2 cups of broth... ? That's so much. I currently have a soup. Waiting way longer than 20 minutes to cook it off. Should have trusted my instincts. Two cups would be plenty.

Chili was delicious. I'm wondering why squeeze out the delicious liquid from the mushrooms and then add liquid (water or broth) to the chili? I'd rather have mushroom "juice" than water or broth. My tweaks: I added some cooked butternut squash and finely chopped carrots to up the vegetable content. Yum!

Great recipe, but a few hints. There’s no need to squeeze the mushrooms. Just chop and sauté. Initially they exude liquid; but in a couple minutes the juice evaporates; and the mushrooms brown & sear. When a savory recipe calls for sugar to balance the acidity of the tomato I always add a coarsely grated carrot instead. Serves the same purpose. If you think this chili is too soupy you can add other veg: squash, corn, celery, etc, & parsley or cilantro. More vitamins & flavors!

Used Rotel for little flavor kick. Next use garam masala and a pinch of extra cumin, the balance of spices to cinnamon is ideal. We used kidney beans because we had them dried, and button mushrooms because the portobellos looked a little old at the market. Fabulous. The dried porcinis can be gritty, we rehydrate in cup of hot water, let them sit for a while, then rinse and chop, and strain the liquid so no grit! Its easy to do a whole package at once and just chop and freeze in 1 cup sizes

I was pleasantly surprised how delicious this recipe was. A couple notes, i added ground chicken for the carnivores in the house, but will happily make this again for the vegan side of the family without the meat. I used shiitake mushrooms cause that's what was at the farmers market. I added a 3rd can of tomatoes, fire roasted, and used smoked paprika in the absence of Chipotle chili powder. I did double the cumin and chili powder and decreased the broth by half. Really really good chili.

2 1/3 cups of broth is PLENTY for this recipe. Any more, and it becomes a mushroom bean soup.

Good flavor, but cooked per the recipe, the tomatoes were a little too dominant. I plan to add more beans or reduce the diced tomato next time. My tweaks: I added Mexican Oregano; I always use Guiness Stout in my chili. Sounds crazy, but it adds alot more depth than a Mexican Lager, and this kind of needed that. Lastly - 20 minutes isn't enough for the flavors to fully develop. It gets better with time. Make it a couple of hours ahead, let it sit and cool, and then reheat to serve.

BEST chili ever made, FULL flavor w'out undue heat. Many comments re: excessive liquid, so used only one can tomatoes and and approx. 1/2 the recommended broth/beer combo. I agree w'mentioned 'mushroom liquid' as a thing to be treasured, doing vegs. in the 'regular' manner of onions first, followed by small carrot (instead of the 'sugar'), peppers, then 'unpressed' mushrooms ALL chopped roughly NOT minced preferring a 'chunky' chili in HALF the called for EVOO, not neutral oil. EXCELLENT!

Cook this for at least 40 minutes, preferably an hour or more. 20 minutes is not enough for the flavors to meld. But the flavors are fantastic and rich. Give it time!

For everyone asking how much dried beans to sub, it’s about 1/2 cup dried beans per 15 oz can, so one cup of dried beans should be sufficient

I started off chopping the mushrooms by hand but quickly realized it would be way more efficient in the food processor, especially if you use it for the other vegetable chopping. You end up with probably 10 cups + of minced mushrooms. We enjoyed the final product. The smokiness of the chipotle comes through beautifully.

Best veggie chili recipe I have found. Everyone loves it. Wonderful, richly layered flavors. Allow more time for chili to cook slowly and thicken. Add a big spoonful of Ali Slagle’s corn casserole in the bowl first, then ladle on the chili, comfort food heaven.

I’ve been hoping for a chili recipe with mushrooms. Thanks for knocking it out of the park with this offering! I’ll be cooking a batch today for my lunches next week. Yum!