Chili

It’s Sunday afternoon. My windows are open. It’s 65 degrees outside. The Eagles are playing football. It’s officially chili season! 

I like to call chili a ‘one pot wonder’! I only needed to use a big pot for the chili, and a cutting board to chop an onion. Minimal dishes woohoo!

It’s one of my favorite recipes that is made from 100% whole foods! Sugar is used in a lot of chili recipes to balance the acidity and thicken the sauce. Even if sugar isn’t one main ingredients, it could be hiding in the tomato sauce, which is a common base for chili. Since I am on a mission to remove all refined sugars out of my diet and to experiment with refined sugar free options, I decided to meal prep a big pot of chili I could eat throughout the week that doesn’t contain any sneaky sugar. I am not a professional chef, I am just learning and experimenting with how to fuel my body with clean ingredients and without processed sugars.

I prefer chunky chili over soupy chili so I can scoop it up with tortilla chips. I didn’t follow or test out an existing recipe… I just went for it and threw a bunch of yummy ingredients in a pot and called it Chili. 

Here are the ingredients I used:

• 1 diced onion

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced or 1 tsp Jarlic

• 1lb ground beef

• 1 can black beans

• 1 can kidney beans

• 1 can rotel with green chilies

• 1/3 cup of tomato sauce or pasta sauce (I used homemade with minimal ingredients)

• 1/3 cup salsa (I used Kirkland Organic - has minimal ingredients!)

• 1/3 cup water or broth

• 1 packet of mccormicks chili seasoning original or tex mex!

• 1 1/2 tbsp garlic powder

• salt to taste, be mindful if you plan on dipping tortilla chips!

• pepper to taste

• Optional

  • chips for dipping

  • greek yogurt or sour cream for topping

  • Shredded cheese for topping

Here is how I made my chili:

First, I roughly chopped up an onion (I like a chunkier chili, what can I say!).

I heat oil up in a large pot on the stove at medium/high heat. Then I added in diced onion and let it cook for 2 minutes. I stirred in 2 cloves minced garlic (1 tsp jarlic) and let that cook for another minute - until my kitchen smelled like garlic! 

Next, I threw in 1lb ground beef, and cooked until browned. I don’t like a lot of grease, so I took a paper towel and soaked up some of the grease at the bottom of the pot. I held off on seasoning until afterwards so that I didn’t accidentally soak up a bunch of seasoning. I seasoned the beef with 1 packet of original McCormick’s Chili Seasoning, 1 1/2 tbsp garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste.

I drained both cans of beans, and added them to the pot along with 1 can of Rotel tomatoes with green chilies, ⅓ cup of salsa, ⅓ cup of pasta sauce, and ⅓ cup of water. I gently mixed everything together, careful not to smoosh the beans!

I let this come to a boil at a high heat, then lowered the heat and let the chili simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on. Since my chili had less liquid, I had to stir it every couple of minutes to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. I let it simmer for another 10 minutes with the lid off, stirring every couple minutes. 

This chili was best served hot. I portioned it into 4 glass meal prep containers, and had an extra serving left for my dinner the night I made this. It made 5 servings for me! I made this batch on a Sunday night, and I’m writing this post on Friday. I can confirm it lasts very well in the fridge throughout the week! It reheats well in the microwave too. It’s nourishing, meal-prep-able, sugar-free, and delicious!

I topped my bowl with shredded cheese and ate it with my favorite cleaner ingredient, tortilla chips: Siete Gluten Free Maiz Sea Salt Corn Tortilla Chips made with avocado oil. 

One day for lunch I added a spoonful of leftover white rice to my bowl of chili and it was delicious!

If you try this recipe out, I’d love to hear what you think about it! Email me or DM me on instagram if you are interested in me testing out specific refined sugar-free recipes, so you don’t have to!

Bye!