Chili with Ground Beef and Beans
Recipe Images
Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
4 cans of beans - black beans, white cannellini beans, navy beans, black eyed peas, large butter beans, any kind of soft bean you like
2 tsbp chili powder
4-5 whole cloves of garlic
2 tsp cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1 medium onion
2 12 oz cans tomato sauce
1 3.5 oz can tomato paste
2 tbsp oil
This is a tasty and simple chili recipe that is great for any meal, and just as good as leftovers.
Directions
Open, drain and rinse all the cans of beans. Rinsing is important if you are using canned beans. This gets rid of some of the added salt and allows you a little more control over your seasonings.
Chop the onion and set aside.
Add the oil to a large pot and heat on a medium high heat.
Add the onion to the oil and press the garlic into the onion.
Cook for a couple of minutes until the onion is soft. Make sure you stir regularly so that the onion and garlic do not brown.
Add the meat, making sure you break it up as it cooks. You can leave some larger chucks of meat if you like that. However, if you are making the chili for smaller kids, making sure the meat is completely broken up is better for them.
Add the chili powder, salt and pepper and continue to cook until the meat is completely brown thru-out.
Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir to mix well. Be sure to stir from the bottom of the pot so that you get all the meat and onions mixed in really well.
Cover the pot with a lid, leaving the lid a little off the pot. Continue to cook for an additional 1/2 hour to allow the flavors to meld.
When done, remove from the heat and serve very hot.
Additional Notes
Some people have chili recipes that they follow religiously, never varying on the amounts or ingredients. I can never make chili the same twice. First, I have never written the recipe down to help me remember. And second, I never have the same kind of beans in the closet any time I want to make chili. I have never been a big fan of kidney beans and that was the only bean my parents ever used to make chili. So as I make chili, I use either whatever beans I find in the closet or whatever beans are on sale when I go to the grocery store. Keep trying this recipe. Each time do something different -- add a little more chili powder, use three kinds of beans, use all the same kind of beans, use less garlic, add more tomato sauce so the chili is runnier, whatever. I suggest you make this recipe a couple of times so that you can remember the basic ingredients and then throw the recipe out and see what you can come up with next time. Maybe you'll surprise yourself and come up with something even better than this recipe.
Did you know that if you allow garlic to over cook and get brown, it will taste bitter rather than like garlic? So make sure you watch your pot so the garlic does not turn bitter. If you have a box of Quaker corn meal in the pantry, try making the corn bread recipe on that box. It makes a really good addition to this meal. Additionally, some people prefer a hot spicy chili and will add things like jalapeno peppers or Tabasco sauce. If you like spicy, please feel free to add those ingredients and make it as spicy as you want. Just don't invite me for dinner. I'm not into hot and spicy.
