The Best Chili Ingredients
Easy Ways to Take a Typical Chili Recipe and Make it a Standout
Try any of these simple suggestions to make your chili the hit of the next party.
Chili is the perfect meal if you have to serve a lot of people for a large party or a big event like the Super bowl. While the basic recipe consists of meat, canned tomatoes, beans and spices, you can pick and choose from the following to kick your chili up a notch.
Meat
Chili usually does contain meat; however, some people make a vegetarian form by omitting it. Most typically used in chili is regular ground beef but you can also use ground turkey, ground pork or ground chicken, stewing beef, sausages such as chorizo, andouille and pork, shredded chicken and bacon. For a really meaty chili you could use any two or three of these meats. You do have to cook the meat first. Never add raw meat to chili.
Beans
Traditionally, the most common beans used in chili are red kidney beans. However you can also use white beans, black beans, navy beans, Mexican red beans, lima beans, cannelloni beans, or a combination thereof.
Spice
Chili needs lots of spices. There is prepacked chili spice you can use, but typical seasonings include chili powder, oregano, cumin, paprika, ground coriander, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, cilantro (fresh) and, of course, garlic. Cook the garlic with the meat as opposed to adding it raw into the chili.
Heat
A good chili has some heat, but just how much is a personal preference. To add a mild heat use Worchestershire sauce, steak sauce, or Poblano chiles. For a medium heat add red pepper flakes (can be medium to hot), chopped jalapenos, chopped green chiles, or chipotle chile peppers in adobo sauce. To add quite a bit of heat try habanero chiles (very hot), cayenne pepper, red chili sauce, Tabasco sauce, or hot sauce.
Tomatoes
You can use regular canned plum tomatoes, but there are other varieties on the market that will add new flavor to your chili, such as fire roasted or Mexican. Some people don’t add tomatoes, just tomato sauce, and some people use a mixture of both. You can also use tomato puree and tomato paste to make it thicker.
Sweetness
To offset the hot spice, some people like to add a touch of sweetness to their chili using a small amount (tablespoon) of either brown sugar, molasses, honey, white sugar or maple syrup.
Vegetables
It is good to add diced vegetables to your chili to give it some crunch. Onions are a stable in chili, but you can also add celery, diced carrots, green peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers, zucchini, red onions, green onions, and corn kernels.
Alcohol
For some final “kick” to your chili, some alcohol can be added. You can add beer (usually a dark beer), tequila, gin, even red wine. For beer you can usually add about 8 ounces, but for tequila and gin, stick to just 2 or 3 ounces.
Chili is a great food to experiment with the ingredients. You almost can’t go wrong. Plus the meat and beans make it a very high protein meal. Hope yours is a hit. Be sure to also see my article, The Best Burger Ingredients.
