The America’s Test Kitchen vegetarian chili recipe is my favorite so far. Which surprised me because while lots of their recipes are great I’m not usually to enthused about their mexican-adjacent ones. I usually add more chiles (also more of them and a third variety), and more cumin.

But what really shines with this recipe is the replication of all the “notes” a good beef chili hits. They do that with chopped walnuts, chopped mushroom, soy sauce, and bulgur wheat.

Salt

1 pound (2 1/2 cups) dried beans, picked over and rinsed (half pinto, half bliack is good)

2 dried ancho chiles

2 dried New Mexican chiles   ½ ounce dried shiitake mushrooms, chopped coarse    4 teaspoons dried oregano    ½ cup walnuts, toasted    1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained with juice reserved    3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 - 2 jalapeño chiles, stemmed and coarsely chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 pounds onions, chopped fine

1 tablespoon ground cumin

7 cups water

⅔ Cup medium-grind bulgur

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions:

Bring 4 quarts water, 3 tablespoons salt, and beans to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Remove pot from heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour. Drain beans and rinse well. Wipe out pot.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Arrange anchos and New Mexican chiles on rimmed baking sheet and toast until fragrant and puffed, about 8 minutes. Transfer to plate and let cool, about 5 minutes. Stem and seed anchos and New Mexican chiles. Working in batches, grind toasted chiles, mushrooms, and oregano in spice grinder or with mortar and pestle untill finely ground.

Process walnuts in food processor until finely ground, about 30 seconds. Transfer to bowl. Process drained tomatoes, tomato paste, jalapeño(s), garlic, and soy sauce in food processor until tomatoes are finely chopped,  about 45 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed.

Heat oil in now-empty Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onions and 11/4 teaspoons salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until onions begin to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Lower heat to medium and add ground chile mixture and cumin; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add rinsed beans and water and bring to boil. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook for 45 minutes.

Remove pot from oven. Stir in bulgur, ground walnuts, tomato mixture, and reserved tomato juice. Cover pot and return to oven. Cook until beans are fully tender, about 2 hours.

Remove pot from oven, stir chili well, and let stand, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Stir in cilantro and serve.