A Guaranteed Crowd-Pleasing Super Bowl Chili Recipe
Are you excited about the big game on Sunday? Some team is playing some other team in the Super Bowl and once again, my Cleveland Browns won’t be competing in the final contest of the season. And we Browns fans are really, really sorry that the rabid, annoying Steelers fans here in northeast Ohio also suffered the agony of defeat again this year, as “Big Ben” Roethlisberger failed to lead his team to the championship game. Really, we’re sorry.
But no worries. At our house, after choosing a team to root against (using a complicated formula involving Art Modell, the Baltimore Ravens, Bill Belichick, Bernie Kosar and LeBron James), we focus on planning the party.
We don’t get especially fussy about our Super Bowl party; we enjoy a casual time with friends and family. Everyone brings a dish to share and kids are welcomed, as we look forward to the commercials and wonder if the halftime act will remain fully clothed. The hardcore football enthusiasts head down to the man cave to shoot pool and shout at the TV while the more social guests hang out upstairs, occasionally interrupting their conversations to watch the commercials.
The only rule for our Super Bowl party: There must be chili.
If you’re looking for a crowd-pleaser for your own Super Bowl party this Sunday, you might want to try my favorite recipe. It’s won a church chili cook-off or two and there’s rarely any left in the 18-quart pot after the party.
I must warn you that this chili packs some serious heat. If you don’t like spicy foods, you’ll want to make some adjustments.
Paula’s Lightning Chili
Ingredients:
2 cups chopped onion
1 lb. ground sweet Italian sausage
2 lb. ground beef (80% lean)
3 cups fresh tomatoes, diced (or 3 cans prepared diced tomatoes)
3 cans chili beans (I use Bush’s medium)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp. cumin
1/2 Tbsp. curry powder
Brown the ground sausage and ground beef with the onions in a skillet until no pink remains. Drain fat. In a large pot or Dutch oven combine meat and onions with tomatoes, chili beans, salt and pepper. Simmer for 30-45 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Add the remaining spices during the last ten minutes of cooking. (For a milder spice, add the spices at the beginning of the cooking time).
Here are some suggested toppings to serve with your chili:
Warm corn bread
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Chopped green onions
Oyster crackers
Sliced jalapeno peppers
Black olives
Enjoy!
Thank you Paula! I probably won’t be watching the Super Bowl, but this will help augment my limited divorced-guy cooking options.
Egil,
It’s super easy to make in a short amount of time, so you can throw it together quickly after work. It also freezes well, so you can make a batch and put half in a ziplock bag in the freezer for another day.
Also, if you don’t already have one, I’d suggest you get a crock pot and a cookbook to go with it. Many of the recipes have few ingredients you can toss in the pot before work (prep time < 10 minutes).
Great! Thank you Paula! Easy and quick are what I need, plus the ingredients sound delicious. And I will get a crock pot too. I want to increase the number of things I can make and the prep time with a crock pot would be really nice. I’ve always been good at eating, but not so great at cooking!
The “Fix It and Forget It” series is a good place to start with crock pot cookbooks. Happy eating! http://www.amazon.com/Fix-Forget-Cookbook-Feasting-Cooker/dp/B0012BM1IA
Beans? that’s not chili.
Sure, it looks delicious…..but it’s still not chili.
Thank you. Someone who has a decent respect for tridition.
It does look like a decent chili-like concoction though.
What size cans? What’s the yield? The reference to the 18 quart pot is deceiving because this recipe could probably be assembled in a 5 quart pot and would feed probably 6 for dinner, tops.
And I agree with LexisTexas about the beans.
Sorry about that Jmarie! I triple the recipe to fill my 18 qt. pot. I should have made that clear. Also, when using canned tomatoes, use three 14.5 oz cans. The recipe above makes about 15 1 cup servings (though none of the guys in my house ever takes a 1 cup serving!)
Priya: Would you like some homemade chili?
Sheldon: Are there beans in it?
Priya: Yes!
Sheldon: Then it’s not chili. Real chili has no beans in it. But you’re from a foreign land, so your ignorance is forgiven.
And later.
Sheldon: This is good…whatever it is.
I wondered at the time if Parsons was responsible for this bit, seeing as how he’s a Texan.
I guess it took us Ohioans to improve chili by adding beans!
Paula, I am not knocking your chili recipe and everyone’s taste is different, but if anyone wants to eat real chile, yes that is the correct spelling, they have to go to New Mexico. I have eaten some pretty good Texas and Arizona chile though but not of as high quality as a person can find in most New Mexican style restaurants and made in New Mexican homes. And yes, as some have said, real chile does not have beans in it.
As a hispanic friend of ours (from New Mexico, no less) says, if it has beans in it, it’s gringo chile. Beans are a cheap way to stretch the meal which is probably why so many people use them.
Yes, and chile should also have chiles in it.
LarryJ and jmarie,
Good points from both of you. The chile should be from red pods that have been roasted in the oven and then blended along with water, salt and garlic and then cooked with meat. It is common to eat beans and chile but never cooked together!
Interesting. Chili with beans is pretty common in Ohio. Maybe we’re just cheap?
Wikipedia has a bit about beans in the “Controversy about Ingredients’ section in the Chili con carne entry:
“The Chili Appreciation Society International specified in 1999 that, among other things, cooks are forbidden to include beans, marinate any meats, or discharge firearms in the preparation of chili for official competition.”
But…can we trust a bunch of anti-Second Amendment Statists to dictate the proper ingredients for our chili?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_con_carne
Paula, that was an interesting article on Texas style chile. They have their own style of fixing what most call Mexican or TexMex food. Chile was introduced into what is now New Mexico by the Spanish and their Mexican Indian allies in 1598 with the first colonial settlement. It is debated as to whether the native tribes had chile or not.
Not being cheap in Ohio, just a different way of cooking. Nothing wrong with that.