Award Winning Chili
Some of my favorite days at my past job were potluck days. I’m not talking about office pizza parties, though there were plenty of them too. Days where we all came together with something unique we made at home, and shared with each other. All departments mixing, talking, hanging out together. We had chili cook offs, Dare Devil Pot lock, soup contests, sweet and savory foods for Giving Hearts Day, favorite dish made with pecans…
The pecan contest I realize sounds weird, but one of our guys in the construction department received a large quantity of fresh pecans from a contractor, so we divided them up and had a contest. I didn’t win that one, but if you ever have the chance to snag some pecans that are fresh versus out of the bag from the grocery store- you should!
I have, however, won a couple of chili cookoffs with this recipe.
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1 onion - diced
1 red bell pepper - diced
1 yellow bell pepper - diced
2 jalapeños - diced
4 cloves of garlic- minced
2 celery stalks- chopped
1 can of corn
1 can of red kidney beans - rinsed
1 can of black beans - rinsed
2 cans of tomato paste
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of beer- I used pumpkin beer I had on hand, but usually its just a normal, full flavor beer.
1/2 cup honey
1 Tbsp cocoa powder (or cacoa- I just recently learned the difference.)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp cayenne pepper- more for more heat
1 Tbsp oregano
1 tsp black pepper
3 tsp salt
4 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp cinnamon
Olive oil
Plain Greek yogurt- for topping
Shredded cheddar cheese- for topping
Instructions:
Start by chopping all of your fresh vegetables.
If you haven’t bought the Fullstar food chopper from Amazon yet, this is your friendly reminder how awesome it is! I was able to chop all the vegetables for this in about 1-2 minutes. My skin is also very sensitive to jalapeño oils, so the less I need to touch them while cooking, the better. I’ll add the link again at the bottom.
Mix all spices together in a small bowl and set aside. (Don’t add the cocoa powder to this mixture, spices only.)
Heat oil in large stock pot on medium heat. Add chopped veggies and minced garlic. Stir occasionally until vegetables are tender. They don’t need to be fully cooked since they will continue cooking with the meat.
Add ground hamburger and pork. Mix with vegetables and begin to brown. Add half the spice mixture and stir into meat and vegetables. Allow meat to continue to cook until done.
Add all remaining ingredients, stir together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.
This is one of those foods that gets better with time, so if you are making it ahead of time for a cook off - perfect!
Serve immediately, or store for later.
This makes a lot, so if I make it for my family, I’ll freeze half for later!
I love how colorful the veggies are together!
Mario is also a huge fan of this chili. And no, he is not allowed on the table or given chili, but it doesn’t stop him from trying.
