Curious what your favorite chili recipies are...I'm somewhat challenged in the kitchen, but enjoy putting together a good pot every once in a while. It's those pre-packaged McCormick spices (just add meat, tomatoes, & beans) that are starting to get tiring. Much too salty for my tastes.

I prefer something sweet but with a kick. Anybody have anything good to share?

Baking Chocolate + Chipotle seasoning + Fire-roasted peppers + Yuengling. Those are some of the ingredients I use for flavor. I spent almost 20 pots getting my recipe perfect. Experiment with enough different spices and combinations, and you can really get to a good chile that's perfect for your tastes.

I like a mixture of ground meat (beef, pork, lamb), about 1.5lbs.
I like color, so I use purple onions, red/yellow/orange bell peppers
Garlic, 2 gloves or so.
Canned Diced towmaters, They have some with chile and chipotle peppers
1 Bottle Franks Chile'n Lime sauce (I actually haven't seen in my local stores lately, lime juice works, I just like Frank's sauce)
2-3oz bourbon.

I usually season with ground chile powder, and chipoltle chile poweder, Ground cumin, and a pinch or two of cayenne pepper. about 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Beans are optional I usually only use a can of red,
1 can of Golden Hominey for some texture.

No beans in Chili.

Brian, don't read this. This is more of a SW smokehouse stew, not a bowl of "red". I don't think the lad has a pressure cooker (which makes a really great red.)

Sweet yet spicy, coming up.

1 carrot finely diced
2 stalks celery finely diced
2 bell pepper (orange, yellow or red), chopped
1 large vadalia or TX sweet onion, chopped
1 package meat loaf mix (beef, pork, veal)
1 16oz can of diced fire roasted tomatoes (green, black, and red can)
2-3 chipotle peppers in adabo sauce minced. Grocery store: They're in little cans by the salsas.
Franks Red Hot (mild heat with AWESOME flavor)
One can of light kidney beans *gasp*

Medium heat: Sweat carrot, celery, pepper, and onion in some olive oil until the veggies are soft and aromatic. Make sure to add some kosher salt to pull the water out of the veggies. Add meat and brown. Once brown (don't drain juice), lower heat and add tomatoes and simmer for a bit (15 minutes or so). Add chipotles and Franks to your level of comfort.

Cook down for about 30 minutes. Add beans at about 15 minutes left. You don't want those overcooked. You may want to add a little more sweet with some tomato paste.

To serve, add sour cream, cheddar cheese, and chopped green onions to the top. Bake up some Jiffy corn bread and you're good to go. GREAT food on a cool day.


I get a lot of compliments on this chili. I play with the above recipe a lot and never tastes the same twice.

Recently made some chili that included beer for my daughter's 4H club party. Some guy I'd never seen ate a couple bites and said"wow, that's good- its got Sam Adam's Pumpkin Ale in it"- and he was right! I find that kind of palate scary!

I think there is an odd recipe or two floating around in this earlier thread, too. I guess I am on record for being a fan of dark chocolate in chili.

As for the guy with the "Sam Adams" angle, are you sure he hadn't just been rooting around in your garbage can looking for ways to ingratiate himself?

Surprised to see so many people using ground beef...I prefer to use beef stew meat. Brown it in a little oil over high heat. Then deglaze the pan with a dark, sweet beer.