This is actually THE BEST chili recipe you’ll ever make! It was inspired by my obsession with Wendy’s chili but has a healthy spin. Perfectly spiced, thick and hearty, and easy to make on the stovetop.
It’s cozy, hearty, flavourful and perfect for a cold day. What’s even better is it tastes just as good when eaten cold, which is a surprise to me as I typically don’t eat warm foods when they are cold.
When my bother and I were younger, my mom and dad would take us on long road trips to visit my grandparents who were hours out of town. On our way, we would always stop at Wendy’s and I would get a junior hamburger deluxe and a small chili. As I grew older and once I moved out I would crave the chili every once in a while but now that I liked spice, I discovered their hot sauce packets. I was so hooked on them that I would ask for 10 packets of the hot sauce with my large chili ( yes, you read that right. 10 packs so I could have some left over for when I made homemade chili ).
I found the Wendy’s chili to be saltier and sweeter than I would’ve liked but I loved the flavours so I set out to create a copy-cat type recipe. The next time I ordered one I really analyzed what ingredients I could try to classify. Once I had figured that out, I brought my new found ideas to the kitchen and created this recipe! When I have extra packs of Wendy’s hot sauce I like to top my bowl of chili with it, YUM.
Ingredients in homemade chili
This tasty chili recipe is made with super simple ingredients that you might already have in your kitchen and pantry. All you need is lean ground beef, a few cans of beans ( I love kidney and pinto beans in my chili ), veggies, spices, and tomato sauce. To make this chili you’ll need:
- Lean Ground Beef: this recipe calls for lean ground beef to keep the chili lightened up.
- Beans: we’re using both kidney beans & pinto beans for a delicious boost of plant-based protein in this chili recipe.
- Veggies: we’re adding yellow onion, tomato, green bell pepper and celery for the perfect mix of hearty veggies.
- Serrano peppers: you’ll need 2 serrano peppers for a mild kick of spice, making sure to remove the seeds before chopping. Serrano chili peppers are quit a bit like jalapeño peppers, similar in color, but smaller and hotter. They are considered to be one of the more flavourful hot peppers.
- The simplest chili spice blend: chili powder, cumin, salt & pepper. That’s it!
- Tomato sauce: you’ll need tomato sauce and a bit of water for the liquid part of the chili.
I love topping this chili with Wendy’s hot sauce packets but usually nothing at all because it’s already so good on it’s own. If you’d like to experiment you could top yours with tortilla chips, a squeeze of lime juice, shredded cheese, avocado, cilantro or some sour cream or greek yogurt.
How to make chili from scratch
- Place ground beef in a large pot over medium high heat. You don’t need to add any oil as the beef already has fats that will melt and act as your oil in the cooking process. Cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown and there is no more pink meat. Depending on how you like your beef, you could leave it bit-sized chunky or make sure to break it apart well with a wooden spoon. Drain the fat once cooked.
- While the beef is cooking, chop all of your veggies into small pieces as seen above. For the tomato, before dicing remove all juicy bits to only keep the meaty parts.
- Drain beans but do not rinse them. Their juices will help keep your chilli nice and thick. This is a lazy hack and nice trick because you don’t have to go through the hassle of rinsing your beans and it adds a great texture to your chili, a win-win!
- In the same pot, add the veggies and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often. Add remaining ingredients and give it a good stir. After you’ve dumped the tomato sauce into your pot, use a good splash of water to get all the tomato sauce out of the can. You could alternatively use a spatula but who really wants to do extra dishes?
- Bring your pot of chili to a gentle boil then lower your heat to a simmer. Simmer over low heat for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes.
- Garnish with anything you’d like and enjoy!
How to store and reheat chili
- In the fridge: this chili will stay good in your fridge for 3-4 days. Once your chili is completely cooler, just place it in an airtight container (or multiple if you like having single servings) and place it in the fridge. To reheat your chili, heat in the microwave with a microwave safe bowl or reheat it on the stovetop in a small pot.
- In the freezer: a staple in our freezer are our single serving glass containers of chili. Follow the instructions above, but instead of placing the chili in the fridge just put it in the freezer making sure it’s level while it freezes. To reheat, simply thaw overnight and reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave or microwave it straight from the freezer.
The Best Chili Ever
Ingredients
- 0.907 kg (or 2lb) Lean Ground Beef
- 2 can Kidney Bean drained
- 1 can Pinto Bean drained
- 1 can Tomato Sauce
- 3 Tomato on-the-vine, seeds removed and diced
- 1 Green Bell Pepper diced
- 2 Serrano Pepper finely diced
- 3 sticks Celery roughly chopped
- 1 medium Yellow Onion diced
- 3 tbsp Chili Powder
- 3 tsp Ground Cumin
- 2 tsp Fine Sea Salt
- 1 ½ tsp ground Black Pepper
- 2 cups Water
Instructions
- Place ground beef in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown and there is no more pink meat. Depending on how you like your beef, you could leave it bit-sized chunky or make sure to break it apart well with a wooden spoon. Drain the fat once cooked.
- While the beef is cooking, chop all of your veggies into small pieces. For the tomato, before dicing chop in half from to remove all juicy seed bits and only keep the meaty parts. Drain beans but do not rinse them. Their juices will help keep your chilli nice and thick.
- In the same pot, add the veggies and cook for 2 minutes, stirring often. Add remaining ingredients and give it a good stir. After you've dumped the tomato sauce into your pot, use a good splash of water to get all the tomato sauce out of the can.
- Bring your pot of chili to a gentle boil then lower your heat to a simmer. Simmer over low heat for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes. Garnish with anything you'd like and enjoy!