My Chili Recipe

I’ve tweaked my chili recipe over about 30 years after making chili when we were newlyweds from a “Southern Living” magazine recipe (remember when it was all about home decor and cooking?). I kept some of the unique ingredients as I developed my own recipe over the years. They really give this chili a depth and good mix of flavors. It’s rich, slightly sweet and slightly spicy. We always get loads of compliments when we cook it for guests. I hope that you love my chili recipe!

Ingredient List:

• 2 lbs lean, grass fed ground beef
• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 4 15 oz cans dark and/or light red kidney beans
• 1 small can of tomato paste (optional to thicken if needed)
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 onion chopped
• 1/4 cup Chili Powder (more to taste)
• 1/8 cup cumin
• cayenne pepper to taste (I use a scant tsp)
• 1/2 cup molasses ( + more to taste)
• 2 TBS cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 1 tsp salt

Instructions:

In a heavy bottomed pot over medium/high heat add the olive oil, chopped onions and garlic. Saute until onions are mostly translucent. Add the ground beef and cook until beef is cooked through. Drain fat only if necessary. Add all the rest of the ingredients and turn the heat down to a low simmer. Simmer for at least 40 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the tomato paste if you prefer it thicker. (If necessary, I adjust the sweetness and spice to taste by adding more molasses and/or cayenne at the end of cooking). The longer this recipe simmers the better it is and it’s even better the second day!

Toppings:

Optional (but not really, lol) toppings include chopped raw onions, sliced jalapeños, sour cream, avocado, chopped bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, crumbled saltines.

I always serve it with homemade cornbread. Enjoy!

Let me know if you try it! As always, thank you for reading! You can pin any of these photos to Pinterest , by clicking on the Pinterest button and you can also find me there. I’d love to have you follow me in the LTK app. I’m brainstorming to curate truly useful content for you there- things that I use and love and that are truly helpful. And they’ve really improved that app to create more of a “hang out space”, and it just keeps getting better! I’m also on Facebook. Anywhere you share my content helps me out so much, and means the world to me, so thank-you!