There’s nothing like a hot bowl of chili on a cold day! I recently made some, and I used the recipe from the cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks, which I had been wanting to try for some time. I really liked it! It’s a nice, thick chili, and the recipe says you can add some water if it gets too thick while it’s cooking; I decided to try using beef broth instead to keep the flavor nice and beefy. I also left out the optional seeded and diced jalapeno, but I may just try adding that in next time! If you’re a chili-lover you will need to try this!
Simple, Perfect Chili
SIMPLE, PERFECT CHILI (adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks)
Makes 6 servings
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground oregano
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 to 1 (14.5-ounce) can beef broth (or 1 to 2 cups water)
- ¼ cup masa (corn flour, found in Mexican food section of supermarkets)
- 1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, drained
- 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained
- 1 (10-ounce) can Rotel® diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained
- Shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onion, corn chips, and sour cream for garnish
Place the ground beef in a large pot and add minced garlic. Cook over medium heat until beef browns, and drain fat. Stir in the tomato sauce, spices, salt, and 1/2 can beef broth. Stir everything together well, then cover, and reduce heat to low. Cover the pot and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
After an hour, place the masa in a small bowl. Add ½ cup water and stir together with a fork. Add the masa mixture into the chili and stir well. Then add the beans and Rotel® tomatoes. If chili is too thick for your liking, add more beef broth or water. Simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes.
Serve with shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onion, corn chips, and sour cream, if desired.
Recipe from NancyC | nancy-c.com
This is one of my favorite chili recipes now! Do you have a favorite?
NancyC 
Have not made any New Year’s chili yet! Now I want some! Happy New Year and Happy Cooking in 2011!
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Oh man, you can’t go wrong with anything from the Pioneer Woman! I have her cookbook, too!
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Try Rebecca Rather’s (The Pastry Queen) recipe. It uses chocolate as well as showing you how to make homemade chili powder. The flavors are fantastic and very deep!
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That sounds great! I will have to look that up–thanks for letting me know!
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Is there a substitution for the Masa? I don’t have any on hand
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Hi Kelsey–I’ve read that you can substitute corn meal for the Masa, which is corn flour. The taste will be slightly different, but that’s probably the closest substitute. It’s used in this chili recipe as a thickener. Hope that helps!
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Can I make this in a crockpot? If so, what are the modifications?
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Hi Eva, I’m sure you could, but I have not tried that myself, so I can’t give you specifics on how to do that.
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How many does this serve?
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It makes 6 servings.
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I have used finely chopped corn tortillas as a substitute for the masa in tamale soup recipes.
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Thanks for the tip, Billye! That’s good to know!
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How many jalapeños??
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Just one, seeded and diced!
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I love this chili recipe. I’ve used it so many times for family and friends. You should totally enter this chili contest! I think you have a good chance at winning (because I don’t want to steal your credit)!
http://bushbeans.thedailymeal.com/
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Thanks, Molly! I’m glad you like the recipe! 🙂
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What size of cans of beans
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Sorry that was left out–you would use 15-ounce size cans. I’ll update the post!
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Can I cook this in the crock pot ? Will it come out the same?
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I’m sure you could, just not sure how long you would need to cook it in the crock pot!
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Made this chili today! i know people say it gets better as it ages, but i had it for lunch and it was delish! Alittle too spicy for me, but still very good! next time i wont use the pepper. i know it says 6 servings but how much is a serving 1 cup or less?
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1 serving is probably about 1 to 1 1/3 cups, although I’ve never measured it exactly. Glad you like the recipe, Christina!
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Pretty tasty! I find myself wanting to eat less meat, but the family needs meat, so I have to compromise. I used about 1/3 of the meat and felt like I needed a filler so I found a big sweet potato in my fridge and diced that up and threw it in and it was so good! The sweetness compliments the spicy so well. Other than that I didn’t change a thing. Love that this cooks up nice and thick, not soupy like other recipes I’ve tried. Ate it over steamed white rice and it was such a filling, healthy meal. Thanks for sharing!
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Jen, I love your idea of using a sweet potato in this to substitute for some of the meat-that’s such a great idea! Glad you liked the recipe! 🙂
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This absolutely DELICIOUS!!! If you can get the corn flour, do it, you won’t be sorry!
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I agree! 🙂
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just looking to see if anyone has tried it in the croc pit yet. How long on what setting. thanks!
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Delicious! I didn’t have masa, so I skipped that part. I also subbed 1 pound of Italian sausage for half of the ground beef. I added diced onion, some bbq sauce, a bit of sriracha, and a small can of tomato paste. Everyone loved it!
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It sounds great the way you made it, Krysta! 🙂
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