Vegan chili with soy mince
Winter is slowly knocking on our doors, which means it’s time to stay cozy, indoors, and with a big bowl of warm stew, soup, or chili in our hands. I personally love rice dishes so a bowl of vegan chili or a Thai curry is often a dish you find me cooking during the cooler months. There are thousands of recipes out there, using different proteins as a base. Obviously, the most known version uses minced meats but for those trying to bring more plant-based protein into their diets, we are going to make vegan chili with soy mince as a substitute.

Depending on where you are situated, different alternatives to minced meat or soy are available to you. If your diet does not support soy products, look for mince made out of yellow peas, jackfruit, or even sunflower seeds. Most of these can be easily found online, alternatively, try a nearby vegan shop since local supermarkets might not have these “fancier” soy-free alternatives yet available to you.
If you want to make your own vegan soy-free mince for this chili, dried-up fresh mushrooms are a great option. It requires a bit more effort in the kitchen but can be very rewarding, knowing you made the whole meal completely from scratch. Simply cut up mushrooms (champignons or other mushroom variations) into tiny pieces and place them into the preheated oven to 175 degrees. Let them slowly dry, occasionally stirring them for about 30 minutes.
For this recipe, we will be using soy mince/granulate and a colorful mix of legumes and vegetables. Let’s begin!
What do we need to make Vegan Chili with Soy Mince?
The recipe for vegan chili with soy mince
Ingredients
1-2 cups of dry soy mince / granulate (before soaking)
1 medium sized white onion
1 red bell pepper
2-3 garlic cloves
1 carrot
1 can of diced tomatoes
3 Tbs of tomato paste
1 can of red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of white cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
1/2 can of sweet corn (drained)
1/2-1 litre of vegetable broth
1 small chili pepper
Toppings
Shredded cheese
Koriander
Chili flakes
Serve with
Boiled rice
Chili sauce (for those who like it spicy)
Chili flakes or dices chili pepper for decoration
Instructions
- Soak the soy mince until it doubles in volume, about 30 min to 1 hour. In the meantime, chop the onion into small cubes together with the cleaned carrot, peppers and garlic.
- Prepare the rice according to the package.
TIP: I prefer to first heat some oil with garlic and then add my rinced rice into the heated up garlic oil. Fry the rice and cover it in oil for about 3 minutes. After that add enough water to cover the rice completely and make the water rise to about 2cm above the rice level. Cook until soft and flaky. You can turn the heat off and close the pot with a lid to let it finish cooking in its own steam. - Prepare 1l of vegetable broth. Follow the instruction on the package on how to make a vegetable borth from powder.
- Heat 2Tbs of olive oil in a large pot and add the diced onions and carrots. Cook stirring for about 2-3 minutes or until translucent. Then add garlic together wtih pepper and continue cooking for about 1 minute. Add the soy mince and continue stirring.
- Now it’s time to add the tomato-based ingredients. Add the paste, mix it evenly in the pot and then pour in the diced canned tomatoes. After well combined, start adding the vegetable broth until it’s all added to the mix in the pot. Flavour with pepper and salt to taste.
TIP: It’s up to you how thick you like your chili to be. You can add anywhere between 1/2 to 1 liter of broth. - Deglaze with a dash of balzamic vinegrette cream to counterbalance the sourness of the canned tomatoes. (you can subtitute the vinegrette by a tsp of sugar)
- Add some diced fresh chili pepper and let the stew cook for about 25 minutes.
- As the last step add all the legumes and corn. They don’t need to cook and we do not want them to loose texture. That’s why we only add them 5-10 minutes before the meal is finished.
- Serve with rice, coriander or parsley and for those who prefer to add more spice some chili flakes. Shredded cheeses is also wonderful as a topping.

This hearty vegan chili with soy mince is the perfect comfort food for cold winter days. It’s pleasantly warm, spicey and so satisfyingly filling. One sleeps like a baby after an early chili dinner. Furthermore, chili is extremely versatile. Depending on your preferences, you can add or omit ingredients depending on your preferences, make it mild or as spicy as you like. With the variety of “mince”, one can find these days, you can make a different style of chili every day of the week. Plus, it takes better the longer it stands in the fridge!
What chili recipes do you make at home? Let me know in the comments below! 😉