Hearty Beef Chili

Who doesn’t love a delicious beef chili on a frigid January evening?  Ideally I’d love to be eating this chili in my great room, next to a wood-burning fireplace overlooking mountains.  But I forgot, I live in Michigan, and don’t even have a fireplace (a girl can dream, right?).  If you live in the northern half of this country like my family, we have plenty of opportunities to enjoy warm, savory meals like this one with our sometimes never-ending winters.  I shouldn’t complain though, at least December was rather mild until we entered January with temps in the teen’s!

This chili is quite simple to make which I love because anything that takes longer than 20 minutes to prep is asking to be burned with 3 young children all at home while I’m cooking.  Don’t be intimidated by the amount of ingredients, its mostly spices which you can set out at one time and chop the vegetables ahead of time to speed things up.

Time Saver Tip

On the same day that I shop at the vegetable and fruit market, I chop at least one large onion and one green or red pepper.  Then I store them in a Rubbermaid container in the refrigerator until I’m ready to use them in a recipe.  Now you may not use onions and peppers are often as I do (almost every recipe) but you likely have a few favorite vegetables that need prepping.  Try cutting them up ahead of time to help save you time when you are in a rush to get dinner on the table.

To see a comparison of the various ground beef and ground turkey options, check out the Calories, fat, and saturated fat for each type of ground beef chart I made for a previous post.  It’s enlightening!

To begin, heat olive oil over medium-high in a large skillet.  Add the chopped onion and green pepper and sauté until tender.  Add the ground beef until thoroughly cooked.

While the meat is browning, begin adding the beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce and green chilies to a large stock pot (use at least an 8 quart pot).  Next add the seasonings to the pot along with the beef and vegetable mixture once the meat is cooked.

Cook on low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally.  I typically need to stir my chili about every 10 minutes since my gas stove does not have the best “low” setting.  I like to cook the chili for about 1 hour uncovered, or until some of the liquid from the stewed tomatoes has evaporated.  You may not be able to tell by the pictures but I love my chili extra thick!

If you like an extra spicy kick, add the optional chipotle chili powder.  I prefer my meals on the less spicy side so I tend to avoid using the extra seasoning.

Also, don’t forget to remove the bay leaves when you’re doing cooking the chili.  I tend to forget to take them out and my husband is the one who typically discovers the surprise I left for him in the chili.  Oops!

Beef Chili

Makes about 13 cups

INGREDIENTS

1 lb extra lean ground beef (95% lean) or lean ground turkey (93% lean)

3 cans (16 oz) dark red kidney beans, low sodium

2 large cans (28 oz) + 1 can (14 oz) stewed tomatoes

1 small can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1 small can (4.5 oz) green chilies, sliced/chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon basil

1 tablespoon parsley flakes

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat olive oil over medium-high in a large skillet. Add chopped onion and green pepper and sauté until tender.
2. Add the ground beef and heat over medium-low heat until thoroughly cooked.
3. While the meat is browning, add the beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chilies and seasoning to a large stock pot (use at least an 8 quart stock pot).
4. Add the beef, onion and pepper mixture to the stock pot and cook on low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

Optional: serve with shredded cheese and sour cream

NUTRITION INFORMATION

Serving Size: approx. 2 cups

400 Calories, 6 g Fat, 2 g Saturated Fat, 62 g Total Carbohydrates, 17 g Fiber, 32 g Protein

© 2014 Kristy Hegner     Disclaimer

• Posted in: Dinner Ideas
• Tagged: beef chili, dinner ideas, ground beef, rubbermaid, time saver