After a couple of years of experimentation, I’ve landed on a chili recipe that I like a good bit. Everybody else who’s had it is either loves it or is surprisingly good at acting like they do.
It’s so simple that it barely even qualifies as a recipe, but I’m sharing it because the effort-to-taste ratio is unbeatable. The hardest part is opening cans and dicing a few vegetables.
Plus, decades of television taught me that homemade chili is for obsessive suburban dad types who spend hours over it and fiercely guard their recipe. I was surprised that even I could get good results without all the fuss, so it might encourage other lazy cooks out there to give it a try. Take this basic recipe and modify it to build your own.
Ingredients
- 2 12-ounce cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 12-ounce cans of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 12-ounce can of corn, drained (I’ve used the “Mexicorn” or similar variant with peppers included, but I don’t think it’s worth the extra cost)
- 1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 red or orange bell pepper, diced
- 4 jalapeños (or 2 Anaheim peppers), diced and with ribs and seeds removed
- 2 12-ounce cans of diced tomatoes (“fire roasted” works best, and I prefer the Muir Glen brand even if it’s just the extra cost convincing me it tastes better)
- 1 6-ounce can of tomato paste
- 4 tablespoons chili powder
- ~2 teaspoons cumin (generally, the more the better)
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ~1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- ~2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- ~1/2 teaspoon salt (or 1 tsp soy sauce)
Directions
With a slow cooker, I’ve dumped everything into the pot before going to work, set it on “low,” and had it for dinner that evening, i.e. about 6-8 hours.
With a dutch oven:
- Saute the onion in olive oil over medium heat until translucent
- Add the cumin, let it “toast” for about 30 seconds before stirring everything together
- Add the tomatoes and mix everything to de-glaze the bottom of the pot
- Add the beans, corn, and peppers, mixing after each step
- Add the spices and tomato paste, then mix again until the tomato paste is fully integrated
- Heat over medium, stirring every few minutes, until the chili is bubbling
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer for at least an hour, mixing periodically to keep the tomatoes from burning
Or the short version: dump everything into a pot and cook it all day, but start with the onions.