Heretical Chili Recipe

I'm celebrating Texas finally starting to get hot this year by cooking up a big pot of heretical chili.

This chili is considered blasphemous due to the beans - despite this, I have tricked enough Texan coworkers to abandon their morals and win one of those goofy office chili cookoffs with this recipe before I became a pale WFH shut-in.

This makes a ton of chili, and a ton of delicious leftovers. I'll usually put some aside in flattened ziploc bags to freeze for later.

You will need:

5 qt Dutch Oven

Food processor

You could also theoretically throw this all into an instant pot for an hour and get similar results, but I enjoy slowly letting my house smell delicious.

VEGETABLES

• 1 diced onion

• 2-3 chopped celery stalks

• 1 diced bell pepper

• 3-4 cloves minced garlic

MEATS

• 1 lb ground beef

• 1 lb italian sausage (not in casing)

• 6 oz bacon, chopped into bits (about half of a pack)

MISC

• 2 14.5 oz cans "chili beans" (can use kidney instead if desired)

• 2 15.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes

• 6 oz tomato paste

• 1 can "chipotles en adobo/chipotles adobado"

• 2 beef bouillon cubes

• 1/4 cup beer - I usually use guiness or blue moon, but any non-crazy beer should work.

• 1 1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce

SPICES

• 2 tbsp chili powder

• 1 1/2 tsp oregano

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1/2 tsp basil

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp pepper

• 1/2 tsp cayenne powder

• 1/2 tsp paprika

• 1/2 tsp sugar

1. Throw everything listed under spices together in a small container and set aside.

2. Throw the chopped bacon, beef, and italian sausage into the pot and allow to cook until the ground meat is browned. Once this is completed, drain the meat and set aside. Keep small amount of fat in the pot.

3. Add onion to pot - stir often and at a higher temperature to allow it to brown. Once the onion has started to brown, turn the heat back down a little and throw in celery, bell pepper, and garlic.

4. Open can of chiles en adobo - take out 1 pepper and scrape out as much of the adobo sauce as you can into a food processor. You can use more peppers if you'd like, but I'd recommend starting with one. Mix the 1 pepper & sauce together until the pepper is fully blended into the sauce.

5. Add the cooked meat to the pot of vegetables.

6. Add the pureed chile sauce and beer.

7. Add the spice mix you set aside in the first step.

8. Add beans, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, and worchestershire.

9. Add bouillon cubes. These will dissolve as the chili cooks. Stir everything together until well mixed.

10. Turn heat down to low, cover pot, and allow to cook for about 4 hours. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing gets stuck to the bottom.

It will taste insanely good the next day after cooling -> reheating.

During grilling season, I'll add a grilled chopped serrano with the vegetables.