When I have a party in the cooler months chili is often on the menu. Everyone loves this beef and bean chili! It is fantastic on its own, with corn chips, over yellow rice with some finely grated Vermont cheddar and Cabot Habanero cheese on top, over mac and cheese or over a Hummel hot dog. If you want some inspiration/or the best recipes for other types of chili I have a post about it from last year 🙂

This recipe fills a 6qt. crock pot, but we are going to cook it in a stock pot. When it is ready, you can leave it on low heat stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot or you can transfer it to a crock pot on the “Warm” setting*. If you are not cooking for a party and don’t have a large family you might want to cut this recipe in half!

Equipment:
Stock pot (and crock pot if using)
Wooden spoon
Colander

Ingredients:
3.5-4lb grass-fed ground beef (80/20)
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp. ancho chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 McCormick Organic Chili seasoning packets
26oz. Pomi chopped tomatoes (in the summer use about 5 medium concasse tomatoes in place of this.)
2 16oz. organic salsa (Thrive Market’s* is fantastic!) *This link gives you 30% off your first order and a free gift!
2 15oz. cans organic dark red kidney beans, drained
2 15oz. cans organic small pink beans, drained
Optional: Prepared rice to serve under chili.
Finely grated Vermont cheddar and Cabot Habanero cheese to serve on top.
Sliced avocado is the perfect addition to this dish.

Method:
1. In the stock pot combine the ground beef and onions, breaking up the beef into small pieces. Cook until onions are soft and beef is browned, stirring occasionally. You can drain the fat if you’d like, but fat is flavor and if you have quality grass-fed beef I would definitely keep it!
2. Stir in the ancho chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and chili seasoning packets. Then stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to simmer and cook for at least one hour on low. At that point I like to move it to the crock pot and keep it on warm throughout the serving period.

That’s it! Quick, simple and so delicious chili that your friends and family will beg you to make again and again!

Please try it and let me know how you like it!

*Fun food safety fact: You want to hold your warm foods over 135*F for the duration of serving. If you can’t, it should be discarded after 4 hours of being held between 41*-135* (the temperature danger zone).