r/Cooking • u/Haluszki • 13h ago
I’ve never had chili that I thought was amazing. I want to like it and it’s going to get really cold here. What’s your best recipe?
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u/AccomplishedBee1427 12h ago
You gotta make a spicy chilli, then have a lime and cilantro sour cream that you can spoon in to add levels of flavour and also cool the spice
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u/WelfordNelferd 9h ago
This is a very basic recipe (billed as "Heart Healthy Chili Con Carne"; a recipe I cut out of the newspaper mumble mumble years ago), but it's been my go-to for many years:
Brown 1# of lean ground beef and 1/2 cup each of green peppers and onion (or more peppers/onions if you prefer)
Add 2 cups of canned tomatoes (I used petite chopped), 1 can of low-salt tomato soup, 1/2 tsp. paprika, 1/4 tsp. cayenne, 2 T. chili powder, 2 bay leaves, and black pepper to taste. Cover and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Add water (or another, smaller can of petite chopped tomatoes) if it gets thicker than you like.
Add 16 oz. of chili beans and one clove of minced garlic, and heat through. (I like bean-y chili, and will also add a can of drained, not rinsed, black beans.)
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u/Prosciutto7 9h ago
A few things I do to kick my chili up a notch:
Use half chorizo, half ground beef. Brown the ground beef/chorizo first. I saute diced onions and toss those in with the ground beef. I'll use Better Than Boullion as my base liquid, as well. I take about a pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in half, and cook with salt, pepper, and red chili flakes. Then I chop of 2-3 poblano peppers and sauce them. I add all the liquid from a can of chili's in adobo sauce and chop up about half the peppers and toss them in as well. I use smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, and some random assortment of chili powders I buy from Penzey's to round it out.
ETA: I almost forgot about the beans! Yes, I put beans in my chili. It helps stretch the chili and is also really good for you.
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u/the-slit-kicker 12h ago
A lb or two of ground beef
A big onion
2 poblano or 1 green bell pepper
5 cloves garlic
10 dried chillies - ancho, gajuillio, chipotle. Whatever you got
1 cup of each: coffee, domestic beer, chicken or beef stock
A can of beans: pinto or kidney are my preference
1 tsp cumin
2 tbs paprika
1/4 cup brown sugar
Half can (4ish oz )tomato paste
Salt, pepper, vegetable or canola oil.
-Heat dried chilies in over or sauté pan for 5 mins -Remove tops and toss in blender with the coffee, beer, and stock. Salt and pepper to taste. Blitz it. Boom, you have pepper purée - In a Dutch oven or big pot coat as a few oz of cooking oil. Break up ground beef into meat chunks and brown over mid high heat for 2 min each side. Remove from pot. - medium dice onion and poblano (or bell) pepper and toss into pot to fry in meat fat. Nice. After 4 min add diced garlic. Stir for a minute. - add tomato paste and spices (cumin, paprika, brown sugar) and stir to incorporate. Kill the heat. The pot will smoke a bit and shit will stick to pan. No worries, just don’t totally burn it. - add meat, a can of beans and pepper purée back to the pot. Check salt level, you’ll prob need to add 1-2 tbs to taste. Simmer for 45 min on low, lid on.
Serve with sour cream, raw onion and grated cheese.
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u/Real_Vegetable3106 12h ago
Sounds good except for the brown sugar. I'd make this but I'd cut it down to a tablespoon if any at all.
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u/kikazztknmz 10h ago
Yeah, I tried it once with brown sugar. Didn't quite taste right to me, so I never did it again.
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u/Real_Vegetable3106 10h ago
I believe this is more Midwest style. Where they do they skyline and Greek varieties. That's hot dog chili IMO
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u/Hairy_Tough7557 12h ago
You’ll get soo many recipes and suggestions about what to put into a pot of chili. Questions is what flavors do you like? Chili in its most basic form is meat and chilis stewed in a pot. For me it’s dried chilis and chunks of beef ( chuck, short rib, oxtail and shanks) aromatics onion and some garlic cloves. Hefty dose of cumin. Tomatoes whole or crushed. Salt and pepper. Toss all that shit into a Dutch oven and braise 300f for hours until the meat is falling apart. What don’t you like about chili you’ve tried? Make some adjustments to accommodate your own preferences. The only rule is it’s chili until you put beans in the pot. Then it’s bean stew. I’m jk put whatever the hell you you want and keep adjusting things until you like it. Keep track of what you’ve done and boom! You’ve got a recipe for chili you like. Have fun!
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u/ptahbaphomet 10h ago
I make more than one style of chili. I like Colorado chili when I want to eat with rice. I like regular (Texas) chili when I am throwing leftovers meat together but for me it’s how thick, if it’s not thick enough it’s stew. Chili Pepper Madness
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u/LoveAndLadybugs 10h ago
If you want a simple recipe that has all the flavors of chili, and a little bit of pizzazz, the all American chili recipe from the McCormick website is my go-to. You can make it in one big pot, ground beef/sausage/beans/veggies. I throw in a TB of cocoa powder at the very end, and I go low on cumin, but those are my only deviations.
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u/steezMcghee 9h ago
This The Best Chili Ever is great, I like that you make your chili paste from scratch instead of just using a bunch of dry spice mixes.
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u/Pink_pony4710 8h ago
Was going to recommend this one too! My husband loses his mind when I cook this one.
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u/Hatta00 8h ago
Seven chile Texas chili.
https://www.homesicktexan.com/more-precise-texas-chili-recipe/
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u/excitement2k 7h ago
Chillin is hard to make really good. I suggest you review some Cincinnati chili recipes. It’s the only kind I enjoy and covet.
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u/dbz918 38m ago
Find a chili cookoff near you where the public can taste-test, or organize one with lots of people you know - the bigger the better so you can try as many options as possible. Find your favorite version there. Ask the people who made it for a recipe. They will laugh at you. Nonetheless, explain your sitch and maybe they'll tell you a couple key ingredients that you can experiment with at home. Problem here is that everyone has their favorite kind and they may not be your favorite kind. You need a good ol' fashioned cookoff to find out what you really like and pursue it from there.
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u/Real_Vegetable3106 13h ago
2 pounds Cubed chuck, not too small they need to withstand a long cook. Get off the hard fat and silver skin off. Small pieces will dry out in liquid even. Around an inch square or so, maybe a tiny bit less. Fry them, set aside.
Same pot saute 2 3 or small diced onions with some butter and half a 6oz tin of tomato paste, and a packet of sazon Goya.
Throw the beef back in. Had a handful of chili powder, mix variety if you can. Teaspoon of cumin powder. Cover with beef stock until it looks right.
Add quarter a stick of very very dark chocolate at the end. And a fat lob of butter.
I think I'm missing a thickener so someone else may need to elaborate on this.
No beans. Serve with more fresh diced onions on top, grated cheese, maybe sour cream. If you made it good and spicy, sour cream is great.
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u/ruinsofsilver 13h ago
you lost me at 'no beans'😐
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u/throwdemawaaay 13h ago
I mean it's trivial to add beans if you want.
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u/Real_Vegetable3106 12h ago
I agree. It does turn it into less of a delicacy and more of a meal though. I'd rather have something healthy on the side unless I'm feeling lazy and want a one pot does it all. If I had dependants, I'd be more apt to do it that way, with beans and a bunch of other nutrients.
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u/Real_Vegetable3106 13h ago
There's a time and a place I guess. Lately when I cook chili I've been looking up competition Texas chili. Health wise, I prefer with beans. But if I'm doing that I'm adding a lot more other stuff.
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u/Uranus_Hz 12h ago
I use a pound of ground beef and a pound of stew meat. A meaty sauce with chunks of meat in it.
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u/Real_Vegetable3106 12h ago
I like that. One competition recipe I read with ground beef, is to keep them in big meatballs until you're near the end of the cook. About 30 minutes to an hour before serving, he'd smash them up and do his final spice dump. Im pretty sure he won the big one. Place starts with a T I can't remember. Tuladuga?
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u/ckjohn 12h ago
Terlingua, TX. Home of the CASI chili cookoff championship.
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u/Real_Vegetable3106 11h ago
Fuckin a. I wish we had something like that everywhere in America. Looks like my kind of thing.
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u/ckjohn 11h ago
A hell of a party too out in the south Texas desert
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u/Real_Vegetable3106 11h ago
I watched videos, and it looks so damn cool. Im right next to the Seattle freeze, though, we generally don't do things like that. We only get together to protest and do angry stuff.
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u/tossNwashking 9h ago
great recipe! you just had to be controversial there at the end though lol.
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u/ratpH1nk 9h ago
I would recommend looking at an origianl chili recipe -- Chile colorado or a modified mole poblano
This is a modified mole poblano (which is one of the origin stories for texas chili, also chile colorado)
3 whole sweet fresh dried chiles like costeño, New Mexico, or choricero, stems and seeds removed
2 small hot dried chiles such as arbol, stems and seeds removed
3 whole rich fruity dried chiles like ancho, mulatto, ñegro, or pasilla, stems and seeds removed
2 whole chipotle chiles canned in adobo sauce, plus 2 tablespoons sauce, stems and seeds removed
2 quarts low-sodium canned or homemade chicken broth
4 pounds beef chuck, trimmed of excess gristle and fat, cut into 2 inch cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely diced
4 medium cloves garlic, grated on a microplane grater
1/2 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons dried oregano (optional)
2 to 3 tablespoons masa harina (optional)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Hot sauce, to taste
Cilantro, chopped onions, scallions, grated cheese, avocado, and warm tortillas for serving as desired
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u/texnessa 12h ago
Every chili post quickly devolves into arguments but if you want Texas style there ya go.
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u/TheMagicMush 13h ago
Basic chili recipe, add chorizo and put on top of spaghetti noodles Called Cincinnati style chili
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u/throwdemawaaay 12h ago edited 12h ago
Definitely the #1 thing with chili is to use dried chili peppers, not some stale powder mix from the store.
Guajillo, Ancho, and Colorado are mild to medium peppers that can be the backbone of your flavor. Chipotle in Adobo is a good source of heat, but you could also use fresh Serrano or Habanero (the latter are quite hot).
For the dried peppers the best way to use them is pull them apart, remove the seeds and white ribs with your hands, give them a rough chop, then soak in warm water until soft. Load into blender with garlic and make a puree. Add that to your chili base of stock and such.
For tex mex style chili ground meat is traditional, but a lot of people will use cubed chuck roast for something that feels a bit richer. I like both but prefer the latter.
Otherwise stuff like tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, beans, etc are really up to you. Purists keep it simple, but I've had some chilis that had half the produce aisle in there that were delicious as well. I think it's rather silly when people use chili as some sort of gatekeeping thing where it can only be done one way.