Chili Recipe – rich, hearty, and filling beef chili recipe with ground beef and beef cubes, beans, chili seasoning, and other warm spices. An easy go-to family-friendly winter meal!
Winters are definitely for comfort food like this family-favorite here Chili Recipe. It’s a great comforting dish to lighten you up this season with its warm and earthy spices that are as pleasing as ever.
Even my picky-eater would gladly chow down a bowl of this. Me?? ….I don’t care if I get to eat this every day. It’s so dang delicious, filling, and healthy!
So I’m resharing this recipe for this new year with a video to finally convince you that this one is an absolute must-have, especially for this cold season. Stay warm and cozy!
How do you make a good homemade chili?
Most recipes would only call for ground meat, but since I love to go all-in with my recipes, I added some beef cubes to this recipe for added texture and flavor.
Browning the cubed beef first allows a beefy and flavorful base to this dish including those browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Then I cook the ground beef in the same pan to soak up the flavor of the cubed beef and its bits.
Yes, this one here is loaded with real beefy flavor!
So I highly suggest you never skip that one. Once the ground meat is no longer pink, you can now toss the spices and seasonings to enhance more the flavor and aroma in this cozy dish.
Stir it well and cook for 2-3 minutes to allow the flavors to settle in as a foundation before you add in the tomato puree, broth, and beans.
You may add chunky diced or finely minced tomatoes, but I suggest that you go with puree so as the ground meat can sip through it easily. Let it simmer for around 20 minutes to cook through.
And voila, a hearty one-pot family meal for the entire family!
Recipe Ingredients
If you’ve ever tried my recipes, you probably know by now that I’m all about layers of flavors in my dish. I certainly want to indulge myself in a flavorful dish no matter how straightforward it is to prepare.
Chili recipe can be made easy using these primary ingredients:
- ground beef
- kidney and pinto beans
- chili powder
- tomato puree
- diced tomatoes
- cumin
- beef broth
But why settle there when you can obviously jazz it up? The reason I added a couple of ingredients here and there is that this chili recipe is ABSOLUTELY great on its own – no need for cheese, green onions, or sour cream. It is that flavorful!
So I added these as well into the mix to create an above and beyond chili recipe.
- diced beef stew
- onion and garlic
- jalapeno
- cayenne pepper
- dried thyme
- coriander and oregano
- salt and masa harina
Can I freeze Beef Chili?
Yes, chili dishes can be frozen. Let the chili cool down completely before transferring them to an airtight container and store in the freezer for 2-3 months.
Now you’ll have an express chili whenever you feel like wanting to. You can also refrigerate it for 2-3 days.
Serving Suggestions
Serve a bowl of this warm and hearty chili recipe with your preferred toppings of sour cream, cheese, crushed tortilla chips, pico do gallo, pitted avocado, green onion, or fresh cilantro. Or you can also serve it with these ones below.
- Skillet Cornbread
- crusty French bread
- Flour Tortilla
- over rice or pasta
- in soft hoagie rolls
- Easy Dinner Rolls to sop up the sauce
More Hearty and Cozy Recipes
How to Make Chili
Heat oil in a large saucepan and brown diced beef over medium-high heat. Add ground beef, breaking up the meat while stirring, and cook until no longer pink – about 6-7 minutes. Then toss in onions, garlic, jalapenos, chili powder, cayenne pepper and dried thyme. Mix until thoroughly combined. Cook for another 3-4 minutes to allow the spices to meld together.
Pour in the tomato sauce, followed by the beans and water/broth. Stir well and scrape the sides. Add cumin powder, oregano, coriander, salt, and masa harina as a thickener. Stir and bring it to a simmer over medium heat and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Adjust broth/water when necessary or depending on your preference. Turn off the stove and remove the pot from the heat. Serve with shredded cheddar, chopped onions, avocado, and/or tortilla chips. Enjoy!
Watch How To Make It
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This post was first published in January 2019 and has been updated with a video.
Easy Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ pound (227 g) stew beef, small diced
- 1 ½ pound (680 g) ground beef
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon (8 g) minced garlic
- 1 jalapeno, diced
- 3 tablespoons (24 g) chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon (0.5 g) cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon (0.91 g) dried thyme
- 8 ounces canned tomato sauce
- 1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cup (375 ml) beef broth
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons (2 g) ground oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoons (2.7 g) coriander
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) salt
- 3 tablespoons (30 g) masa harina
- shredded Cheddar, for serving
- chopped onions, for serving
- Tortilla chips, for serving
- sliced avocado, for serving
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan and brown diced beef over medium-high heat.
- Add ground beef, breaking up the meat while stirring, and cook until no longer pink – about 6-7 minutes.
- Then toss in onions, garlic, jalapenos, chili powder, cayenne pepper and dried thyme.
- Mix until thoroughly combined. Cook for another 3-4 minutes to allow the spices to meld together.
- Pour in the tomato sauce, followed by the beans and water/broth. Stir well and scrape the sides.
- Add cumin powder, oregano, coriander, salt, and masa harina as a thickener. Stir and bring it to a simmer over medium heat and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Adjust broth/water when necessary or depending on your preference.
- Turn off the stove and remove the pot from the heat. Serve with shredded cheddar, chopped onions, avocado, and/or tortilla chips. Enjoy!
Tips & Notes:
- To store, let the chili cool down completely before transferring them in an airtight container and store in the freezer for 2-3 months. Now you’ll have an express chili whenever you feel like wanting to. You can also refrigerate it for like 2-3 days.
- You can also swap the beef cubes for diced turkey, chicken, or pork.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition Information:
Claude says
Just made it a little bit ago, and it’s killer! I accidentally grabbed the coriander instead of the cumin when I measured it out, but it’s only a half teaspoon difference, so it didn’t hurt anything.
I think the secret is using a good tomato sauce. I used my own recipe (I have not bought a canned or jarred one in years), and it really worked well with this recipe.
If anyone is interested in the tomato sauce recipe, look up hacked Little Caesar pizza sauce recipe. There’s a guy who does remakes of famous companies’ recipes. I add fennel & rosemary to that recipe, along with using real tomatoes (or canned) when I can (no paste if I can help it).
Top notch recipe! I saw another review that said they entered it in a contest, and I was thinking the very same thing.
A little advice: remember to salt the onions, and beef when you add them (I also added pork sausage, leaving out the cubed beef). Also, I put the onions in first, let those go a little after turning translucent, then add the beef. You want that sugar in the onions to develop. You maybe could even allow them to caramelize if you really wanted to. I had 1 lb of ground beef (80% lean) and 1/2 lb of the sausage. The proportions worked even though I was leaving out a lot of what the recipe called for (but that makes sense because cubed meat isn’t going to spread like the ground stuff is- so it absorbs the same amount; chili was not runny).
This is my new go-to chili recipe (which is to also say my only one, as this was my first official attempt at it).
Brilliant.
Amina says
Hey Claude, thank you for sharing all the stuff.
Happy New Year!
Akua says
Hi, this looks so nice. Just one question. How important is masa harina to the recipe? I’m not sure I’ll be able to find it easily in the UK. And I have most of the other ingredients in my cupboard.
ImmaculateBites says
Not that much, just use cornmeal. Enjoy!
Peter Patterson says
I’m going to try this Imma.for my family
Lallie Pillay says
My daughter and I loved the vibrant yummy n delicious recipe
Really enjoyed making it
MsAnn says
Hi Imma! I’ve never made chili before and decided this year that not only will I make chili for the first time, I will enter into our work department annual chili contest (brave, I know). I ran across your recipe and thought it sounded really good. Made it, entered contest and won 3rd place! Yay me! The only thing I did different was used turkey meat, added more salt, cumin and chili powder. I just needed a bit more flavor. Very good! Thank you for sharing!
Rob says
I was wondering “how are you going to put an African/Caribbean spin on chili?” Then, I saw the masa harina and the coriander. I am actually going to make chili tonight, and I think I’ll give these a try. I have coriander seeds, so I think I’ll toast them in the pan a bit before I grind them. Thanks for sharing!
imma africanbites says
Can’t wait for you to try it. Please do let me know how it turns out for you. Enjoy!
Rob says
It turned out great! I used Anaheim and Chipotle peppers. The masa harina gave it a subtle corn flavor throughout…and I love corn so much that I threw a can of corn into the pot, too. When the weather gets nicer here (Michigan), I’ll use fresh corn. Hmm…I think I’ll press a few tortillas out of the masa harina and serve then with the chili.
Thanks again for the post!
William B Bardelmeier says
Did you use paprika? If so, how much?
imma africanbites says
Hi, William. No, I didn’t use paprika. Already updated the blog post. It somehow didn’t update my recent changes.
m. wong says
thanks for another great recipe
have u ever heard of a Texas Chili recipe? where could I get one?
thanks
m wong
imma africanbites says
Hi. I’ve tried the Texas Chili, too. Unfortunately I don’t have one on the blog. You may check out this link though for the recipe >>> https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/true-texas-chili-355049 Enjoy!