If you want to impress your friends, coworkers, and neighbors with incredible chili, here’s how.
This isn’t a recipe. This is a guide. It’s a map to figuring out how to make your own excellent chili. Chili (like most soups) is not an exact science. You need to play with flavors and figure out what works for you. It’s more fun that way and you’ll end up with something that’s specific to you.
The Chili Template
The basic chili template consists of three things:
- Meat
- Chili peppers and supporting spices
- Tomatoes
Each of these things contributes something to the whole, like a culinary Voltron. By modifying this template, you can make a lot of interesting types of chili.
Meat
Most people use ground beef in their chili. Ground beef is acceptable, but you can do better. My default chili meat is cubed chuck roast. Chunks of beef provide a more interesting texture while also being tastier. Chuck roast is almost as cheap as ground beef, so there’s not a huge price difference either. For bonus points I like to pre-fry my chuck roast cubes so they get a nice sear before putting them in my chili. It’s more work, but the char adds a nice dimension of flavor.
You can also get creative with your meat choice. Nearly any kind of meat will work in chili. You can use ground pork (or cubed pork loin), chicken, turkey, or even wild game. I prefer to use beef, but there’s lots of room to get creative here.
Spices
Skip the lame pre-canned chili spice packets at the store. They are generally spiked with corn starch and other carbs. You can do better. The basic spices for chili are: garlic powder, onion powder, and cumin. You’ll also want at least one kind of chili, but they get their own section.
If you decide to use something other than beef with your chili, you can adjust your spice combination to match. For example, if you’re doing a pork chili, try using apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice. Both of those work well with pork and after you add some ancho chilis, you have something interesting and tasty.
Chili Peppers
Chili peppers are a fun place to get creative in your chili cooking. Most decent chilis feature a combination of different peppers. Feel free to mix powdered chili, fresh/canned chilies, and dried chilies. I usually use a mix of Rotel (canned chilies) and various chili powders. If I have an abundance of time, I like to make my own custom chili powder by lightly toasting dried peppers and grinding them up in a blender. What mix you use should be based on the level of spiciness you are comfortable with.
The chilis I like to use are:
Ancho - Sweet, mild, and flavorful. I always add a generous amount to my chili. The powdered form and the dried form are both great.
Jalapeno - Spicy, but also quite tasty. They usually make their way into my chili via Rotel.
Chipotle - Smokey and a little spicy. I generally like to include a little bit in my chili. The canned and dried forms are both good.
Cayenne - Spicy and hot. I like to add a little to my chili to punch up the heat factor.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes provide a lot of flavor for your chili, but don’t go too crazy. Tomatoes have a decent number of carbs. In general, avoid tomato sauces and pastes. I’ll throw a little bit of tomato paste in, but keep it to a minimum. I prefer to use a combination of Rotel (tomatoes plus chilies, generic works too) and fire roasted diced tomatoes. Rotel can be quite spicy, so don’t put more than a can in your chili.
Tricks and Tips
Taste early and often. You don’t always nail the flavor on the first try. Keep tasting and adapting. If you aren’t sure what to do, put a little bit of chili into a test bowl and try something. If it works, scale it up to the whole pot of chili.
Don’t be afraid of the salt shaker. Tomatoes tend to require a lot of salt to balance them out. Salt towards the end though. You can always add more, but you can’t take any away.
Bump up the umami of your chili by adding a little soy sauce and fish sauce. It’s weird, but it works.
Go forth and conquer
Find some meat, find some tomatoes, raid your spice cabinet, and make some excellent chili.
