Weeknight Beef Chili
Sometimes you just want a pot of chili but you don't want to simmer a billion ingredients all day. We streamlined a simple bean and beef chili recipe, but because we wanted to cook once and eat it for lunch all week we packed in a few cups of cubed squash to stretch it.
Finely chop 1 onion, and mince 2 cloves of garlic.
Brown 1 lb ground beef in a little oil or butter in your soup pot or enameled Dutch oven (4 qt or greater.)
Remove the mostly cooked meat to a plate, & keep drippings in pot.
Cook onion over medium-low in drippings for 2 minutes, then add garlic for 1 more minute. Add 1 tbsp of seasoning blend and the 1 tsp of salt. Stir and allow the spices to bloom for 1-2 minutes. Save any extra spice blend you mixed up in the fridge for another use--taco night!
Add in the cubed squash or sweet potatoes, stir well, cover and cook for 10 minutes to soften.
Add in the quart of tomatoes with juices, the beans, the stock, the salsa and the beef. Bring to a boil and then allow to simmer for 30 min - or up to 1 hour covered.
Remove cover and add in corn. If you want to thin the chili, add some water or stock. Simmer for 15 - 30 min uncovered and serve warm with your favorite toppings-- grated cheese, chunks of avocado, minced cilantro, extra hot sauce.
If you want to make it the day ahead, allow to cool and then refrigerate. When ready to serve, allow to warm up on counter for 30 minutes and then reheat on stove till hot throughout. Add extra water or stock to thin if necessary.
Ingredients
Directions
Finely chop 1 onion, and mince 2 cloves of garlic.
Brown 1 lb ground beef in a little oil or butter in your soup pot or enameled Dutch oven (4 qt or greater.)
Remove the mostly cooked meat to a plate, & keep drippings in pot.
Cook onion over medium-low in drippings for 2 minutes, then add garlic for 1 more minute. Add 1 tbsp of seasoning blend and the 1 tsp of salt. Stir and allow the spices to bloom for 1-2 minutes. Save any extra spice blend you mixed up in the fridge for another use--taco night!
Add in the cubed squash or sweet potatoes, stir well, cover and cook for 10 minutes to soften.
Add in the quart of tomatoes with juices, the beans, the stock, the salsa and the beef. Bring to a boil and then allow to simmer for 30 min - or up to 1 hour covered.
Remove cover and add in corn. If you want to thin the chili, add some water or stock. Simmer for 15 - 30 min uncovered and serve warm with your favorite toppings-- grated cheese, chunks of avocado, minced cilantro, extra hot sauce.
If you want to make it the day ahead, allow to cool and then refrigerate. When ready to serve, allow to warm up on counter for 30 minutes and then reheat on stove till hot throughout. Add extra water or stock to thin if necessary.
I suppose the remainder of the seasoning blend goes in at step 6?
Hi Andy– thanks for writing. I added an extra line in the recipe to clarify, but in the ingredients section we noted to just store any extra in the fridge. In our test kitchen, we made about an eighth of a cup, but just 1 tbsp of the blend was plenty for the chili. Store any extra in a sealed container in the fridge and use within a week– for taco night, add in some brown sugar for a spice rub for beef or ribs. Hope that helps!