Easy Like Sunday Chili

I’ve won TWO chili competitions at work, and those recipes are pretty in-depth. They take a llllloooooonnnnnnggggg time to make, are really complex, have many ingredients – and sometimes, I just want chili and I want it NOW. I want comfort food that taste like it took a lot of work and time. I needed to create a super simple and quick recipe that got me amazing chili but fast. THIS is that recipe.

It takes total time about 2 hours from start to eating – which isn’t bad considering the longer chili stews, the better the flavor. This recipe works because the flavors can meld and saturate in the 1.5 hours. You can let it stew longer if you want, but 1.5 hours does the trick. Let’s get started so you can make some chili.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 lb 80/20 ground beef
• 1 medium yellow onion – medium diced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 2 – 15 oz cans plain tomato sauce
• 1 – 28 oz can chopped tomatoes with green chiles
• 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1 can kidney beans – rinsed
• 1 can black beans – rinsed (I used cuban style black beans which has onions and green peppers included)
• 4 tbsp chili powder
• 1.5 tbsp cumin
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup beer (8 oz)
• 1 cup beef broth (8 oz)
• 2 tbsp bbq sauce (something on the sweet/mild/smokey side – not spicy)
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a 10-12 inch skillet.
2. Add onions and ground beef and garlic. Saute until all beef is browned. Pour off the fat grease and put the cooked meat/onions/garlic in bottom of large stock pot. Discard skillet.
3. Open can of chipotle peppers, remove 3 peppers and chop to a small dice. If you like spicy chili you can add another pepper or add more adobo sauce. You can also add this at the end if you want to to the taste/see on the spice level.
4. Turn up heat under the stock pot to medium-high.
5. To the meat mixture in the stock pot, add ALL other ingredients including the chipotle peppers.
6. Mix all ingredients well.
7. Heat until the mixture begins to bubble/boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1.5 – 3 hours.
8. Serve in bowls with a dollop of sour cream and shredded cheese. I also serve with Fritos or tortilla chips.

For more step-by-step photos and more delicious recipes, check out Angela’s blog, Add Avocado!