The most forgiving chili recipe
Chili has a wonderful way of warming you up, body and soul. It’s also one of the MOST forgiving recipes I’ve ever made, which makes it great when I forget half of my grocery list (that never happens…)! Also, my toddler loves to “help”, which usually looks like sitting on the counter and eating the veggies I’ve chopped. I’ll take it!
I’ve been making this same recipe since 2014, when I was on a Global Village Habitat build in Montana. Twelve wonderful strangers came together to help build homes for low-income families in Columbia Falls, right near Glacier National Park. We all stayed together in one house, and one rainy, dreary night I made everyone this chili.
I made it again this past weekend to celebrate the first snowfall in Boston. It’s a great dish to make on Sunday – it takes about an hour of prep, an hour of cooking, but then you have 2 or three easy meals for the week (depending on how big your family is). It also freezes well.
Ingredients
3 lbs ground meat (can be beef, turkey, or bison)
2 tbl olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, diced
3+ cloves garlic, chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 red, orange, or yellow pepper, diced
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 32 oz can tomato sauce
1 32 oz can diced tomatoes
1 15oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 bag frozen corn
3 tbl chili powder
2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
Sour cream and cheddar cheese for garnish
Note: When I say forgiving, I really mean it. Forgot the peppers? No big deal. Don’t like zucchini? Use yellow squash, or add some mushrooms. Half the time I buy the frozen corn, then forget to add it in. This weekend I found I only had half a jar of tomato sauce and no garlic – totally worked. If you have meat, onion, some veggies, tomatoes, and chili powder, you’re basically good to go.
Directions
Step 1
Put on some good music. Cooking is always more fun if you’re singing and dancing, and I find my kids are happier and much more patient!
Step 2
Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the ground meat and use a spatula to break it up as it’s cooking (I used to pull little teaspoon sized balls from the package and add them one by one, but who has time for that anymore?!). Sauté until cooked through, stirring to keep the meat from sticking to the pan or burning.
Step 3
In a large pot, sauté the diced onion in olive oil for about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes, until it smells so good your husband asks what you’re doing. Add the carrots and cook another few minutes. Add the pepper, zucchini, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, black beans, chili powder, and cumin.
Step 4
Drain off the excess fat from the cooked meat. Add the meat to the pot with all the veggies. Stir, cover, and let simmer for about 45 minutes (until the vegetables are tender). Add the frozen corn and cook another 5 minutes, just enough to heat the corn all the way through. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Step 5
Ladle into bowls, and top with sour cream and cheddar cheese. YUM. If you’re not into dairy, avocado is also a delicious topping. Happy eating!
Note: IF YOU FEED THIS TO A CHILD STILL IN DIAPERS, use diaper cream proactively for the next 24 hours. Chili powder is no joke. The nice thing is that even my 10-month-old could munch on the mushy carrots and the ground meat. But his poor bum the next day! Lesson learned.