The Best Chili You’ve Ever Had!

Updated 2-17-22
Today I’m going to be sharing one of my favorite recipes ever, chili! For me, eating chili is probably the best part of winter.

I grew up eating it only at my aunt’s house (my mom mostly made Pakistani food at home) which was one of the few non-Pakistani dishes I enjoyed back then. As I’ve grown into an adult (I think), and have started cooking more and more, I never really wanted to learn how to make this dish only because I was scared I couldn’t make it as good as I remember tasting it.

Last year, I decided that was a stupid reason not to make something so I started looking up recipes. I found one that seemed to be a good base to start on allrecipes.com. If you click here you’ll see the original.

However, here is my version:

***updated 1/1/2017***  I changed the ground beef and chili powder measurements as I made it recently and felt these amounts tasted better. In addition, I would like to say that when it comes to adding the red chili powder, make sure you start with a smaller amount and work your way up depending on how much spice you can handle.

Ingredients:

-1 lb ground beef (2 lb if you prefer it meaty)
-2 (29 ounce) cans tomato sauce
-2 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
-1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drain and rinsed
-1 (15 ounce) can cannelloni beans, drain and rinsed
-1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drain and rinsed
-1 1/2 onion, chopped
-1 green bell pepper, chopped
-4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (or a whole head if you love garlic)
-1/2 tsp white sugar
-1 tsp dried oregano
-1 tsp ground black pepper
-1 1/2 tsp salt
-2 tsp garlic powder
-2 tsp ground cumin
-2 tsp ground coriander
-1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper
-2 tbs red chili powder
-1 tbs red chili flakes (optional to give it an extra little kick)

Instructions:
1. Place ground beef in a large pot, cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain and crumble.
2. Chop onion, bell pepper and garlic, rinse the beans, measure the spices and put them all in the pot along with the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 2 hours.
4. Serve with green onions, cilantro, cheddar cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips

Extra Tips:
-I take this opportunity to also use any leftover tomato products at home like spaghetti sauce, and salsa and dump them all in there as well.
-I like to also serve it with avocado sometimes (if they are less than a dollar that week…this week they were not…)
-This is a great recipe and you can add or subtract anything to fit your taste
-Chili also freezes well which is why I always make this much (usually I’m trying to half recipes)
-Don’t discard the cans, I’ll show you what you can do with them, next week! 🙂

Update:

This recipe is one of the most requested ones from family and friends and now after making it several times and experimenting, here some extra notes I wanted to share:

• Add 2-3 jalapenos (without seeding)
• Also not sure what I was thinking when I only suggested 4 cloves of garlic. I literally add a whole head of garlic
• Sauté the chopped onion, garlic, and peppers until they are translucent and then add the meat to brown. Doing so adds another depth of flavor.
• Serve with Greek yogurt and toasted tortilla chips (game changer thanks to a friend’s suggestion).

Hope you make this and enjoy it as much as I do!