Cozy season is incomplete without some good chili and buttery cornbread. Chili is made with beans, tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers and other vegetables. You can eat this with some kettle chips or over boiled rice for a filling dinner. I like mine fairly spicy as well and I sometimes add freshly grated cheddar and sour cream to complete the cozy comfort food package. It is a one pan kind of recipe which I always stan any day of the week.
For a chili recipe, lean ground beef would be ideal but if you have medium ground beef I don’t think that is a big deal. For a good chili it is necessary to use kidney beans. Kidney beans cannot be substituted for this recipe because each type of bean has its own distinct flavor. For example, even though black beans and kidney beans look similar, black beans are great on nachos whereas kidney beans are better boiled in chili.
For my convenience I used lots of tinned (canned) ingredients as opposed to fresh produce. Diced tomatoes can be substituted with fresh tomatoes which are diced. The tinned carrots can be substituted with baby carrots. Or you can literally slice 2 or 3 big carrots. Using fresh produce just takes more prep work but the taste is pretty much on equal footing. Since chili is just one big stew, check the salt and pepper levels during cooking for best results. This would be awesome with my sage cornbread, bon appetit!
Ingredients
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 large bell pepper, trimmed, seeds removed and diced
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 habanero pepper or jalapeño, trimmed, seeds removed and diced
454g/1lb ground beef
156ml tinned tomato paste
1 tablespoon table salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic or garlic powder
398ml tinned diced tomatoes
248ml tinned carrots/1 package fresh baby carrots/ 2 large carrots, diced
1 cup beef broth (or vegetable broth)
540ml red kidney beans
3 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 cup chopped cilantro or parsley
Instructions
- Melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat and fry the onions, bell pepper and garlic cloves until they look slightly browned.
- Add the ground beef and let it cook through. It usually takes about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato tomato paste and let it simmer for 5 minutes to remove the sour taste.
- Add the salt, black pepper, minced garlic/garlic powder, broth, tomatoes, carrots, kidney beans, lime juice and cilantro/parsley. Let it simmer on medium heat, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Check the salt and pepper levels, and adjust as necessary.
- Serve over boiled rice or with grated cheddar and kettle chips.