Can I tell you a secret? I really dislike making dinner during the weeknights. Sure, on the weekend when I can take my time and make dinner into a fun family event I enjoy cooking, but when the schedule is jam packed during the week, I dread cooking.

I’m sure you can relate, whether a busy parent doing drop off/pick up plus after school activities, or a busy working professional, dinner seems to fall way down the priority list. This often leads to unhealthy dinner choices like fast food, frozen or processed foods, or binging on snacks which adds up to unwanted calories and minimal nutrients.

One way to combat this is by using a crockpot. Maybe I’m old school, but I love mine! I love how I can dump stuff in the crockpot, set it on low and when we come home in the evening we have a nutritious dinner ready.

I love this sweet potato chili recipes because it takes 10 minutes (no joke!) to put together, it’s loaded with healthy veggies, beans for protein, and it’s naturally vegan making for a fun meatless option during the week.

This recipe is so versatile, and you can mix and match what ingredients you want to add. For example, you can use any type of bean you like, I typically use red kidney beans, but you can use black beans instead. I also add frozen spinach to amp up the nutrients too!

This recipe is so simple that even my 2 year old helps me dump in all the ingredients :)

Crockpot Vegan Sweet Potato Chili

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2-3 medium sweet potatoes peeled and diced

• 1/4-1/2 red or yellow onion depending on how much you like onion :)

• 2 cloves garlic minced

• 2 tablespoons chili powder

• 1/2 teaspoon cumin

• Optional: 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne or chipotle pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

• 3 1/2 cups vegetable stock

• 1 15-ounce can red kidney beans (or any bean of choice)

• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes

• Optional: 1/2 - 1 cup frozen spinach

• 1/2 dried quinoa

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Toppings: avocado, cilantro, cheese (vegan cheese)

Instructions:

1. Add sweet potato through sea salt from the ingredient list to the crockpot.

2. Coat with olive oil and mix.

3. Add vegetable stock, beans, tomatoes, optional frozen spinach or any other veggies you like, and dried quinoa.

4. Set crockpot to low and cook 7-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.

I like to make guacamole and serve on the side with tortilla chips. My 2 year old loves to add loads of cheese to his chili.

What toppings or additional veggies will you add to your chili? Leave a comment.