This is a hearty and nutritious Instant Pot vegetarian chili with vegetables, lots of mushrooms and mixed beans. Beautifully spiced and with the addition of chipotle, this gluten-free and vegan-friendly pressure cooker chili is great for the family or a group dinner (or game night). Serve it with your favorite fixings like avocado, diced onions, corn chips, as well as cheese and sour cream or dairy-free alternatives.
Whether you’re following a vegetarian or vegan diet or you want a meat-free, less heavy chili, this is a great recipe to try out. Our mushroom chili is hearty and comforting with plenty of warm spices and umami flavors.
Made with veggies, canned beans and lots of mushrooms, this is a super easy chili recipe that you can set and forget in your Instant Pot while you prepare all the fixings.
HOW TO MAKE MUSHROOM CHILI IN INSTANT POT
You will find the full list of ingredients, instructions and nutritional breakdown in the recipe card below. Here are some basic steps and photos to guide you along.
To make this vegetarian chili, you will need a few basic stew vegetables like onions, carrots and celery, garlic (of course), lots of Tex Mex spices, a little chipotle chili, mixed canned beans (for speed and convenience) and a big heap of mushrooms. The liquids come from vegetable stock and tomatoes. Get everything ready and let’s get cooking!
Step 1. Saute the vegetables for a few minutes to soften, then add the spices and press Cancel top stop the Saute process.
Step 2. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir through. Note that mushrooms will give out quite a bit of juice while cooking as well.
Step 3. Set the Instant Pot to Manual/Pressure Cook and adjust the timer to 3 minutes. Once the ON sign comes on the display, the Instant Pot will take 10 minutes to build up the pressure. Once the timer is done, allow the pressure to release naturally (about 20 minutes). Total cooking time is about 30 minutes.
See notes below the recipes for how to deal with a possible BURN notice. It may happen on certain models of the Instant Pot due to tomato-based sauce but is easily fixed.
Once pressure is released, open the lid and stir the chili stew. It should be lovely and thick and smell amazing. Taste for seasoning.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH INSTANT POT VEGETARIAN CHILI
This mushroom chili is very hearty and thick like a stew, so it works well on its own or over rice or quinoa. You can serve it with cornbread, toast, dinner rolls or tortillas. And, your favorite fixings or toppings, of course!
Fixings (or toppings) for vegetarian mushroom chili:
- Fresh cilantro and lime wedges
- Grated cheese (or dairy-free alternative) and /or sour cream
- Diced avocado or guacamole
- Diced red onions and diced raw tomatoes
- Jalapenos
- Corn chips or other crisps
MORE VEGETARIAN INSTANT POT RECIPES
- Vegetarian Instant Pot Burrito Bowl With Avocado Crema
- Instant Pot Minestrone (Vegetarian & Vegan-Friendly*)
- Instant Pot Kale & Quinoa Pilaf (Gluten-Free, Vegetarian)
- Smokey Lentil Stew (Instant Pot & Stovetop Recipe)
WATCH OUR TOP 10 VEGETARIAN VIDEO RECIPES
Instant Pot Vegetarian Mushroom Chili
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Tex Mex
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This vegetarian mushroom chili with lots of vegetables and mixed beans is made in the Instant Pot pressure cooker. Beautifully spiced and with the addition of chipotle, this gluten-free and vegan-friendly chili is great for a family or group dinner or game night. Serve it with your favorite fixings like avocado, diced onions, corn chips, as well as cheese and sour cream or dairy-free alternatives.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 celery ribs (3 oz/100g), diced into small cubes
2 carrots (0.5 lb / 250 g), diced into small cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, minced or chopped
2 teaspoons sweet or mild paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 cup vegetable stock (updated from 2 cups we had in the initial recipe after further testing and feedback)
1 canned chipotle chili, chopped (like this, see notes for alternatives)
2 x 15-16 oz cans of mixed beans, strained (or any one type of beans)
1 lb / 450-500 g button mushrooms, chopped into cubes
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 + 1/2 cups tomato sauce (canned chopped tomatoes)
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot on and press the Saute function key. Once hot, add the oil, onions, celery, carrots and salt and cook for 2-3 minutes to soften. Press Cancel/Keep Warm to stop the Saute process at this stage.
- Right away, add the garlic and spices and stir through. Follow by vegetable stock and stir through scraping the bottom well. Add the rest of the ingredients, finishing with tomato sauce and paste. Stir through gently.
- Secure the lid, making sure the top steam releasing handle is pointing to Sealing (on older models). Press Manual/Pressure Cook button and adjust the time to 3 minutes (it should say HIGH pressure). The Instant Pot will kick in and the ON sign will come on the display indicating that the pressure is starting to build. It should take about 10 minutes and then the timer will begin. Note, the cooking process actually starts during the pressurization stage, hence we only set it to 3 minutes of cooking at high pressure.
- Once the timer is done, let the Instant Pot sit to allow the pressure release naturally. It should take about 15-20 minutes, after which the top valve will float back down and you will be able to open the lid. This depressurizing stage is great for the chili to settle and slow cook for a bit longer to develop all the flavors. If in a pinch, you can release the pressure manually sooner and the chili should be ready by then.
- Stir through and taste for seasoning. Serve with your favorite chili fixings: sour cream and cheese (if you eat dairy), diced avocado or guacamole, diced raw onions, corn chips, extra jalapenos, corn and so on. It’s great as is or over rice, or with a side of cornbread or dinner rolls.
Notes
- If a BURN notice comes on at any stage (which it might on some newer models or in an 8-quart IP), simply release any built-up pressure and open the lid. Add another 1/2 cup of vegetable stock and stir through the chili, scraping the bottom really well. Sometimes, the tomato-based sauces can caramelize and burn on the bottom and you simply need to add a little more liquid. Then pop the lid back on and set to 2 minutes at HIGH pressure.
- You can use canned chipotle chili pepper, dry chili (rehydrated in warm water) or 1/2-1 teaspoon chipotle chili flakes.
Keywords: Chili, Mushrooms, Beans, Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free, Stew, Pressure Coker
My chili was really watery. What did I do wrong?
Could be due to the size of the vegetables, the total amount of food vs liquid was a bit smaller than in our version. Celery/carrots/mushrooms all vary in size, so it could just be too much liquid. Did you strain the beans? Just thinking maybe there was some excess liquid from that.
We originally used less stock, about 1 cup but kept getting the pesky Burn notice so we had to add more stock and then cook again. For the final recipe, we stated 2 cups of stock but maybe your Instant Pot is less sensitive and it didn’t need all 2 cups. If this was the case, I would just use 1 cup in the future.
Another tip, if you ever find that your finished stew or chili is a bit watery, set it to Saute uncovered for 10 minutes and stir to evaporate some of the liquid. You can also stir in some flour/cornstarch to thicken the broth. Hope that helps!
Made this today with some modifications and it tastes great! I used crushed chillies instead of chipotle peppers (couldn’t find any chipotle) and used a combination of tomatoes sauce and whole tomatoes from the garden previously frozen. When it was all done it was too soupy (perhaps because of the tomatos) so I switched the IP to sauté for about 15 minutes, stirring often, to let some of the liquid evaporate. Will be doing this again for sure
★★★★★
Hi Pierre, thanks for your comment and the tips. We’ve had a couple of people say theirs turned out a little soupy as well and we think it’s because in our original recipe when we were cooking this, we added only 1 cup of stock. But, then we were getting the BURN notice so we had to add the additional stock and then kept cooking. So, we posted the recipe as 2 cups of stock but it seems that other people’s Instant Pots might not be as sensitive and they could have gotten away with 1 cup of stock without the BURN notice. So, I think in the future, just add 1 cup of stock.
Your instructions say: “Secure the lid, making sure the top steam releasing handle is pointing to Venting (on older models).” I think you meant to say SEALING instead of Venting.
Indeed! Well spotted, thanks. We’ve updated.