A nice hot bowl of chili on a cold winter day. Is there anything better? It warms your innards, makes the house smell wonderful all for very little work (if you ask me)! And, you have leftovers – #winwin I searched high and low for a recipe with normal ingredients, not a packet of anything or a can of beans in a seasoned sauce. I found one, changed it very little and I think you’ll love it.

My old recipe was fabulous, I’ve made it for as long as I can remember. This year, it was chilly, I thought, hmmm – a pot of chili would be great – but I really want a different recipe. One that doesn’t used canned chili beans (in sauce). The more you can use pure ingredients the better. I found a recipe, tried it and LOVE IT!! I’m so excited to share it with you!

This recipe is by Lauren Miyashiro for Delish.com – and it’s a winner! I made it with a pan of (Jiffy-like) homemade cornbread, it was so good and different! This is my new go-to chili recipe! You can click HERE for the original recipe on Delish.com (where you can also print) – below is how I made it based off of that recipe.

📒 THE BEST CLASSIC CHILI

• 1 tablespoon extra–virgin olive oil
• 1/2 – 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, microplaned
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• 1 – 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 – 28 oz. can of water (use the empty tomato can)
• 1 – 15oz can pinto beans, drained
• 1 – 15oz can black beans, drained
• 1- 15oz can dark red kidney beans, drained
• Sharp Cheddar, grated (for topping)

DIRECTIONS

In a large pot (MEDIUM HEAT) oil. Add ONION and cook, stirring occasionally until translucent (roughly 5 minutes). Add GARLIC, cook stirring until fragrant about 30 seconds – 1 minute. Add GROUND BEEF, stir, breaking up the chunks until no longer pink. Drain excess fat.

Add TOMATO PASTE, stir. Sprinkle SPICES over the top and stir. Pour in TOMATOES + 1 tomato can of WATER (rinse out what’s left). Add beans, gently mix in – Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring on occasion. About 20 minutes (I made cornbread while waiting).

Ladle chili into bowls and top with your favorite toppings. I just used sharp cheddar, but they also used sour cream and scallions! You’re going to LOVE this!

As for this photo, this time of year is so tricky for good photographs. I tend to have to make dinner early (lunch) to have enough light. Night one images didn’t turn out. So I set this up and I wish I had more space to do it, I would have spread out ingredients like avocado, cilantro – sprinkled it around the beautiful white table – however the table is too far from the window for enough light – so I had to improvise. I read food styling tips – and did you realize most food is photographed cold? It is. Did you know photographs of ice cream aren’t ice cream at all? They use frosting you can buy in the baking aisle in the plastic tubs and scoop it like ice cream. #nowyouknow So the chili is cold and it went from the bowl back into the pan for dinner tonight!

🌶️ Until next time…