Chili: A Recipe with Endless Options

I have always been fond of chili; I must admit that I haven't tried all of the different types that exist out there.



Chicken chili, beef chili, bean chili, no bean chili, red chili, green chili, venison chili and more!

A chili recipe in its simplest form can be considered a stew. Meat, beans, vegetables, and spices are slowly cooked with some form of liquid to make a tender, flavorful dish. I've seen Chilis made in dutch ovens, kitchen pots, slow cookers, and instapots to name a few different options.  Before serving, chilis have numerous toppings that can dress up the dish even further.

I want to just take a moment and flesh out all of the different variations that might exist out there to give a single place to consider different options if the mood strikes us to make a new batch of delicious food.

Let's break it down!

Meat Options

Beef

Sausage

Game Meat (Venison and Bear are popular)

Turkey

Chicken

Pork

Vegetable Options

Tomato (All sorts of varieties can be used)

Onion (yellow is common, white is milder)

Mushrooms

Sweet Potato

Bell Pepper

Chili Pepper

Various Hot Peppers

Corn

Potatoes

Fruit Options

Peaches

Plum

Legume Options

Great Northern Bean

Navy Bean

Garbanzo Bean

Herbs and Spice Options

Chili Pepper Powder

Cumin

Black Pepper

Paprika (smoked and/or normal)

Oregano

Cilantro (Fresh)

Topping Options

Cheese (Shredded)

Sour Cream

Green Onion

Diced Tomato

Diced Pepper

Avacado

Lime

Tortilla Chip

This list, by no means, is complete so please share what you enjoy!

For an example of chili recipes, I have always appreciated the Youtube Chef 'Binging with Babish'.

Here is his take on two types of chilis.



Another worthy mention is Youtuber 'Adam Ragusea'

I am afraid that after our 11 year stint in Texas, we have come to the conclusion that you turn Chili into Soup when you add Beans......history may or may not be on our side with that conclusion.

2# ground  beef
1# ground pork
1 chopped onion
2 T garlic
3 T chili powder
2 T cumin
1 T oregano
2 t ground coriander
1 T cayenne or a whole dried pepper
1 T dry mustard
1 poblano - roasted
1 jalapeno - roasted
3 cups beef broth - can use other animal broth as a substitute
3.5 cups crushed tomato
1 T red wine vinegar
1 can rotel
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Cook the ground beef and pork and then add everything else but hold the cilantro right until it is time to serve. Great over any carbohydrate (rice or bread) but especially good over corn chips....also very good on a hot dog or sausage dog.

As with most chilis, the older it is, the better it gets.

If you want a soup, add beans......

Here in Texas we are very serious about our Chili Con Carne.

Beef is the only selection for meat.  Onions and garlic are the only vegetables.

Recipes have gotten fancy over the years by adding whole or dried chili peppers.  I just use chili powder.

Dear hubby and I differ when making the exact same recipe, I don't know why...

My favorite chili is a copy cat recipe for Wendys Chili.

I put my thoughts about chili in my thread on heuristic cooking, but I'll pull a quote here:

let's talk about the American southwest dish, chili. This isn't normally how I'd teach someone to make it, but I think it helps to show the difference between what I'm talking about and a more traditional recipe.

Elements of my heuristic include:
- philosophy: The core of this dish is stewed chiles, this is the only hard requirement. Without chiles in a stew, it isn't chili.
- philosophy: Use cumin. It's the best spice and you probably don't have so much that it would be too much. If you'll be cooking this for a long time, use whole seeds instead of ground. They can be added with other aromatics to the beans if using.
- option: Tomato is a very common ingredient and brings a lot of fluid, if you're not trying something specific out, you're probably using tomatoes.
- technique: If you're using onions, you probably want to chop them up, coarse or fine, and sweat them in the bottom of the bot before adding most other things. Maybe chiles are in there at the same time. Maybe you add garlic toward the end of this step.
- option: Beans go great in chili and extend the volume of the stewed chiles. All beans are good, so use whatever. Some beans will remain quite firm and some will almost dissolve -- both outcomes are pleasant.
- option: Meat (or vegan substitute) are also welcome and common in chili. If you're cooking ground meat before adding it, consider cooking it with a taco seasoning mix or good chili powder.
- procedure: Cook the base first -- chiles and onions and garlic and cumin and whatever else is the core of what you're making. once that's soft and aromatic, add any of: tomato, broth, meat, beans, chunky vegetables, extra spices, etc. and let it simmer a while.
- procedure: When you're getting toward serving time, but still have ten or fifteen minutes to simmer it, taste it. If it needs more spice, add powdered chiles or hot sauce. If it needs umami, add miso. If it's too thick, add broth. After all of that, if it seems dull, hit it with a little salt. The spicier it is, the less salt it needs, so be careful.
- option: Just about anything else can go in. Whatever you have too much of, it can go in. Pumpkin puree? Sure! Cucumbers instead of tomatoes? Why not?! Sweet peppers as the base and black pepper to spice it? Sure! Cauliflower florets? Absolutely!

With these elements in hand, I think just about anyone could make a chili that I would recognize, but they could be wildly distinct.

I, a lifelong northerner, have always had it with beans, so I put beans in it.  I like cheese and/or sour cream on top.  I think the most interesting chilli I've had was lamb chilli one year for Christmas Eve at a family friend's house, yum!  But generally we just have ground beef.

Our chili con carne recipe has evolved over the years but the constants are whole cumin & coriander seeds dry toasted in a frying pan then ground with whole chilis and peppercorns, a couple of pieces of dark chocolate, 70% or higher cocoa, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, oxo cube, red wine and orange zest.
We like red kidney beans in our chili and have used minced venison, hare and/or wild duck instead of beef.

Our chilli recipe is probably not very authentic - cumin, maybe onion, probably leek because onion doesn't always agree with me, minced (ground) beef, tomatoes, probably red kidney beans, red lentils, grated carrot (and other root vegetables) to extend the meat, Similar condiments to Megan: any or all of these: worcester sauce, oxo, marmite, molasses or muscovado sugar, and cocoa powder. The chilli is usually ground powder, sweet peppers if I have them. Cooked long and slow and preferably eaten reheated the following day.
We usually eat it with rice, which seems a bit non authentic, but easy! I might hide finely sliced greens under the sauce.

There is city chili & there is cowboy chili. I have easy access to all sorts of peppers here in Texas but I usually just use chili powder. Cumino. Garlic & onions. Paprika. Rotella tomatoes with chilis. Salt & black pepper.

I think adding beans only turns it into soup if it's too watery. I rarely add beans but never canned beans. Not going to happen. Camellia beans.

In Pittsburgh they put it on top of spaghetti. Might be ok if it was good chili but the few times I tried it the chili was weak. Way too bland. No sabore senor. Good chili is supposed to hurt a little bit. Cornbread or Fritos are excellent with it.




https://www.camelliabrand.com/products/red-kidney-beans/

Thanks for starting this thread, Timothy. I'd thought of starting a thread on chili, similar to one I saw on stew.

My college roommate and I used to make an "endless" chili in the winter. We'd make a pot on Sunday, and leave it on the stove for the week. It was vegetarian, and we did it in winter in a poorly heated house, so there was little concern about anything going bad. Each day, whoever got home first, would heat it up and add whatever we thought needed adding. It might be more tomatoes one day, more beans the next, a carrot, a pepper, an onion, some minced garlic, maybe hot sauce, half a can of beer, or a bit of wine. Each day, the chili tasted a little better until we finished it by Thursday or Friday.

Randy Eggert wrote:My college roommate and I used to make an "endless" chili in the winter. We'd make a pot on Sunday, and leave it on the stove for the week.

Randy, your chili reminds me of this thread: https://permies.com/t/204592/Perpetual-stew-friends

I grew up with Skyline Chili, which is normally poured over spaghetti and topped with cheese. It has a little cinnamon and cocoa powder in it, and I made my own vegan version:

1 cup TSP (textured soy protein) crumbles, pre-soaked  in 1 cup hot water for 5 min;

1 chopped onion

1 can tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup dry kidney beans, soaked overnight

1 Tbsp chili powder or taco seasoning

1/2 Tbsp Cumin

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/4 Tsp cayenne

~2 cups water

1/4 - 1/2 Tsp cinnamon

1/4 - 1/2 Tsp cocoa powder


I cook the beans in the Instapot first, usually 8 min on high pressure and then let it release, and drain. Then add the beans and everything else back and saute in the Instapot for 5-6 min. During all that, I'll cook up 8 ounces of fusilli to the side, and mix it in when it's all done, then dish that out into multiple servings.

John makes what he calls "Trash Can Chili".  He starts with smoked brisket "leftovers", then bulks it up with whatever other meats we have - usually hoping for venison, bison, elk, or even boar. Barring any game (a truly sad, but all too familiar state of affairs!), a decent hunk of beef or lamb, or both will work. Cumin, chili, chipotle, onions, garlic, worchestershire sauce,... and, because he likes them, beans. I know there's more, but I don't recall what else. Few people ever settle for just one bowl... I've already put in the request for at least a dozen quarts of it for the pantry, on top of whatever other briskety stuff he's thinking of, this year.

Christopher Weeks wrote:

Randy Eggert wrote:My college roommate and I used to make an "endless" chili in the winter. We'd make a pot on Sunday, and leave it on the stove for the week.

Randy, your chili reminds me of this thread: https://permies.com/t/204592/Perpetual-stew-friends

Christopher, great thread! I see that S. Rogers had a similar chili--though he kept it going for 3 weeks!

I use pumpkin/ winter squash in my chili, either dehydrated & powdered or home-canned & mashed.  It cuts the acidity of the tomatoes (a problem for me) and adds a really nice body and flavor.  I've never had a complaint and no one even knows it's in there unless I tell them.

Chili: One of the few dishes my dad cooked, that he learned for survival in college. Modified some by my study of "La Cocina Mexicana"
BEEF- a cheap cut, you're going to cook it "long time" The tougher the meat the thinner you slice it. Ground Beef? Maybe if you know it's really good or it's
"ON SPECIAL $" * If you have the time: start with a beef soup bone and a bay leaf or three and cook up the broth. Onions: mo'strong mo'betta. In half,  then thin slices, then across: you want to AVOID big round flats with tough skin left on, or root cluster clumps. The onion is for flavor, not for extra chewing or choking, right? Garlic: trim the root end of each clove, den mosh dem! Wham! with the flat of a cleaver, discard peels, then chop random quick'n'dirty not TOO uniform and fine. Tomatoes: not bloated "Tomate Bistec" but any medium-size  snappy-flavored cooking type, slice so you have bits no bigger than pinky tip. Peppers: Sweet, OK , or Mexican salsa  types, but not "Tomate Bistec" unless that's all that's in the garden, avoid if possible types bred to use as tennis balls, or survive long shipping, But if what's in the garden is abundant and ripe, go for it, but discard any super tough skin. Texture should be primarily cooked beef, soft beans and small onion slices. There's a zillion different peppers, try them all. Go for ground hot peppers in quantity only if you know the stuff is fresh. If you have picante fiends in the crowd, buy some dry Chiltepine chiles at the Latin Market, let-em crumble the chiles on between their fingers. If you try that, remember to wash your fingers well before getting the gunk out the corner of your eye, or getting amorous with yr. honey, (or yourself for that matter.) Go a bit easy on the Comino/cumin, Chile is Gringo Cuisine! (or Tex-Mex mebbe) Don't Worry: any veggy from the Americas can be added, I've never made chili the same way twice. Back in the day I would have at least half as many Champaign bottles of cold homebrew beer as guests, pues, ya no tomo yo. I've also often made good 'ol American  corn bread, (and not seldom it was with blue corn I grew, and sometimes with butter I churned.) On Holidays with the right crowd and no one driving home, the butter might be green, and not just from parsley. Don't worry about making too big a potfull of chile either: it freezes well and you can even make extra and freeze containers for emergency meals, but to defrost in a hurry you boil a bit of water in the pan first or "nuke it" if you do that. *you can also sub for beef any varmint you've deleted from tearing up the garden: (Nutria, Woodchuck, Rabbit, etc.) or use whatever venison/elk your hunter friend laid on you, or? How many things have I missed???

I have a pot of mushroom-bean chili that I have been eating since yesterday. The main ingredients are tomato, serrano pepper, chicken of the woods mushroom, red beans. For vegetables, broad leaf dock, onion, garlic. The other spices are cumin and wild carrot seed along with salt and black pepper. And I added a small amount of wild foxtail seed, which I have been gathering. And a little peach and apple. Overall it turned out delicious, though I wasn’t sure at first.

I had thought to add three serranos because I had tried one raw and it didn’t seem horribly spicy. But my instinct said otherwise and so I added one and a half. I ended up taking out two thirds of the remainder after cooking it with the chicken of the woods; the fumes had the power to cause coughing across the room.

Acorn chili is excellent too! I would have used acorns in place of beans if I had them prepared.

Vegan Chorizo is my go to instead of meat. Sometimes I have fresh cooked beans on hand, other times I use canned. I have a big pot I throw in cooked black beans, vegan chorizo, chopped tomatoes, chopped onion and green pepper, a couple jalapeños (I core, de-seed, and freeze them for year round use) lots of ground chili powder, garlic, salt and pepper. I throw a lid on the pot and let it cook on medium for about 45 minutes. Sometimes I add whatever other veg I need or want to use up, like celery or kale. It's a great dish to slide other veg into. Cornbread or a quick soda bread are good with it. Made a large pot last night, the hub finished it off tonight.

I feel this would be a fun game.

Pick an ingredient from each category and see how it turns out...