Peanut Butter Chili

I would have never thought chili with peanut butter would be good... My brother unexpectadly showed up from college around dinner time asking what we were having... at 5:30 I still had no idea what I was going to make. I hardly had anything in the house but beans... so chili it was, the only problem was I had no ground beef. I very wearly tried this recipe... My kids, 6 and 4, bounded through the door asking what smelled so good! After the first bite they LOVED it... and they HATE my regular chili! My husband did raise his eyebrows a bit after the first bite, I think he will be sticking to my original recipe, but I loved this one and my kids have already asked for it again! I did increase the water as I may have added a bit to much peanut butter... it was really thick. I also added a bit more chili pepper, and half a can of diced tomatoes with green chili's to give it a little more kick. It is better the second day... I had leftovers for lunch. Try it... especially if you need to through something together really quick!

First off, I made this dish exactly according to the recipe, for evaluation. It bugs me to read a recipe review wherein the dish has had so many revisions and changes right out of the box that it bears no resemblance to the original intent. How is one to determine whether to give it a try or not? I do realize, though, that taste is a personal thing. And after taste-testing this chili made to the formula, I thought it might suit me better with a few mods of my own. I tripled the chili powder to 1 tablespoon, added 1/2 tsp cumin, and a pinch each of cinnamon and allspice. For a little more acid, to brighten the flavor just a bit, and some extra spice as well, I added a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes. It was still just a little thicker than I prefer, so in went 1/4 cup or so of vegetable stock (in keeping with the vegetarian label, though I'm no vegetarian). In my opinion, my initial 3 stars went to 4 stars. I'm still wondering about the 3 garlic cloves AND ALSO garlic powder. Next time I'd probably just mince another couple of cloves. Quick and easy, inexpensive and filling! Tastes good, too!

Like the name states, the peanut butter flavor was pretty strong. Since I cooked it, and I knew everything that was in it, I found the peanut butter overpowering. I feel like I wasted bay leaves...and garlic cloves. I should've just used a lot of garlic powder. The reason I'm giving this 5 stars is because my peanut butter loving husband loved it. I cook to make him happy, and this chili did it. I'd give it four stars, but the name clearly states "Peanut Butter Chili". So, if you're a big fan of peanut butter, you have to try this. The second day tasted better, more spicy, and we finished it, so the comments about leftovers tasting better are true!

Very similar to African peanut soup. Tasty. Don't be put off by this recipe. It is quite good.

My family loves this. My granddaughter is vegetarian so for sunday dinners we eat meatless dinners. She has always asked for seconds. We also take it to the VA hospital nursing home where it has gone over very well, in fact the second time we had to double the amount. Served for our christmas open house again a huge hit.

Well, my daughter and I loved it. So it gets five stars! We're ignoring my husband's opinion ("Good thing I'm not hungry!") on this one. Wonderful with tortilla chips! Thanks for sharing!

Honestly, I'm not a fan of peanut butter but I felt creative today so I tried this recipe-- it's SO good! It had just enough kick for me (and I generally shy away from hotter foods) but I only gave it 4 stars because at the end of the original written recipe I thought it could use some additional things-- 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp season all, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and a longer cooking time so the chalkiness of the beans breaks down a little more.

This was exceptionally good! Each day it got a wee bit better than it was the day before! So I decided to challenge my picky grandsons (91/2, 9 & 8 yrs)& on the 4th day I took it over to them and 2 of the boys asked me to make it for their birthday parties. They like spicy foods so I got generous with the cayenne pepper. The changes I made out of necessity was no italian seasoning so used some oregano & a little more thyme. It was perfect except that I began to crave it so when I got to the boys there wasn't enough to go around so their "Kind, considerate" Dad thought it only fair that he clean up the rest of the bowl after they'd only been able to sample it! Thanks for a GREAT recipe! It's going into my meal rotation!

Even my 8 yr old loved it! That's saying a lot. She doesn't eat anything.

This was delicious (even better the 2nd day). I like my chili really spicy, so I doubled the cayenne.

It was good. As another reviewer said, I always have to play with a recipe. I added 1/2 an onion, two cans of tomatoes, some tomato paste and much more chili powder. We only have chunky peanut butter at the moment so I used that. I liked the chunks! Good with sour cream and cheddar cheese. I had mine on spaghetti and DH had his on brown rice. I'll make this again. Cheap and easy - can't beat that! Plan to serve it at a church potluck.

This was excellent! I made it and served it to guests and everyone loved it. The peanut butter makes the chili very creamy and adds a whole other level of flavor. It can get spicy easily, so if you're sensitive to spice, maybe cut down on the cayenne and chili powder. Goes great with cornbread and cheese.

We loved this! I did use a little more garlic (1 Tbsp.) and didn't have bay leaves, but the result was delicious!

I wasn't expecting much, but I like peanut butter soup so I decided to give this one a try. I think there's a bit too much garlic in it, and I increased the chili powder to a tablespoon and added more cayenne because I like things spicy, but overall I liked this and would make it again. UPDATE: 8/8/09: Made this for the third time, it really is sooo good. I did cut down on the garlic. I doubled the recipe this last time and glad I did. The leftovers are really wonderful after sitting in the fridge all night. I like it served with grated cheddar.

The only thing I changed was to omit the garlic powder. Other than that, I just put everything except the peanut butter in the crockpot and cooked it on "slow" all day. I added the peanut butter about 20 minutes before serving. This chili is wonderful and will certainly be a favorite in my house!

I have to admit... I was extremely skeptical of this recipe but the outcome was REALLY good! I added 1/4 cup more water and 1/2 cup broth so that the chili wasn't so thick. I then let it cook down for another 20 minutes or so, covered. Added fresh cut onion and cheese and enjoyed thoroughly!

I didn't like this at all. I tried to like it, but I didn't like the texture of the peanut butter in the chili, its hard to describe the texture. Trying to overlook the texture, there seemed to be no real taste to this at all.

This recepie was really good. I didn't change anything in the recepie although the peanut butter makes it really creamy. I would definitly make this again!

This recipe is really interesting. I used fresh tomatoes and added hot peppers because I'm a spice fanatic, and it turned out really good - will make again!

Love this recipe. If you all like this you will like the African Chicken Stew on All Recipes. The flavors are similar. I did add a half tsp. of cumin just because I like the flavor. This is a favorite.

My husband said it was good. He even knew about the peanut butter! I thought it could have had more liquid. I might add some chicken broth to the leftovers.

I was looking for a quick & easy last minute chili recipe, and this fit the bill perfectly. I only changed some of the measurements slightly to account for personal taste. Did end up adding some vegetable stock & water at some point to get it to a consistency that I wanted, but that's also a personal preference thing. Overall, great recipe! Will definitely make it again.

As someone who lives alone -- this is a great quick recipe and it tastes better the day after. I highly recommend this, esp. to people who really like Thai Peanut sauce's spicey kick to it.

This looked so intriguing and based on the positive reviews I tried it. I really wanted to like this but it just didn't make it for me. Not a bad dish but not memorable either. Doubtfull I'll be making it again.

This recipe is amazing as is. Love it, will absolutely make over and over. Already have.

Almost not edible. My little kids ate it so I'm giving it two stars, but I couldn't seem to do anything to make this edible for hubby and I. Strange dish.

Awful! I prepared the chili just as the recipe said except for I added ground sirloin and used two cans of black beans instead of the mixture of black and kidney beans. Noone in my house liked it at all!

Interesting recipe. I'm a huge peanut butter fan, so I liked this better than my husband did. I did not find the peanut butter flavor overwhelming, but you could certainly taste it. I added ground beef and it needed about an extra cup of water. I also substituted white kidney beans for black beans due to what I had on hand.

I had Hugh hopes for this. I'm glad I chose to make two kinds of chili tonight.

this chil recipe is a copy from home net work recipe this person did not make this recipe it is a good recipe but its not cool to try to pass this off as yours

This was very fast to make and came out even better than I anticipated. My husband commented on how much he liked it. I did add two chopped cooked chicken breasts to the recipe.

We did not like this at all. Too much peanut butter taste, and it didn't meld well with the chili taste. (in our opinion) I ended up making a sandwich for dinner, and my husband managed to eat it, mostly because he didn't want to waste it.

It's all right; I've made it a couple times. I always throw a handful of peanuts on the top of every bowl. Why not?

Unique and enjoyable flavor. Will cook it again.

If you like more of a thin based chili soup then this recipe is not for you. Adding the peanut butter made it very, very thick and hearty. More of a casserole texture I felt like. If I make it again I would not use as much pb as the recipe calls for. Flavor was great however!

I have made this several times and love it!!! I serve it as a dip with tortilla chips. I do let it simmer a little longer than 15 min. It seems to have more flavor when I do that. I also add a little more cayenne pepper!!!

Super yummy. A new Fave.

I was looking for a non-meat chili and picked this one. The peanut butter gave it a protein taste that has been missing from other non-meat recipes. I did add one coarsely chopped red onion and 1/2 red bell pepper.

I made this exactly as the recipe is written. Excellent! Peanut butter was not overwhelming at all it just made it creamy. Teenage kids loved it too.

It turned out good, my wife who is vegan loved it.

I would likely give this a five-star if my family had gone along and liked this as much as I did. Nice dish. Wish my family thought so too, but it's not something I'll make for myself..... *sigh*

Really good! I did substitute celery for the zucchini, grated a carrot in there for extra nutrients and put a tablespoon or 2 of blackstrap molasses. I also added some granular tvp to thicken it a bit

leave out the peanut butter it was smelling great until I added that , if someone says you can't ruin chili you can say yes you can add peanut butter, Feel like I was pranked but I love chili with a peanut sandwich so I tried it.

Awesome and easy!

I make this a lot since it's super easy to make, I do make some changes to make it a hardier chili. I add zucchini, a can of corn, and 2 sweet peppers. I also omit the Italian seasoning and water, put it in the crock pot and that's it.

This was surprisingly good! Everything in this recipe is heart healthy and we are adding more of these meals to our daily diet. Tomatoes, beans, garlic are all recommended to lower cholesterol. This sounded like a great way to get all these foods in one dish. I made this almost exactly to the recipe. The only change was I used a natural almond butter with no palm oil, sugar or salt added. Almonds also good on lowering cholesterol. So...I tasted this before adding the the almond butter and I was not loving it. I added the almond butter and it transformed into a much different taste and consistency. If you are thinking chili, you could be disappointed; think of this as a spicy bean stew. It has an almost addictive taste. I went back for a big second dish. The almonds butter worked great for us and will make this again the same way. I think almond butter have a milder flavor than peanut butter plus has more heart benefits. This is a win-win -win for taste , healthiness and ease of preparation! Thank you for sharing this!

My husband liked this a lot better than I did. You can definitely taste the peanut butter.

I doubled the recipe and I added sauteed diced onion, carrot, fennel and green pepper and used a bit more chili powder than it called for. Also only had garlic powder, no fresh and used 1 large can of kidney beans and a smaller can of mixed beans. Otherwise, followed the recipe and it turned out great...good flavour. Nice and hearty so you won't even notice there isn't any meat! Served over brown rice with frozen peas and corn stirred in. I left the cayenne out of a portion for my 4 year old and he gobbled it up so we WILL be making this again...definitely a keeper!

I like vegetarian chili. I like peanut butter. Together, they are awful. Try one of the many other vegetarian chili recipes around.

My first time making chili... used Smuckers all natural peanut butter (the type you need to stir due to oil seperation), and didn't add any salt or black pepper (definitely didn't need it). It had a unique flavor; you could taste the peanut butter but it combined well, both flavor and texture, with the beans and tomatoes. As easy as this was to make, I think I'll put it in my list of go to recipes.

This is Chef Robt. Irvine's recipe verbatim. Going to give it a go to attempt saving a batch of chili that scorched in my new crock pot (they all heat differently,and every new one is going to require a few test runs to determine it's "heat").

This is truly an American made chili! A great combo of beans and peanut butter! The vegetarian way! I added the tortilla chips.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this recipe, but I love peanut butter and I love chili, so I had to try it! I followed the recipe except I added onion, cumin, more water, and a little more chili powder. I usually take longer to make recipes than it says, but this one is actually accurate! Quick and easy recipe. It tasted a little weird the first day, but the leftovers are amazing! The flavors really blend and set together overnight and the peanut butter adds a nice rich creaminess in the background instead of it just tasting like spicy peanut butter soup (which it did the first day). Next time, I'll try it with chicken broth instead of water and I might add some ground turkey for texture.

YUM! Made this early to serve for dinner BUT ended up eating it as soon as finished. A few changes were not necessary but I can't ever leave a recipe alone. I used tomatoes with chipotole peppers in it, 1 chopped onion, 1/4 tsp cumin and only 1/4 tsp cayenne. Used only kidney beans as thought I had black but didn't. Would use a little more water next time and there will be lots of next times.

Seriously for having only 4 ingredients (minus the spices) it's really good! I didn't have cayenne pepper so I skipped it and I added a little more garlic powder than what it calls for but otherwise followed it exactly. My husband was sketchy based on the name but it was really good! I think next time if i added ground beef this could be my new go to recipe for chili.

Good, just a little off for my taste. It may have been because I used parmesan instead of cheddar.

I made it pretty close to the recipe. My husband asked where's the meat? So I decided to add a pound of hamburger. The first time we ate it, it was a little too much peanut butter flavor. However the second night we had it, it was much better. I assume the flavors had a chance to meld together. There was not such a prominent peanut butter flavor. It was good and I would make it again.

I have been making chili for many years so added onions basil parsley a bag of dry black beans tossed it in the press cook and let get happy. When done I added peanut-butter hot sauce to taste add very good. I use boxed bone broth because boxed veggie makes my food to sweet. Good clean eating Oh I added corn meal to thicken

I added a can of corn and two chicken breasts, sauteed beforehand, and half a cup of chicken broth. And I used half a cup of peanut butter.

This was so delicious! I feel this is one of those best kept secrets of the kitchen! I told all of my family, friends, and colleagues that they need to try this!

Although this recipe is not the kind of chilli I make, I do endorse using peanut butter as a good a secret ingredient. In the 1970s I read a story of a restaurant in Texas where everyone would travel many miles to order their chilli with an addictive secret ingredient. One day, a customer began choking while eating it and died before he could be rushed to the hospital. Their secret was out. The man was allergic to peanuts. So I've been cooking my chilli with peanut butter from that time on, but warn people ...just in case.

Not a fan.