Stepping out of my comfort zone and sharing one of my favorite recipes with you all. I hope you enjoy! When I was little one of my favorite foods my mom would make was her famous chili and corn bread, who doesn’t love it right? I would watch my mom work tirelessly over the stove cooking and even though she didn’t think I was paying attention I picked up a few tricks just from watching. Cooking is something that has quickly become a passion of mine. I love finding new recipes to try and Jeff gets to be the guinea pig for my cooking, which is truly the best test since he is pretty picky when it comes to food. Thankfully there have only been a couple of times where we have both agreed to nix whatever I had just made and order delivery.
What usually will wind up happening when I find a new recipe is me putting my own twist on whatever I’m making and just using the recipe as a guideline. I have come up with some pretty good stuff using this method, one of those recipes being chili. I don’t dare touch my mom’s chili recipe, but I think about what the flavors tasted like and I base mine off of that. Chili is usually best in colder weather, but there is never really a bad time to have a nice bowl of chili with some cheese sprinkled on top (I also like to put a dollop of sour cream on it.)
I like my chili with as many different types of beans that will fit in the pot and you will want to use a quart sized pot and have a crock pot nearby (not needed but really brings out the flavors).
To start I like to heat about a tbsp of olive oil in the bottom of your quart pan over medium heat. I personally like my onions chopped a little finer, so I try to get them chopped as fine as I can. Toss in the onions once the oil has heated and mix them around to get a good coating of olive oil on them. I like to season the onions with some salt and pepper right away so that they can absorb some of the flavors. I like my onions to be a little transparent before adding anything else to them. Once the onions are transparent add the chopped garlic cloves (you can use dried garlic or garlic powder, but there is nothing like fresh garlic) and let them saute with the onions for about 2-3 min.
Once the onions and garlic have cooked down a little bit add the ground beef, I used grass fed beef 80% lean 20% fat to give a little more flavor. Once the outside of the beef starts to brown just a little add your spices.
I love experimenting with new flavors so when I saw this spice mix at Trader Joe’s I had to try it. I have used it as the main spice in the last couple batches of chili I have made and it gives it a hint of smokiness. Add Trader Joe’s Rub (optional depending on your preference), salt, pepper, and chili powder. Mix and cook the beef until the beef is only a little pink on the inside and add your chipotle peppers and about 1/2 C. of brown sugar.
I only use about half the can of the chipotlé peppers since they pack a pretty big punch and they are usually whole, so I finely chop them before adding them to the beef. Use your judgement if you like a lot of heat in your chili then I would use the whole can, but start with adding half and doing a quick taste test of the beef mixture before adding the rest. The brown sugar helps to cut a little bit of the heat. Turn the heat down to low and put the lid on to simmer for about 5 min. Since I don’t have an electric can opener I used this time to open all my cans of beans and tomatoes and do a little bit of clean up.
I like to add the tomatoes first, I used one 16 oz can of chunky tomato sauce and a 16 oz can of crushed fire roasted tomatoes. My crushed tomatoes were already diced up, but if they are halved tomatoes blend them a tad before adding them. Mix the tomato sauce and beef together thoroughly.
Once the tomatoes are mixed in start adding all of your beans. I usually add 2 cans of chili beans, 1-2 cans of kidney beans (this batch only has one), butter beans, black beans, and a combination of different beans. Make sure to drain all the liquid out of the cans except for the chili beans, you will want all of the sauce from those beans. Also, if you want your chili to be runnier and not as thick I would only use 3-4 different cans of beans and add a small can of tomato paste. Once you have the beans mixed in add the Worcestershire Sauce and Ketchup. Taste again and if it is a little acidic add a little bit more brown sugar.
Once everything is added and mixed in turn up the heat to medium-high and let the chili come to a slow boil. Once it begins to boil, turn off the heat and transfer chili to the crock pot and put it on low for about 4 hours. My crock pot doesn’t have that specific setting so I just set it on the 8 hr low mark and timed it for 4 hours.
Now that your amazing chili is done it’s time to sit down and enjoy!
Recipe for Chipotle Pepper Chili
- 16 oz. package of Ground Beef
- 1 whole Yellow Onion
- 6-8 cloves of Garlic (I use the organic pre-peeled garlic and usually add an entire pack into my chili)
- 2 tbsp of Olive Oil
- 1/2 tbsp of Salt (I usually don’t measure the salt and just taste as I go)
- 1 tbsp of Pepper
- 1/2 tbsp of Chili Powder
- 2.5 tbsp of Trader Joe’s Rub (your preference to substitute: chili powder, cayenne, garlic powder, paprika, and adjust salt & pepper)
- 1/2 C. of Brown Sugar
- 1/2 of a 7 oz can of Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce (optional – you can adjust based on your preference of heat)
- 28 oz. can of Chunky Tomato Sauce
- 28 oz. can of Crushed/Diced Tomatoes (I like the fire roasted flavor)
- 6 oz. can of Tomato Paste
- 15 oz. can of Seasoned Black Beans
- 15 oz. can of Kidney Beans
- 15 oz. can of Tri-Bean blend
- 15 oz. can of Butter Beans
- Two 15 oz. cans of Chili Beans
- 1/2 tbsp of Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tbsp of Ketchup
I hope that you enjoyed the recipe and the chili, I always feel like chili is never complete until you make some fresh, hot cornbread to go with it and some raw honey drizzled over the top of it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Instructions
- Sauté the chopped onions with the olive oil in the bottom of your quart pan over medium heat, once the onions are transparent add the garlic and let it sauté with the onions for about 2-3 minutes. Once the onions and garlic have cooked down add your ground beef and let it brown on the outside before adding your spices. Wait until the meat is almost completely brown, but still slightly pink before adding your chipotlé peppers and brown sugar to the mix.
- Let the onion, garlic, beef, spices and peppers simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes. Next add the cans of tomatoes and mix into your meat thoroughly before adding your beans. Once the tomatoes are mixed in start adding your cans of beans and lastly a small can of tomato paste. Mix the beans thoroughly and then add in your Ketchup and Worcestershire Sauce and mix again.
- Put a lid on your pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once the chili starts to boil turn off the heat and transfer into a crock pot (you don’t have to do this, but I think it really brings out all the flavors) and put on low for about 4 hours.
- Enjoy!
lovellie
