I feel a bit bad about this one. Not only has it taken me months to get it written up¹, but I poisoned a house guest with it. So, you know, not my finest moment.

Let me explain. The dish itself was fine. But he has a sensitivity to vegetables in the nightshade family. Most notably tomatoes and peppers. He can handle tomatoes that are very well cooked. So canned tomatoes are usually fine. And a few chilies in a curry or stir-fry or whatever are usually fine. As are things like paprika and chili powder. So, given that, I had hoped that the cooked, smoked, canned, and simmered chilies in this wouldn't cause him any problems. And, I think if it had just been one or two chipotles, it probably would have been fine. Unfortunatley, the recipe calls for an entire tin of them. I only ended up using ~2/3 of a tin. But that was still apparently too much and ended up setting off a bad reaction. So it wasn't exactly the greatest start to the trip. Whoops!

On the bright side, if you're not allergic to the ingredients, this is a very easy and relatively tasty chili to make. I mean, it's not the best chili ever. But it's very simple to put together, so it has a reasonably good effort-to-deliciousness ratio. My main complaint is that it's lacking in legumes and veggies. It's basically just a big pot of beef. Which is fine as far as it goes. But it means it doesn't really work well as a stand-alone dish like a more traditional bean-based chili might.

Beef-Chipotle Chili

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1.3kg stewing beef
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 onions, chopped
• 2 c. beef stock
• 1 (220g) can chipotles in adobo

Directions

1. Combine flour, salt, and pepper and dredge the beef in it.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat (sauté medium) in the InstantPot.
3. Working in two batches, sear the beef on all sides.
4. Remove beef from pot, sprinkle with oregano, and set aside.
5. Add the garlic and all but 1/2 c. of the onion to the now-empty pot and cook for 1-2 minutes.
6. Add the broth and chilies (including all of the sauce).
7. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil, scraping up any bits stuck to the bottom.
8. Return beef to pot, cover, and slow cook in medium for 6-8 hours (or high for 3-4 hours).
9. Sprinkle with remaining onion and serve.

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¹ I originally made it back in April. ^Back

So, full disclosure: I didn't find this particularly either sweet or spicy. It wasn't my favourite chili overall, but it did come together very quickly and TF and the Kidlet both liked it and I was able to use it to do a bit of fridge clean-out, so I'm still counting it as a win.

If I were making this again, I think I'd want more beans, more tomatoes, and more chilies. But, again, as a very quick and easy throw-together dinner, it works pretty well. If you can knock together a salad or some other vegetable side, then you've got a decent meal for not too much effort.

Sweet-and-Spicy Beef Chili

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country August/September 2016

Ingredients

• 450g ground beef¹
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. minced chipotles in adobo
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. chili powder (optional)
• 1 (475mL) can baked beans in molasses
• 1 c. cooked kidney or pinto beans (optional)
• 1 (828mL) can diced tomatoes³ (preferably fire-roasted)
• 1 c. frozen corn⁴
• ~1 c. grated Cheddar cheese, to serve
• 2 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Cook the beef, onion, salt, and pepper together over medium heat until meat is no longer pink (~8 minutes).
2. Add the chipotles, garlic, cumin, and chili powerd (if using) and cook for 30-60 seconds.
3. Add the beans, tomatoes, and corn and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~15 minutes.
5. Serve topped with cheese and cilantro (if using).

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¹ The original recipe calls for 567g of 85% lean² ground beef. That is an awkward amount. All our ground beef is packaged in 450g bags and I didn't want to get into trying to use 1/4 of a package of mince and then trying to figure out what to do with the remaining portion. Even with that, I actually found this chili very heavy on the beef. I would've preferred to have had proportionally more beans and veggies, honestly. So I'm extra glad I didn't put the full amount of beef in. ^Back
2 I'm pretty sure our beef is leaner than that, so I added a little bacon grease in with the beef to compensate for the lower fat content and to give the onion something to fry in. ^Back
3 The original recipe only calls for 428mL of diced tomatoes, but I didn't find this to be nearly enough! Luckily I had some tomato salsa and a bit of salsa verde left over in the fridge, so I was able to toss them in to balance things out a bit. Yay for fridge clean-out! ^Back
4 I got mixed up and accidentally added twice as much corn as I was supposed to. Whoops! ^Back

It's been a while since I've made anything out of our Cook's Country magazines and I was feeling at a bit of a loss for dinner inspiration, so I figured maybe it was time to browse the recipe list again. This chili looked easy and tasty and I already had most of the ingredients on hand, so it seemed ideal. Not least of all because it would let us use up a little more ground beef, which we have in abundance at the moment.

The original recipe involved cooking the rice in the skillet and then keeping it warm in individual serving bowls while you cook the chili in the same skillet you used for the rice. I appreciate that this avoids dirtying a second cooking vessel. But I wasn't crazy about cooking the two components sequentially and bringing the oven into the mix, so I opted to use the InstantPot for the rice and let it do its thing while TF helped me put together the chili.

Skillet Chili Bowls

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2020

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro, divided
• 2 tsp. grated lime zest, divided
• 2-3 Tbsp. lime juice, divided
• 450g ground beef (preferably 90% lean)
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt¹, divided
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 Tbsp. bacon fat
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 chipotle in adobo, minced
• 450mL tomato sauce
• 2 c. cooked black beans²
• 1 c. frozen corn
• grated Cheddar, to serve (optional)
• pickled jalapeños, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Combine sour cream, 2 Tbsp. of the cilantro, 1 tsp. of the lime zest, and half the lemon juice and mix well. Set aside and chill until ready to use.
2. Mix beef with the water, baking soda, 1/4 tsp. of the salt, and pepper and let rest for 20-30 minutes.
3. Cook the rice by your preferred method with 1/2 tsp. of the salt.³
4. Once the rice is done, stir in the remaining lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro.
5. Melt the bacon grease over medium heat.
6. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for ~7 minutes.
7. Add the beef and cook for another 6-7 minutes.
8. Add cumin, garlic, and chipotle and cook for 1 minute.
9. Add tomato sauce, beans, and corn and cook for 5 more minutes.
10. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
11. Serve chili over rice and topped with Cheddar, jalapeños, and/or crema (the cilantro-lime sour cream mixture).

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¹ The original recipe called for a whopping 2 tsp. of salt! 1/4 tsp. in the beef, 1/4 tsp. in the crema, 1/2 tsp. in the rice, and 1 tsp. added to the chili in the last 5 minutes of cooking. That seemed like way too much to me. Especially since we were using tinned beans and tinned tomato sauce (both of which the recipe specifically calls for). If you are cooking your own beans from scratch and making your own tomato sauce, then you might find you need to add a little salt at the end of cooking, but taste it first! ^Back
2 I forgot to get my beans cooking ahead of time, so we didn't have any black beans ready to hand for the chili. My second and third choice would've been kidney or pinto beans, but we didn't have any of those pre=cooked either. I ended up tossing in a tin of cannellini (white kidney) beans. They actually worked pretty well! Although I do think it would've been even better with black beans. ^Back
3 For me this means a 1:1 ratio of rice and water in the InstantPot on high pressure for 18 minutes (for long-grain brown rice) with a 10-minute natural release. ^Back

This chili recipe looks a bit different than I'm used to: Potato? Olives? No beans? Can you even still call it chili at that point?! And the promise of a 30-minute meal, while tempting, was also a bit worrying to me. I needn't've been concerned though; it was fabulous! I actually really liked both the olives and the potatoes in it. It made for a really satisfying combo. And, with the addition of a salad, you actually have a pretty decent meal!

Picadillo-Style Beef Chili

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country April/May 2020

Ingredients

• 500g lean ground beef
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 chipotle in adobo, chopped
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (800mL) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 c. vegetable broth
• 450g Yukon Gold (or similar) potatoes, cut into 1cm cubes
• 1/2 c. pimento-stuffed green olives, sliced

Directions

1. Season beef with salt and pepper and coo over medium-high heat until beginning to brown (8-10 minutes).
2. Stir in onion, chipotle, chili powder, and garlic and cook until softened (2-3 minutes).
3. Stir in tomatoes, broth, and potatoes and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until potatoes are tender (~15 minutes).
5. Stir in olives.
6. Serve with tortillas, sour cream, and hot sauce.

Ultimate Chili?

America's Test Kitchen bills this as the "ultimate vegetarian chili". And the recipe is good, don't get me wrong. I'll definitely be keeping it around and making it (or some version of it) again. But I think I'd stop short of calling it the "ultimate" chili.

I made the recipe as directed and sampled it at the end of cooking. It was tasty. But it was definitely better after a few tweaks. And I think I'd make a few more if I made it again as well.

Ultimate Vegetarian Chili

Adapted from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1kg assorted dried beans¹
• 3 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 dried ancho chiles
• 2 dried California or New Mexican chiles
• 1 arbol chile (optional)
• 1/2 c. chopped walnuts
• 14g dried porcini mushrooms²
• 4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 1/4 c. canola oil (or other neutral oil)
• 1kg onions, chopped
• 1L water
• 500mL vegetable broth
• 2/3 c. bulgur³
• 4 c. chopped plum tomatoes⁴
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 1 jalapeño, minced⁵
• 6 garlic coves, minced
• 3 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1-2 Tbsp. roasted garlic paste (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 c. fresh cilantro, minced

Directions

1. Dissolve salt in 3L cold water. Add beans and soak (at room temperature) overnight.
2. Drain and rinse the beans. Set aside.
3. Place dried chiles on baking tray and roast at 300°F (150°C) for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, toast walnuts⁶.
5. Grind chiles, mushrooms, oregano, and cumin seeds and set aside.
6. Heat oil⁷ and add onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
7. Add ground chiles, mushrooms, oregano, and cumin and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
8. Add beans, water, and vegetable broth.
9. If using range/oven: Bring to a boil, cover, then transfer to 300°F (150°C) oven to cook for 45 minutes.
   If using InstantPot: Cook at high pressure for 20 minutes.
10. Add bulgur, walnuts, tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, dark soy, light soy, brown sugar, and roasted garlic. Stir to combine, cover, and continue to cook.
    If using oven: Place back in oven for ~2 hours.
    If using InstantPot: Slow cook on high for 1 hour.
11. Stir in vinegar, garnish with cilantro, and serve.

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¹ I used a 50-50 mix of kidney beans and black beans. ^Back
2 Use shiitake if you can find them. ^Back
3 The recipe calls for medium grind bulgur. I could only find coarse white bulgur or fine brown bulgur. I ended up going with the fine. I think any grind would probably be okay, it just depends what sort of mouthfeel you're going for. I think I would actually prefer the medium, but fine grind is still perfectly acceptable. ^Back
4 Feel free to use tinned diced tomatoes for this. I just had a tonne of fresh tomatoes on hand that needed to be eaten, so they went into the chili. ^Back
5 I'd be tempted to replace the fresh jalapeño with an equivalent quantity of pickled next time. ^Back
6 The original recipe called for walnuts to be toasted and then finely ground. I did this and found the results to be acceptable. That said, I think that just toasting chopped walnuts and not bothering to grind them down further would be even better. ^Back
7 I used medium heat on the InstantPot sauté setting. I'd recommend medium-high for electric ranges or medium for gas. ^Back

Chicken Chili

There was still some delicious fajita filling (with bonus extra tomatoes and corn) after making our quesadillas, so I decided to turn it into chili!

Chicken Chili
Quesadilla filling
1 tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
Cheddar cheese, grated (optional)
sour cream (optional)

1. Combine everything in a pot and simmer for at least 20 minutes.
2. Garnish with grated cheese and/or sour cream as desired. Serve with a piece of crusty bread.