Chili Recipe

This savory, hearty chili recipe will be on your mind anytime someone mutters the word “soup or stew.” A couple hours cook time for a piping hot bowl of this chili recipe is more than worth the wait.

Using fresh ingredients, from plump tomatoes to juicy bell peppers, homemade chili beats store-bought canned chili any day of the week. Leftover chili—allowing seasonings to meld together overnight—tastes even better.

Make this chili recipe when you have a few hours to tend to a simmering pot on the stove, as a weeknight meal or paired with hot dogs on game day.

Creating the best chili recipe has become an art, as chili contests abound, coast-to-coast. In the end, we are all unique snowflakes, with unique snowflake palettes. What one person finds delicious, another may snub their nose at.

Whatever your taste, a chili recipe such as this—filled with spice but not heat—delicately balances traditional chili flavors you can’t get enough of.

We use a beautiful 7 ½ quart matte white cast iron pot to cook our soups and stews.

Ingredients

Chili tastes best when allowed to simmer for a good few hours. A longer cook time enables flavors to meld together, offering a delightfully spicy, tomatoey taste with every bite.

Here is the list of ingredients you will need:

• Ground beef, 1 ½ to 2 pounds - From fresh or frozen, browned ground beef packs the punch of protein in this chili recipe. As stated in past recipe posts, we use grass-fed ground beef, but you can use whatever you like.
• Yellow onion, diced - savory, with a hint of sweet, yellow onion brings out the flavor of the ground beef.
• Diced tomatoes, 3 14.5 ounce cans - chili would not be chili without an ample quantity of juicy diced tomatoes. You will find the ratio of diced tomatoes to other ingredients to be perfected in this chili recipe.
• Diced green chiles, 1 4 ounce can - we use a green chiles variety that’s somewhere between mild and medium. Of course, you can use your preferred green chiles—mild, medium or hot.
• Tri-bean blend (black, kidney, pinto beans), 3 14.5 ounce cans rinsed, drained - a mix of different varieties of beans makes this chili stand out. Kidney, pinto and black beans are as satiating as they are delicious. Costco’s Kirkland Signature Organic Tri-Bean Blend is our go-to, but most grocers carry a few different options, such as Good & Gather 3 bean blend at Target, Great Value Organic Tri-Color Bean Blend at Walmart, O Organics Three Bean Blend at Safeway or Simple Truth Organic Tri-Bean Blend at King Soopers.

• Red bell pepper, chopped - filled with vitamin C, lycopene, fiber, potassium, and so much more, red bell peppers add a fresh, fruity sweetness to this recipe.
• Orange bell pepper, chopped - slightly more tangy than its sweet red counterpart, orange bell pepper lends a tangy goodness in this recipe.
• Yellow bell pepper, chopped - yellow bell pepper is similar to red in terms of being sweeter than tangy, but it’s also juicier.
• Green bell pepper, chopped - green bell peppers are the most bitter of the bell peppers, since they are the least ripe. In this chili, green bell pepper balances the sweet from the other bell peppers as well as the tomatoes.

• Celery, 1 cup, diced - adds crunchy freshness and a little water content. 
• Tomato juice, 32 ounces - because there is no such thing as too much tomato in chili, tomato juice helps maintain water content while it simmers for hours.
• Chili powder, 1 ½ tablespoons - lends most of the spicy heat flavor to this dish.
• Cumin, 1 teaspoon - combines with chili powder, creating a complex richness that lingers and deepens with leftovers the following day.
• Oregano, 1 teaspoon, dried - oregano provides an otherwise missing herb zest to the chili.
• Garlic, 4 cloves, minced - aromatic, pungent garlic tops off this chili recipe. Some people roughly dice garlic, though this recipe calls for minced.

Variations and Substitutions:

• Use a white onion instead of yellow.
• Skip the green bell pepper if you don’t like the bitterness.
• Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of chili powder for an enhanced chili flavor profile.
• Give this chili earthiness, by topping it with chives.
• Make it spicy with your favorite hot sauce.
• Top with shredded cheddar cheese for a creamy, salty mouthfeel.

Instructions

1. Brown the ground beef over medium heat.

2. Add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is translucent.

3. Deglaze the pan by adding the tomato juice. Stir to combine.

4. Add the diced tomatoes and green chiles. Stir to combine.

5. Add the oregano, chili powder and cumin. Stir to combine.

6. Add the celery and all of the bell peppers. Stir to combine.

7. Stir in the beans.

8. Cook on medium until it bubbles. 
9. Cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 ½ to 3 hours. Stir occasionally to ensure the ingredients don’t burn to the bottom of the pot.

10. Serve and allow to cool in individual bowls for a few minutes. Note the chili will be very hot.
11. Top with your favorite toppings, such as shredded cheddar cheese, chives or hot sauce.

Serving Suggestions

A hearty bowl of chili tastes delicious anytime of year or day of the week. Prep the ingredients in advance, such as the night before, and pop it on the stove early afternoon to make chili on a weeknight.

• Appetizer - At your next game day party, serve chili in small ramekins. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top for a creamy treat.
• Side Dish - Chili does not have to be the main star of the meal. It’s perfectly fine to make it the side dish next to hot dogs or grilled cheese sandwiches.
• Entree - As an entree, chili takes center stage. You can serve it with a side of homemade garlic bread, a veggie-filled quinoa salad recipe or with a plate of my home fries recipe.

Storing Leftover Chili

Chili can be refrigerated for a couple days in a glass container. 

In my experience, you can freeze leftover chili and reheat it on the stovetop or in the microwave without any noticeable reduction in taste and quality.

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