This recipe was an excellent starter but I modified it to my taste. I was afraid that this recipe was too spicy and reduced some of the spiciness. It still has a kick to it. I made this for a Chili Cookoff and it won 2nd place(pretty good for getting there late). Here are my changes: 1) 3 (15 ounce) cans chili beans in mild sauce, NOT drained. 2) 1 (15 oz) can chili beans in medium sauce, 3) I omitted the celery and tabasco sauce, 4)1 jalapeno instead of chile peppers, 5) 3 tablespoons of bacon bits, 6) 1 cup of beer 7) Instead of using 2 (28oz) cans of diced tomatoes with juice, I used 3 (14 1/2 oz) can of diced tomatoes and 1 (14 1/2 oz) can of diced tomatoes with basil/oregano/garlic. 8) I cooked this in a slow cooker for 8 hours the day before, let it sit overnight and heated it up and served it the next day with cheese on top. I also froze the left overs and it taste even better!!
I can't praise this chili enough! The meat melted in your mouth, the flavors tingled nicely all the way to your toes. I just won a chili cookoff with it so that might be a large part of the reason. The judges and the crowd loved it. I ran out within 30 minutes of it being opened to the public to taste. I did make a few changes: I used 3 lbs of cubed chuck steak in place of the ground chuck because I really like a meaty chili (obvisously so did the judges), I cooked 4 slices of bacon, then crumbled for the bacon bits and sauted the celery, onion and garlic in the drippings. My biggest piece of advice is prepare it the day before, let cool overnight, degrease really well and then reheat; the chili really developes a great flavor by doing this. I used my crockpot on low to keep it warm the day I served it.
This is an excellent chili recipe. Tons of intresting flavors. Just a few changes because I didn't have everything. I used roasted red peppers enstead of fresh. Used chicken broth enstead of beer. At first it was too spicy(not for me but for my husband and kids) so I went online for a quick fix. Turns out you just need to puree a can of pineapple to tone down the spice. I was pretty leary about this so I added it slowly, tasting it each time. I did end up using the whole can and it was perfect. All the flavors without the burn. Thanks for the great recipe.
Don't listen to the condescending reviewer from Texas. This is a great chili. All Texans think they're stringy meat and watery sauce chili is the best and they have to make fun of other chilis. The rest of the world wouldn't recongnize TX chili as chili, so go with this recipe.
Very disappointed. I hope he didn't make this down here in El Paso last year when Purdue played in the sunbowl and try to pass it off as authentic. Most of the ingredients are from a can and taste like it. If you want it truly hot better add more "hot sauce" as he puts it. Not trying to be critical but this isn't authentic chile. Pass on this and try another chile recipe that has the word "Texas" in it.
This is the best chili I've ever made! I followed the recipe exactly except I used my croc pot. I browned the meat and then threw everything in the croc pot. Delicious!
This was okay chili. The Italian sausage gave it a nice flavor but hubby and I didn't care for it. Didn't have bacon bits. Great for a crowd. It made so much that I had to use 2 crock pots... make sure to use a really large stew pot! As far as the list of ingredients too lengthy and too much prep time for the end result. I've had as good or better chili with half the time work and cost! Overall this was decent but it didn't knock our socks off. The list of ingredients was just too long I was tired just getting to the end of it...(my thought was whew! did I forget anything?!!!) Nothing special I won't make this again. I even had to throw out the leftovers. I didn't even bother to add the cost of all the ingredients!!! Overall this was very disappointing. Thanks for posting so we could try anyway.
EDIT - Still the best chilli ever. My changes include using only 2 cans of beans, using chunks of steak (or stewing beef) instead of sausage, and if you like to keep'em guessing - add a nice tablespoon of spicy brown mustard. I've made this chilli over 10 times now and I have to make double batches because every member of my family requests it.
My husband loved this chili. I will definitely make again. I used 1 lb ground HOT italian turkey sausage, 1 lb HOT italian pork sausage and 1 lb ground round. It turned out to be a wonderful flavor combination and much more healthy than 3 lbs of beef. Since there were so many spices already in my HOT sausage blends I omitted the extra peppers and tabasco. It was still quite spicy. I cut the chili powder down to 3 Tablespoons. I was worried the full 4 T (=1/4 cup) would be too overpowering and mask the other flavors. I also used a whole can of beer. I didn't have any tomato paste so I used 2 small cans of tomato sauce. For the diced tomatoes I used 4 of the regular 14 oz cans - 1 petite diced and 3 regular size diced with chili spices included. I also added a fifth can of petite diced which had lime juice and cilantro in it. I did not drain any of them. Turned out wonderfully. The flavors were great and the tomatoes of different sizes cooked up for great texture. You can cetainly modify this recipe for your own tastes as far as spiceyness and heat. We like spicey chili but for my 5 year to eat it I have to go a little lighter on the spice. This recipe is difinitely worth the time and trouble. Will make again....and again! Thanks for sharing.
