Hearty Chili Recipe

Comfort food on your mind? How does a bowl of chili sound? This hearty chili recipe is easy to make, delicious, and super comforting!

This tasty, hearty chilli recipe is full of flavour, from the ground beef to the variety of beans and vegetables, to the different spices and creamy toppings. In one bite, you’ll get the perfect balance of beef, beans, green pepper, mushrooms, onions, garlic, jalapeño, tomato, sour cream, cheese, and green onion.

Reasons you'll love this recipe

• EASY: Even though there are quite a few ingredients in this recipe, the instructions are straightforward. Basically, all your ingredients are combined in 1 single pot, other than the ground beef, which is made in a separate pan and then added to that 1 pot. Once everything is combined, it all simmers for about 30 - 40 minutes, and its ready to eat!
• HEALTHY: Chili comprises many food groups, including protein, vegetables, and dairy. This hearty chili recipe will provide you with a number of health benefits just like our Best Greek Salad Recipe, Simple Spaghetti Squash Recipe, Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe, Easy Jambalaya Recipe with Sausage, and Recipe for Chia Pudding, while keeping you full.
• TASTE: If you’re looking for that classic chili taste, this recipe gives you exactly that.
• LEFTOVERS: Who doesn’t love leftovers? With this recipe, you’ll make 6-8 servings, so unless you’re having guests over, you will have a TON to eat at another time. Just pop the leftovers in your freezer for another day once they’ve had some time to cool down.

Ingredients

• OLIVE OIL: For cooking the ground beef and vegetables on the stove top. 
• ONION: Use either a white or yellow onion. 
• GREEN PEPPER: Use a large green pepper. 
• MUSHROOMS: Any mushrooms will taste great, this recipe uses basic white mushrooms. Another great option is cremini mushrooms. 
• GARLIC: Fresh and powdered garlic are both used in this recipe. Fresh is highly recommended for an enhanced flavour. 
• GROUND BEEF: Extra lean is recommended to reduce the amount of excess fat, however lean works as well but you may want to consider straining the excess of fat before adding the ground beef to the chili pot. 
• TOMATOES: You will need a can of crushed tomatoes and a can of diced tomatoes. Crushed tomatoes help give the chili the thick base, while the diced tomatoes give you little bites of tomatoes throughout the chili. My Red Pasta Sauce From Scratch uses the exact same method.
• BEANS: Always opt for a variety of beans in chili! It gives so much more flavour, texture, and colour. This recipe uses red kidney beans and pinto beans. These are the best beans for chili, but another great bean option/addition is black beans. 
• JALAPEÑO PEPPER: For a mild, to medium level of spice, you should include half of 1 jalapeño to the chili pot, and chop up the other half and use it for toppings for an added crunch and additional spice. 
• SPICES: There are three main spices that really give chili its classic flavour; chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin. All three are used in this recipe. 
• SALT & PEPPER: You know the drill, every savoury meal can use a little salt and pepper to enhance the flavour. 
• SOUR CREAM: For some rich creaminess to balance out all the acidity and spice. 
• CHEDDAR CHEESE: Because who doesn’t LOVE melted cheese on literally ANYTHING? 
• GREEN ONION: A topping that adds some freshness to your chili. 

Kitchen tools

• KNIFE: For chopping the onion, green pepper, mushrooms, garlic, jalapeño, and green onion. 
• CHEESE GRATER: For shredding the cheese to top the chili. 
• POT: For cooking the chili. A large pot will work best, about 4-5 quarts in size.
• PAN: For cooking the ground beef, before transferring it to the pot to be combined with all the other chili ingredients. Use a medium-sized pan.  
• CAN OPENER: To open the crushed and diced tomato cans. 
• MEASURING SPOONS AND CUPS: For measuring the ingredients. 

Instructions

1. Dice the onion and green peppers. Add both to a large pot with olive oil and cook over medium heat, until soft and transparent. 
2. Slice the mushrooms. Add to the same large pot. Increase to slightly higher heat, and occasionally stir until most of the liquid is absorbed. 
3. Mince the garlic. Add to the same pot and stir. After 1 minute, turn the heat down to low and occasionally stir while you make the ground beef separately. 
4. Cook the ground beef in a separate pan with olive oil, until no longer pink on medium heat. Transfer the ground beef to the large pot, stir and increase heat to medium. 
5. Add and stir in the crushed and diced tomatoes, red kidney and pinto beans, half of the jalapeño pepper (sliced), and the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper. 
6. Bring the pot to a boil. Once the pot reaches a boil, reduce heat to low and let the chili simmer uncovered for about 30 - 40 minutes until it reaches your desired thickness. 
7. Serve with your choice of toppings, including shredded cheese, sour cream, green onion, and or additional jalapeño pepper slices. Serve with a side of fresh buttered bread. 

Recipe tips

• Cook the onion and green pepper first. These vegetables take the longest to break down and become soft. Don’t add any other ingredients until these two ingredients are soft and the onions are transparent. 

• Don’t precook the jalapeño. You may notice this pepper isn’t fried with onions, green pepper and garlic. That's because when jalapeños are fully cooked, they lose their crunchiness, giving this chili recipe some extra texture. However, this is a preference thing, feel free to cook the jalapeño at the same time as the onion and the green pepper if you prefer it to be softer. 

• Only slice each mushroom once or twice. This will ensure you get big chunks of mushrooms in your bite. If you slice each mushroom thinly with multiple slices, they will really break down during the cooking process, and you won’t get that hearty bite of mushrooms. 

• For thicker chili, let the chili simmer uncovered without a lid on top. 

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