Mom’s Award Winning Chili

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The Only Chili Recipe You’ll Ever Need

Award Winning Chili in a bowl with a spoon, feet in pink slippers can be seen on the floor below

My Mom’s Award Winning Chili is one of my favorite recipes that she makes. It is a very meaty chili with a little bit of heat and lots of flavor.

This is a chili that can be made on the stove top or in the crockpot. It is hearty and delicious.

It’s also one of her recipes that I not only look forward to eating fresh but actually love eating as leftovers. This chili is also delicious on a chili dog or my Weeknight Baked Potatoes.

Everyone loves this chili when they try it for the first time. I dare say that it is the best chili in the world!

There is a full, printable recipe card at the end of this post. You can hit the print button under the picture of the chili and the full recipe will come up on one page with no ads.

You can print this recipe or screenshot it and save it to your phone.

If you are a Pinterest person, there is a Pinterest button at the top you can use to pin this to your page. I am also on Pinterest as The Tipsy Housewife.

Give me a follow over there for many more recipe ideas.

A ladle of chili above a pot of chili

To Bean Or Not To Bean

The beauty of this chili recipe is that you can add beans if you like them or omit them if you do not like them. I love kidney beans so I enjoy when my mom adds them.

Mom likes black beans and I do not, so she leaves them out when she makes this for me. If you leave the beans out, this makes a great topping for hot dogs.

I suggest freezing a few cups of this chili that you can thaw and use on campfire hot dogs in the Summer!

Diced green peppers and onions in a pot

Onions & Peppers, Oh My!

You will see on the recipe card that Mom cuts the two different sized onions in two different ways. She likes for the majority of the onions to dissolve into the sauce and add flavor.

The other onion Mom cuts into a larger dice so that you have bites of onion in your bowl of chili. She also uses green pepper and a poblano pepper.

None of this adds heat, just a peppery flavor to the chili that is so good.

If you can’t find a poblano pepper, do not sweat it. It will still be good, but make sure you try it sometime with the poblano.

You won’t regret it!

Ground meat mixed with peppers and onion

Fat Adds Flavor

When Mom makes this she does not drain the beef after it is browned. You will see this in the steps on the recipe card.

She says that this all adds flavor as it simmers. When the chili is done cooking she skims some of the fat that rises to the top.

I personally think this chili tastes better when you let it sit overnight in the fridge. If you do this, the fat will rise to the top and slightly solidify then you can easily skim it.

In my opinion, chili is supposed to be slightly greasy so I do not worry about this too much. If it bothers you, you can easily drain the meat after it is cooked and before you add the spices.

Cooked chili in a pot
Cooked chili in a pot with a ladle in it

Seasoning Is A Suggestion

You will see the measurements for the chili seasonings in the recipe card. As always, the seasoning is a suggestion.

Feel free to adjust however you like. I do not find this chili to be overly spicy, but there is flavor. This chili does not necessarily burn your mouth from spice, but everyone’s tastebuds are different.

You may want to taste as you go and you can always add more spice after. I would really suggest sticking to her recipe closely, but she also eyeballs a lot of this most of the time and it is always good.

A spoon of chili over a bowl
Chipotle cinnamon spice

Chipotle Cinnamon

I was given this Chipotle Cinnamon by a friend and Mom loves to use it in her chili. I will admit, it adds great flavor.

The one we have is by this brand The Spice Hunter. You can check their site to see where to buy it.

I also see that they sell this brand on Amazon. I think it is around $8.

*The above link is my Amazon Affiliate link, which means that Amazon pays me a small commission when you use the link and this comes at no extra cost to you*.

I also see with a quick google search that there are lots of other spice companies that make something similar. I can just vouch for this one.

The chili will be fine with regular cinnamon as well if you don’t want to buy an extra spice.

Award Winning Chili

Whether you eat this as is, over a hot dog, or over fries I know you’ll love it.

I suppose you could even eat it over spaghetti… if you live in Cincinnati…

Yield: 12 to 15 Servings

My Mom's Award Winning Chili

Award Winning Chili

My Mom's Award Winning Chili is one of my favorite recipes that she makes. It is a very meaty chili with a little bit of heat and lots of flavor. This is a chili that can be made on the stove top, or in the crockpot. It is hearty and delicious.

Ingredients

  • 3 to 4 lbs of ground beef (80/20 Mix)
  • 1 large and 1 medium sized yellow onions (mince the large onion finely and then dice the medium sized onion) *this is so some of the onions melt into the chili and then some are left in the chili
  • 2 to 3 garlic cloves chopped or crushed
  • 2 green peppers, seeded and diced
  • 1 poblano pepper, seeded and diced (can omit if you cannot find)
  • 3 or 4 14.5 ounce cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes (she buys the one at aldi) you can sub other diced tomatoes if you cannot find
  • 1/3 cup of chili powder (she always ends up adding a little more to taste)
  • 1 tablespoon of smoked or regular paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp of chili pepper flakes (you can add more or less)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (she sometimes uses a chipotle cinnamon we have thats special)
  • Just under 1 tablespoon of sugar (reduces the acid)
  • couple of shakes of dried Italian seasoning or oregano (about 1/4 teaspoon)
  • little bit of cooking oil or butter

Instructions

  • Add your butter or cooking oil to a stock pot, then add your onions, green peppers and poblano peppers and garlic to the pot and sauté until golden brown and soft.
  • Add your ground beef and cook all the way through, breaking the meat up into a crumble as it cooks. Mom does not drain the beef, she lets it cook with all the meat drippings, then skims the fat off the top at the end. You can drain it if you wish.
  • When the meat is cooked, add your garlic salt, black pepper, paprika, cinnamon, chili powder, Italian seasoning, dried chili flake and sugar and sauté for a minute or two with the meat and the veggies. Taste and add some salt if needed or more of any of the seasonings if needed.
  • Add the cans of tomatoes with the juice from the cans (do not drain). Give this all a good stir and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat down to low, cover and cook 2 to 3 hours. Stir this occasionally. If you want to make this in a crock pot, you can follow all the steps above and allow it to cook low and slow in the crock pot for 6 to 8 hours.
  • While this cooks you can also use a ground meat chopper to break up the tomatoes more as they cook. They usually break down fairly easily on their own with a few chunks left.
  • When this is done cooking you can eat right away if you want. You can skim some of the fat off the top with a ladle. The liquid will absorb into the meat mixture once it is removed from the heat and thicken.
  • You can also make this a day ahead of time and let this sit covered in the fridge overnight, it will thicken up and the fat will rise to the top and you can take as much of it off as you want when it is slightly solid from being cold and then reheat this all and serve.
  • You can also add a can of kidney beans or black beans if you want when you add the tomatoes. Mom does not drain the kidney beans but she slightly drains and rinses the black beans.
  • Freezes well.
    • © thetipsyhousewife

    Looking for another great classic? My round steak recipe is quote popular for a reason!

    1 Comments

    • Sabrina Williams

      April 16, 2024 at 6:43 pm

      This was perfectly fine with 2.25lbs of ground beef and 2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes if anyone was wondering how to cut it down.

      Reply

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