Well, the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak continues here in Colorado as my county has just issued a stay in place order. So what else can I really do today than make another classic “let’s see what the hell we have in the fridge, freezer, and pantry” recipe. Wow, that’s a mouthful of a recipe category. But, unfortunately, it’s the new reality for most of us. So let’s see, I got some ground beef in the freezer, some tomato juice and canned beans in the pantry, and an assortment of vegetables in my fridge. Perfect! Because that’s everything I need to make one of my favorite meals, ground beef chili.
I must say that despite this being an off the cuff post, ground beef chili is a dish that’s truly near and dear to my heart. You see it was one of my favorite things that my mother cooked for our family growing up. So every time I make it It just brings back good childhood memories. That being said I should warn you folks that my mom’s recipe for ground beef chili has a few key differences from most chili recipes.
For starters, we don’t use any beef broth in our chili recipe. Instead, the base liquid for our chili is tomato juice. Not only does this help to produce a thicker and richer chili, but in my opinion, if you brown the ground beef properly you should have plenty of beefy flavor.
The second difference in our chili is the fact that it’s heavy on the vegetables. Some of them are typical of chili, like onions. While others are ingredients that I rarely see in chili, like celery, and fire-roasted green chilis. So if those sound weird to you then feel free to leave them out, you’ll still have a great chili. However, in my opinion, they are essential ingredients in making a good chili. So don’t knock it until you try it.
Other than that our chili recipe is fairly similar to most people would make it. You just brown up the beef, add the remaining ingredients, and then let it simmer and thicken for a couple of hours. So if you’re ready then let’s get to making our ground beef chili.
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- Chili always tastes better the longer it sits, so try making it early in the morning and let it simmer till dinner time. Or better yet make it the day before you plan on eating it as it will really allow the flavors to meld together.
- You can use either lean or fatty ground beef it is completely up to you. However, if you do use fatty ground beef I recommend trying to drain off any excess fat after you’ve browned it.
- If you want to go extra lean then you can use ground turkey meat. However, it won’t have as great of flavor and ground turkey often has fats added to it so it’s really no different than extra lean ground beef.
- What beans to use in your chili? Well, I personally like to use a mixture of red kidney and black beans, but honestly, any type of bean will work just fine. Just make sure to wash off the beans before adding them to your chili.
- The beer is optional but brings a good amount of flavor. If you don’t want to use it just add in a cup of water, or beef broth.
- I like to pair this with our southern style cornbread
Ground Beef Chili Recipe
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 3 hours
Serving: 10
Ingredients
2 Lbs of Ground Beef
2 Quarts of tomato juice
1 – 12 oz. Bottle of your favorite beer
2 – 28 oz. Cans of whole tomatoes, crushed by hand
3 – 14 oz. Cans of beans
3 Garlic cloves, minced
1 Large onion, medium diced
3 to 4 Sticks of celery, cut into chunks
24 oz. of fire-roasted & chopped green chilies
3 Tablespoons of chili powder
1 Tablespoon of cumin
2 Tablespoons of oil
Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Brown up the beef: Get out a large 6-quart pot, add the oil to it, and place it over high heat. Once it’s hot add the beef and let it cook undisturbed for 5 minutes.
Trust me don’t even stir it for 5 minutes just let it cook so it can get a nice deep browning, it won’t burn. After the 5 minutes, you can start stirring the beef until it is all cooked and browned. Finally, once all of the beef is cooked toss in the minced garlic, stir it in, and let it cook for another minute or two.
- Deglaze with beer: Pour the beer into the pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pot. Then let it simmer and reduce for 3 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients except for the beans to the pot: Start by pouring in the tomato juice. Follow this up by adding the chili powder and cumin. These two spices will more than likely clump up so stir them in for a minute or two to make sure they incorporate. Finally add in the tomatoes, onion, celery, and green chilies, and stir so that everything is mixed together.
- Let the chili simmer uncovered for at least two hours. You really just want everything to cook, reduce, and concentrate, so the longer you do this step the better the chili will become. However, if at any point the chili becomes to thick for your liking, simply add in a ½ to 1 cup of water.
- Add the beans: Now you could have added the beans during step 3, however they tend to become too mushy during the prolonged simmering of step 4. That’s why I recommend you only add them roughly 30 minutes prior to eating the chili. This will give the beans enough time to get warm and take on the flavor of the chili.
- After the 30 minutes serve the chili into bowls and eat immediately, enjoy!
Ground Beef Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Lbs of Ground Beef
- 2 Quarts of tomato juice
- 1 – 12 oz. Bottle of your favorite beer
- 2 – 28 oz. Cans of whole tomatoes crushed by hand
- 3 – 14 oz. Cans of beans
- 3 Garlic cloves minced
- 1 Large onion medium diced
- 3 to 4 Sticks of celery cut into chunks
- 24 oz. of fire-roasted & chopped green chilies
- 3 Tablespoons of chili powder
- 1 Tablespoon of cumin
- 2 Tablespoons of oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Brown up the beef: Get out a large 6-quart pot, add the oil to it, and place it over high heat. Once it’s hot add the beef and let it cook undisturbed for 5 minutes. Trust me don’t even stir it for 5 minutes just let it cook so it can get a nice deep browning, it won’t burn. After the 5 minutes, you can start stirring the beef until it is all cooked and browned. Finally, once all of the beef is cooked toss in the minced garlic, stir it in, and let it cook for another minute or two.
- Deglaze with beer: Pour the beer into the pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pot. Then let it simmer and reduce for 3 minutes.
- Add the remaining ingredients except for the beans to the pot: Start by pouring in the tomato juice. Follow this up by adding the chili powder and cumin. These two spices will more than likely clump up so stir them in for a minute or two to make sure they incorporate. Finally add in the tomatoes, onion, celery, and green chilies, and stir so that everything is mixed together.
- Let the chili simmer uncovered for at least two hours. You really just want everything to cook, reduce, and concentrate, so the longer you do this step the better the chili will become. However, if at any point the chili becomes to thick for your liking, simply add in a ½ to 1 cup of water.
- Add the beans: Now you could have added the beans during step 3, however they tend to become too mushy during the prolonged simmering of step 4. That’s why I recommend you only add them roughly 30 minutes prior to eating the chili. This will give the beans enough time to get warm and take on the flavor of the chili.
- After the 30 minutes serve the chili into bowls and eat immediately, enjoy!
Want to see how others have made ground beef chili? then check out these other blogs.
From Once Upon a Chef
From Simply Recipes
