Nothing warms the bones and the soul quite like a hearty bowl of chili.

Best of all, recent breakthroughs in plant-based meat technology mean vegetarians can satisfy their carnivorous urges without the guilt. The veggie meats also allow genuine carnivores to snarf down on a meatless alternative that tastes as good as the real thing.

Jack Bishop of the PBS television show America's Test Kitchenhas a vegetarian chili recipe that will both raise your taste buds and your eyebrows: Weeknight Meaty Chili.

It's from the new book from America's Test Kitchen titled Vegan Cooking for Two, which features more than 200 dishes designed for folks ranging from committed vegans to the veggie curious.

"This is a plant-based chili for people who love meaty chili but are trying to eat less meat," Bishop says. "I promise you when you're done with this, if you were to serve this to someone, they would think it was beef."

Morning Edition's A Martínez tested out the recipe in his Los Angeles kitchen as Bishop kept a watchful eye over Zoom from Boston.

The two last got together in July for a lesson on grilling the perfect plant-based burger. Martínez says that was his first plant-based meal, and he hasn't looked back since.

"I feel cleaner inside, if that makes any sense," he says. "It might be in my head, Jack. It might not be. It might be something real. But I feel like I am cleaner inside than I ever have been in my whole life."

But residents of Texans be warned! This recipe challenges some of the Lone Star State's most cherished beliefs.

Weeknight Meaty Chili gets a lot of its taste from the same ingredients that go into traditional chili; onions, garlic, cumin, tomatoes, chili powder. Plant-based meats from companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat have developed a faux ground beef that not only tastes like the real thing but it feels right too. Bishop says the companies put a lot of research into giving the veggie meats just the right texture and chew.

The fake meats fall short, however, when it comes to protein. Four ounces of ground beef has about a third more protein than veggie meat.

The America's Test Kitchen recipe gets around the protein deficit by adding red kidney beans.

They might taste yummy but nothing could be more offensive to a Texan than adding beans to chili. Real Texas chili has meat, meat and more meat. In other words, beans ain't welcome in these parts!

Bishop says it's pretty easy to fool a meat lover into chowing down on veggie chili. But perhaps the less said, the better.