Dead Simple Chili

August 22, 2021

Cheap, easy chili for the culinary challenged. Nothing too fancy — just some meaty stew with what might be in the pantry.

An overhead view of a steaming bowl of chili with peppers and garlic on a wooden table

Ask ten people how to make chili and you will get ten answers. Don't worry about it. In the end you are making meat soup, and you need three things:

  • Meat and/or beans
  • Vegetables
  • Liquid

Start With the Aromatics

Start by gathering onions, peppers and garlic. You want the amount of onions and peppers roughly equal — use any peppers you like. Here we are using a yellow bell, a couple of Cubanelles, and a good chunk of crazy-hot Scotch Bonnet. A proper chili pepper would be optimal, but we don't have any. Chop them all up along with a few cloves of garlic. Garlic — lots and lots of garlic.

Add Some Protein

Cook up whatever meat you want. We are using ground beef, but chicken works fine. If you want a vegetarian chili, just replace the meat with an extra can of beans. When the meat is done, dump it into a large pot.

Bring It Together

Fry the vegetables and garlic in a little olive oil until they are translucent, then throw it all in the pot with the meat. Mix it up and add enough liquid to barely cover everything. You can use any liquid — here we used a cup of beef broth and then another of water, because the broth is quite salty. Beer also works well.

The Spice Mix

Bring the concoction to a simmer and start your spice mix. Your rule of thumb is 3 parts chili powder to 1 part cumin. Start with three tablespoons of chili powder — you need more than you think. We usually add half a part of paprika for color, half a part of garlic powder, and a healthy dash of black pepper and salt.

Stir the spice mix into your pot of bubbling goodness. Let it simmer on low until the beans are tender and the liquid has reduced to a consistency you like. That's it — you just made chili.

Why is a web studio posting a chili recipe? Because good work runs on good lunches, and because a site should have a little personality. Speaking of which, have a look at some of our work.