Melody's Super Bowl Award-Winning Chili
Try this Melody's Super Bowl Award-Winning Chili recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Melody's Super Bowl Award-Winning Chili recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 lime juiced
- 2 green bell peppers chopped
- 1 can beef broth
- 1 can water
- 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large ribs celery chopped
- 1 yellow or orange bell pepper chopped
- 4 cloves fresh garlic minced
- 1 lb jimmy dean's hot pork sausage (in a tube in the freezer section)
- 2 lb ground chuck
- 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 12 ounce can tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin seeds
- 3 1/2 tablespoons chili powder (i use penzy's med hot chili powder)
- 1/8 cup dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 cans petite diced tomatoes (28 ounces each), undrained
- 1 can great northern beans or kidney beans drained
- 1 can black beans drained
- Carbohydrate 11.504487013999 g
- Cholesterol 53.6750971166667 mg
- Fat 17.0549232035482 g
- Fiber 3.82874499347631 g
- Protein 16.5986781139645 g
- Saturated Fat 6.1097953972778 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (260g)
- Sodium 223.951013894538 mg
- Sugar 7.67574202052266 g
- Trans Fat 2.47290208341607 g
- Calories 263 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat the Olive Oil in a large soup kettle or in a very large skillet. Add the onions, celery, peppers and garlic. Cook over a low heat until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the sausage and ground chuck. Stir often until the meat is completely browned.
- Drain off as much fat as possible.
- Reduce the heat to low. Stir in the black pepper, tomato paste, cumin, chili powder, Dijon mustard, salt and cayenne pepper.
- If using a soup pot, you can add the following ingredients right into the pot: Tomatoes, Lime Juice, Can of Beef Broth, 1 can of water and the beans.
- I use a large crockpot (5 quarts) and add these ingredients to the crock pot: Tomatoes, Lime Juice, Can of Beef Broth, 1 can of water and the beans. To the crockpot, add the meat mixture from the skillet.
- Cook for 1-2 hours on low. Taste to correct the seasonings.
Ground chuck and hot pork sausage drive this heavy pot, demanding a heavy-bottomed five-quart vessel to prevent scorching during the initial browning phase. Standard thin-walled stockpots will trap heat unevenly against the burner. A cast-iron Dutch oven or a thick-walled soup kettle distributes thermal energy properly across the base while rendering three pounds of protein. Cooking the aromatic vegetables—onions, celery, and three colors of bell peppers—in extra virgin olive oil over low heat for ten minutes softens their cellular walls without browning the sugars, establishing a sweet foundational base for the spices.
Blooming the ground cumin, chili powder, and cayenne directly in the drained meat mixture fries the fat-soluble flavor compounds before any liquid enters the vessel. Skipping this direct-heat step leaves spices tasting raw and powdery. Adding the tomato paste and Dijon mustard at this exact stage allows the tomato glutamates to caramelize slightly against the hot metal. Scrape the bottom of the pot frequently with a wooden spatula to incorporate these browned bits.
Transferring the contents into a five-quart slow cooker manages the multi-hour thermal progression safely without requiring constant stovetop monitoring. Set the appliance to low for one to two hours. This extended timeline melds the acidity from the fresh lime juice with the umami of the beef broth and diced tomatoes. Drain the canned black and great northern or kidney beans thoroughly beforehand to prevent excess starches from muddying the broth consistency.
Yielding twelve portions, this recipe creates significant storage demands for smaller refrigerators. Cool the chili completely in shallow containers within two hours before sealing and refrigerating for up to four days. Reheat individual portions gently on the stovetop over medium-low heat, adding a splash of water if the bean starches have thickened the liquid past your preference.
