It’s a chilly week here in early spring with wet cold weather. Nothing to beat the cold better than homemade chili.

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The Story

This chili recipe is my own and really has little story to tell except that it has improved immensely from my early days of chili making in college.

When I first made chili I thought I could just chop up all the veggies, throw them in the crock pot, and let it fly. I didn’t sautee the vegetables first and I kind of eyeballed it with seasoning. The chili was as subpar and as crunchy as you imagine it would be.

As I set out to learn why my chili sucked so badly, I began collecting interesting little chili tricks here and there.

A dash of vinegar I was told by a librarian friend. A solid 1/4 cup of cocoa powder, said an internet source. Corn flour to thicken it for more authentic flavor, said my Puerto Rican cookery book. “One bottle of dark Mexican beer,” advised my Aunt Holly.

I don’t know that this recipe would necessarily win any chili cook-offs. Regardless, I think it tastes darn delicious and it warms you up on a cold day.

Feel empowered to omit, change up, or toss in whatever you want for your chili. If you discover some new chili trick, be sure to let me know in the comments.

Ingredients for Homemade Chili

Chili is excellent because you can change it up a million different ways. Chicken chili? Sure! Carnitas chili? Yes please! Feel free to fiddle with ingredients or add in things as much as you want. If I were making this chili for me, I’d be adding a can of black beans. My husband is very anti-bean and will fiddle around plucking each bean from his chili. Rather than deal with that kind of torture (the torturous part being me getting more annoyed with each bean he plucks out) I just make it with no beans.

• 1 pound of ground beef
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1/8-1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon corn flower mixed into a slurry with 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 onion
• 1-2 bellpeppers
• 1 jar of stewed tomatoes
• 3 ox tomato paste
• Hot Sauce (Optional and whatever kind you like)

Supplies for Making Chili

As usual there are no fancy gadgets needed to make this recipe.

• Cutting Board
• Knife
• 4 quart or larger pot
• Spoon for stirring
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring Cups

How to Make Homemade Chili

Start by dicing or chopping (depending on how chunky you like your chili) half of a large onion or one small onion.

Heat a tablespoon or so of oil in your stock pot. Add the onion. While the onion gets going, chop or dice the peppers to match. Add them to the pot.

Next, add the ground beef to the pot and cook it until browned.

If the beef is pretty fatty, you might want to drain off the fat. Ours tends to be very lean so I don’t always drain it.

While the meat is browning, measure out the spices into a bowl, stir them to combine.

Toss the spices into the meat/veg mixture.

Pour in one jar/can of stewed tomatoes. Stir well, being sure to stir up from the bottom of the pot.

Add 3 oz (about half a can) of tomato paste.

To finish, combine 1 Tablespoon of corn flour with 2 Tablespoons of water. It should be a thick but liquid consistency.

Stir this into the pot.

Allow the chili to simmer on low for a half hour at least, up to a few hours.

Personally I think chili tastes best the next day.

Serve with some of the garnishes suggested below.

Chili Garnishes

Personally I love chili with shredded cheese and sour cream. If I have them and by some miracle they are ripe when I need them, avocado is another excellent topping.

Crumbled up bacon is good too.

Along with chili a good warm cornbread is absolute heaven. If I’m just too lazy to make cornbread, tortilla chips or cracker are an excellent substitute.

Vegan and Vegetarian Chili Variation

This chili can easily be made vegetarian by skipping the beef. Add in whatever kind of beans you want for the protein aspect. I like black beans, pinto beans, or great northern beans are massive but delicious in chili. Lentils are yet another option!

This recipe also can be made vegan by omitting the beef and staying away from any dairy garnishes.

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