Yes, it’s still summer and many people may not be excited about eating a hot meal of chili, but I had to post this recipe because we had so many incredible farm vegetables that begged for chili to be made!

First there are the huge number of beautiful tomatoes that we are getting each week. I’m not a huge fan of the tomato but definitely respect its health benefits (low calorie, low carb, 95% water, high in Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Potassium, Folate, and a great source of lycopene, which helps to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, especially in cooked tomatoes).

Then there are all the fresh onions, garlic, bell peppers and hot peppers. How could I NOT make a chili?? Especially since it’s easy to make, tastes great, is healthy and it freezes so well.

It does take a little bit of planning to really make it work because the fresh tomatoes have to be cooked down first, but this also is super easy. Yesterday I picked up 16 tomatoes from our farm share and literally rinsed them off, cut out the stem section, quartered the tomatoes and threw them all into a stock pot with some fresh basil (optional).

They simmer on medium low, covered, for a few hours until the water is mostly boiled out of the tomatoes. If you do this early morning it’s helpful, so your kitchen doesn’t get too hot. The tomato consistency should be similar to a slightly watery tomato sauce.

Once you have the delicious tomato base, the rest is simple. See below!

Ingredients:

4 cups of fresh tomatoes (cooked down as described above)
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 15.5 oz can of each: dark red kidney beans, black beans, northern white beans, rinsed
1 TBSP olive oil
1 fresh onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 large green bell pepper
2 jalapeno peppers, diced with seeds removed (optional, you can add more or less depending on how hot you like your chili)
1 TBSP chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Set instant pot to saute

2. Add olive oil and allow oil to heat for about 30 seconds before stirring in the diced onions

3. Cook onions for approximately 2 minutes (until they are softened slightly) and then add the garlic, bell pepper and hot pepper. Stir and allow to saute for another minute or two.

4. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, beans and chili powder and stir.

5. Cover and set the instant pot to pressure cook, high for 20 minutes. Make sure to close the pressure release knob on the cover and allow the slow release.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

   Caution: When pressure cooking tomato-based meals in the instant pot, you will sometimes get a “burn” notice. As the tomatoes heat up, they will sometimes stick to the bottom of the pot. If this happens, you just need to release the pressure knob on the cover, take the cover off and stir everything in the pot until anything that feels like it was sticking to the bottom is mixed into your chili. Put the cover back on and reclose the pressure knob and you should be all set!

Final Note: Chili is an incredibly versatile “food group”. You really can add any type of beans you like, you can add extra vegetables, you can put meat into and it’s (almost always) going to taste great. I say almost always because I have made chili with a few too many vegetables I wasn’t overly excited about and didn’t love it.

Adding ground turkey or lean beef to this tomato-based chili adds another depth of flavor and texture, but obviously it’s no longer vegetarian if you do so.