Dad’s Chili (Base Recipe)

If you’ve never made chili before, start here. If you have, use this as a base and make it your own.

Notes

• This is a quick chili—about 40 minutes in my kitchen—but it also improves if you let it simmer longer. Allow extra time for preparation and bringing a large pot to a simmer.
• Blooming the spices with the beef helps deepen the flavor instead of just dumping them into liquid.
• The beans go in with their liquid for body and flavor.
• If it tastes flat, check the salt before adding more spice. Taste, add a little if needed, and taste again.

Make It Your Own

This chili is good exactly as written. You don't have to change a thing to justify making it. But I make it different every time. Different meats, different beans, different vegetables. The base recipe gives me somewhere to start, not somewhere I have to stop.

Want more heat?

Dice a jalapeño or another hot pepper and add it with the green peppers when you sauté the vegetables. You can increase the chili powder when you add the spices, too. Or do both.

Just get to know your chili powder. Some blends bring plenty of heat; others add more seasoning than fire. More powder doesn't always mean much hotter chili. Chipotle or a little cayenne is another direction to try. Add a little, let it cook into the pot, and taste before deciding it needs more.

Change the meat

I've made this with ground turkey, beef mixed with venison, chorizo and beef, stew meat and ground beef, and ground beef with ground pork. There isn't one combination I have to return to. Different meats make a different pot of chili, and that's part of the enjoyment.

Keep roughly the same total weight of meat as the base while you get a feel for a new combination. With chorizo, remember that you're adding seasoning as well as meat, so taste before adding more salt or spice.

One important adjustment: stew meat turns this into a longer-cooking chili. Brown it, then give it enough simmering time to become tender; don't expect chunks of beef to follow the quick ground-meat timetable. Add the canned beans nearer the end of that longer simmer.

Change the beans, vegetables, or tomatoes

Use different beans, mix a couple of kinds, or leave them out if that's the chili you want. Change the vegetables to suit what you like and what you have. Think about how long they need to cook rather than assuming everything should go in at once.

Sometimes I use tomato sauce. Sometimes crushed tomatoes. Sometimes a mixture. Sauce gives you a smoother base; crushed tomatoes leave more texture. Start with the same total amount and see which you prefer. If the pot becomes thicker than you want, add a little water. If it's too loose, let it simmer uncovered and stir occasionally.

There are other directions, too: a splash of beer or coffee, a little cocoa powder, or a touch of lime juice or vinegar at the end. You don't need all of them. Choose something you're curious about and see what it does.

Next Time

If you're still finding your feet, changing one thing at a time makes it easier to learn what you liked. Once you have a feel for the base, change the meat and the peppers. Mix the beans. Use the tomatoes you prefer.

The point isn't to make my chili exactly the way I made it last time. I probably won't make it exactly that way next time either.

Be bold. Make a pot. Taste it. Decide what you'd do again. That's how a base recipe becomes your recipe.

Temperature reference: FoodSafety.gov — Safe minimum internal temperatures.