Guess what? It’s pretty hard to take or find a non-disgusting photo of chili. As you can imagine, the dish does not photograph well. I chose to display clean, non-gross chili peppers instead.
Unbelievably, I never ate chili until nearly one year ago this month when MR made a delicious version for a cozy winter game night. MR’s chili was a huge hit with the group – it’s packed with an immense amount of flavor, tons of beef (sorry veggies) and just enough kick.
MR recently gave me for Christmas the cookbook from which her chili recipe hails – The Bride and Groom First and Forever Cookbook (check it out here). The gift was very thoughtful; MR, a semi-professional chef, always raves about this cookbook, and she knew I wanted it but was a little embarrassed to buy it (it’s been a year and a half since Joe and I were a bride and groom).
The chili was the first recipe from the cookbook we attempted, and we devoured it. It has definitely become a new winter staple in our house.
Texas Chili with all the Fixin’s
1 tablespoon bacon grease or vegetable oil (bacon grease? Ew)
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 pound ground beef chuck (aka regular ground beef. I had to ask MR what “beef chuck” was.)
1 pound Italian sausage links, removed from casings and crumbled (FYI: this step is super gross. I made Joe do it.)
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
2 cans (28 ounces each) crushed tomatoes with puree
1 can (15 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 ounces) barbecued baked beans, drained
1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, plus more as needed
- Note: You can find canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (smoked jalapeños in a thick red sauce) in supermarkets and Latino specialty markets.
Fixin’s
Grated sharp cheddar cheese
Chopped green onion
Sour cream
Crumbled corn chips (or an entire bag of Tostitos Scoops)
Red pepper flakes
Chopped jalapeño chiles
Heat the vegetable oil (because no one in her right mind would use bacon grease) in an 8-quart heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the chili powder, paprika, cumin, and oregano and stir until the spices are well combined. Add the ground beef, sausage, and 1 teaspoon of the kosher salt. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook the meat, stirring frequently, until cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.
Stir in the remaining ingredients. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Adjust the seasonings with more kosher salt or chipotle chiles if necessary. Serve with any or all of the suggested fixin’s.
Note: MR gave a great tip – this recipe makes quite a large amount of chili so if you’re serving it to only 2 people, freeze half of it in a tightly sealed Tupperware container. We did that and we still had several days of the chili left.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Just a small note of deliciousness … I recently found an awesome chili recipe myself. Instead of Italian sausage links in your recipe, try Andouille or Chorizo sausage. It makes a great chili amazing ;)
The first few times I used Italian Sausage for my Chili and Lasagna I was also disgusted with removing the casing from the sausage. I’ve learned a little secret to help with this gross step. If you go to the fresh meat counter at your local grocery store you can buy ground sweet or hot sausage. Just tell them how much you need and they give it to you nice and neat. No messy casings. Depending on whom I make my Chili for I use hot sausage because it gives it that extra kick, but I love spicy food!!
So glad you liked the chili, HCG! I was nervous when you called me at 10:30 p.m. on a Tuesday saying you and Joe were just beginning to make this delicious yet somewhat time consuming dish. Then I remembered that you do your best work late at night (see headboard post). My favorite part: fixin’s.
T: Fancy sausage? Muy delicioso! Muchas gracias.
Jamie: I had no idea ground sausage even existed! This tip will no doubt vastly improve my chili-making experience. I am forever indebted!
MR: You are correct that Team HCG is comprised of night owls. And we were glad you answered the phone that evening as it seemed like there were way too many onions going in the pot (little did we realize the recipe serves 8).
I am making this for our superbowl party!! I’ll let you know how it goes!!!
Question, if I were to enter this chili in a chili cook off would be it be categorized as Spicy? When my work sent out info about a chili contest I actually remembered seeing an HCG post with a chili recipe!
B Sol: I wouldn’t exactly category this chili as spicy, but I would categorize it as very delicious and flavorful. Joe sometimes uses chorizo which adds a little spice, but I don’t warn people “watch out, this is spicy.” I’m pretty scared of spicy things, so that’s more evidence that this isn’t very spicy. I didn’t know I could use the word “spicy” so many times in one comment. Let me know if you enter the contest with this. MR will die!
So the chili cook off was cancelled last minute after I brought my full crock pot into work. So, I cant say its award winning but this recipe was eaten by some Kenexans today and very well received. I used the Chorizo sausage suggested by Tara and added more of the chipolte chilis and the end results was delicious! Thanks MR and HCG for bringing my attention to this recipe, I have long wanted a staple chili recipe and I think this is it for me!
B. Sol: I hope there was a really good reason for the cancellation of the chili cook off. Nevertheless, I’m glad you liked this recipe! Team HCG looks forward to winter mostly because it gives us an excuse to each this chili several times a month.