Award Winning Chili Recipe
I recently won my first church chili cook-off in Waco with this recipe. Enjoy!
Cook around 1lb ground beef. Salt and pepper twice as you cook. I cooked it in cast iron to get a better sear and then transferred to the chili pot after the tomatoes.
In a pot, sauté around ½ of a large, diced yellow onion in olive oil.
(I used a 4.5 qt Staub Dutch oven)
When onions are nearly translucent, add one chopped or minced clove of garlic.
Add 1-28 oz can of whole tomatoes. Let warm up and then smash with a potato masher or similar smashing utensil.
Add 1-15 oz can of black beans and 1-15oz can kidney beans, juice and all.
Add chicken stock. I did this to taste and added at least 1 cup total.
Add beer. I find a fancier Pilsner works best.
The chili and I shared one Radeberger tall boy this time. (I’ve used Wiseacre’s Tiny Bomb, Pilsner Urquell, Hi-Life, and PBR as well.) I used at least one cup (8 fl oz)
It was very liquidy at this point and came to around 2” from the top of the pot.
When the liquid warms up, add around 1.5-2 Tablespoons of Fiesta brand extra fancy chili powder or similar. Stir.
Add 1 Tablespoon tomato paste.
Add 1 packet Cholula chili garlic taco seasoning. Stir.
Add one clove of microplaned garlic. Mince finely and smash or use one of those squishers, if you don’t own a microplane.
I add salt to taste as I’m cooking. Around 1tsp of sea salt total.
I also added around ½ tsp of MSG to this batch. It’s trending. It’s umami. It’s not dangerous.
At this point, I simmered one Guajuillo and two arbol chiles in the liquid until they became soft, threw them into my vitamix blender with a couple of ladles of the liquid, blended thoroughly and then returned the mixture to the pot and stirred. It adds a nice, extra layer of spice and flavor.
At this point, you want to let it simmer for up to 20-30 minutes, stirring semi-frequently to avoid sticking or burning, until it noticeably thickens up.
I like to serve it with cornbread muffins and some combination of sour cream, cheese, green Tapatio sauce. I had it plain this time and it was delicious.
If you don’t have some of the fancy equipment or dried chilis, or don’t drink, you can still make a good chili with the rest of the ingredients. Make it how you like it. It’s hard to screw up.