Thick & Hearty Chili
While this chili is absolutely rich, we've since posted our all-time favorite chili recipe. It’s the one we make all fall and winter long, so we invite you to check it out!
Although it’s been rather spring-like here lately (oddly enough, it doesn’t quite feel fall-like), the bare trees and leaves littering the grass had us in the mood for a warm bowl of chili. We have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with chili. We love, love, love to eat it. But we hate trying to find recipes that we like. We never seem to find anything that knocks our socks off, and after doing another round of searching we finally decided to go with our gut and created our own recipe based on what we know we like and don’t like. We suppose that technically this would be considered Chili con Carne with beans (although chili powder is used in place of actual chili peppers). We love beans in our chili, so that’s a staple, and we like the texture to be thick and hearty. If a spoonful can sit on top of a piece of bread without running off, then it’s a winner. We think we finally put together a recipe that incorporates all of our favorite aspects of chili; it has earned a permanent place in our recipe book, and we will certainly be making it again and again.
Like most soups and stews, chili tastes a standby when it is cooked low and slow for a few hours, so the flavors have an opportunity to meld together and intensify. One of the things that we have always had a problem with regarding chili was getting it to thicken up nicely, and we have finally found the solution. We remembered reading that cornmeal can be used as a thickening agent (after all, it does make a mean polenta!), so we added it to this chili and it made all the difference!
Thick and Hearty Chili
Yield: 8 servings There's nothing more comforting than a bowl of chili!- 3 lbs. (1.36 kg) ground beef
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 15 ounce (425.24 g) can tomato sauce
- 2 cups (480 ml) beef stock
- 15 ounce (425.24 g) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 30 ounces (850.49 g) canned pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 Tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) cumin
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ cup (39.75 g) cornmeal
- 1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic over medium heat. Once browned, remove any extra liquid in the pot and return the beef to the pot.
- 2. Add the tomato sauce, beef broth, beans, seasonings and cornmeal, stirring well. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 2 hours.
- Yield: 8 servings
- Prep: 10 minutes
- Cook: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Total: 2 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. ( 1.36 kg ) ground beef
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 15 ounce ( 425.24 g ) can tomato sauce
- 2 cups ( 480 ml ) beef stock
- 15 ounce ( 425.24 g ) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 30 ounces ( 850.49 g ) canned pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 Tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ( 0.5 teaspoon ) cumin
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ cup ( 39.75 g ) cornmeal
Method
- 1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic over medium heat. Once browned, remove any extra liquid in the pot and return the beef to the pot.
- 2. Add the tomato sauce, beef broth, beans, seasonings and cornmeal, stirring well. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 2 hours.
