Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

I'm tempted to call this "Emergency Black Bean Chili" because we definitely had an "emergency" on our hands when I made it for dinner last night. Madeline has been sick for the past few days and I really needed to go grocery shopping, but who takes a sick child grocery shopping? Our evenings have been too busy or tired to go grocery shopping so I kept waiting, thinking the next day she'd be better. Or the next day, or the next.

Just because you have a sick child doesn't mean you don't have to still make dinner for the rest of the family. But how do you make dinner with a bare refrigerator? Usually breakfast is our go-to on days like this, but options become limited when you don't even have milk or eggs. And it wasn't just the refrigerator that was getting bare. It seems I was running out of everything else as well. And what I did have was all random, it seemed. Nothing to really make anything that I had planned. I was even out of salt and several other spices. How does someone run out of salt? That involved me dumping the entire contents of the bottle because the shaker part of the lid wasn't replaced. I went to shake a bit of salt onto something and the entire bottle dumped instead.

One thing I did have was black beans, thanks to a recent grocery store sale. I stocked up and then Eric went to Costco and bought more not knowing I had already gotten some. I just started dumping random things into a pot and sauteing others and suddenly I had a vegetarian black bean chili simmering.

And the salt? Because you need salt. I have Morton to thank for allowing me to test out their Season All Seasoned Salt, a blend of salt, and savory spices, including paprika, black pepper, onion, and garlic, with a hint of chili pepper. This all-purpose blend of spices tastes great on ribs, beef, and pork. Also terrific on chicken and potatoes for a unique seasoned flavor! If you'd like to try it too you can click on the image in the right sidebar for a 55 cents off coupon.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili
a goodLife {eats} creation
serves 4

• 1 1/2 onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 poblano pepper, diced (deseed if you like)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/4 teaspoons cumin
• 1 tablespoons chili powder
• 15 ounces crushed tomatoes
• 8 ounces vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon Morton Season All Seasoned Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup diced sweet potato
  
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 37.5 ounces canned black beans, drained but not rinsed
• 1/2 cup fire roasted salsa
• 2 bay leaves
• 14 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
  
• 1 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
• toppings for serving: Monterrey jack cheese or feta and cilantro
  

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the diced onion and saute for 5 minutes, until tender and golden. Add the garlic and poblano pepper and saute another minute, until fragrant. Add the cumin and chili powder and saute another 2 minutes.

Lower heat to medium-low and stir in the crushed tomatoes and broth (reserve 1/4 cup of broth), scraping to remove any browned bits in the pan. Add the remaining ingredients except the cornstarch and toppings.

In a small bowl whisk together the reserved 1/4 cup of broth and the cornstarch until smooth. Pour the cornstarch slurry into the chili pot. Stir until well mixed. Bring chili to a boil for 2 minutes and then lower heat to low. Simmer over low heat uncovered for one hour. Then, simmer covered with a lid for 30 minutes.

Serve topped with your choice of toppings.


Morton and Collective Bias gave me a small grocery budget to purchase Morton products for the use in a post. However, I was not paid to publish positive comments and I really do love this recipe.