Making the best chili con carne demands a great chili powder. My Bluewater Pepper Farm Chipotle Chili Powder is just the ticket. I start with whole Mexican chilies, genuine Mexican oregano, ground cumin seeds and my unique Hot Smokey Chipotle made from Huron County grown jalapeños. The chili blend includes ancho, guajillo and cascabel with the chipotle adding spicy smoke flavour. The overall heat level is moderate, but you can always crank it up with more chipotle powder. There’s no preservatives or salt added, and the spice blend is sealed in a convenient zip-lock packet for freshness.
There’s nothing like a big pot of chili for an easy and satisfying weeknight dinner. You can throw it together in about 15 minutes. Serve with corn tortillas and a side of green salad or coleslaw. It makes fantastic left-overs and freezes beautifully, so make a double batch and have some on hand for a quick dinner when you’re short of time.
Make it in your Instant Pot, on the stovetop or in the oven. The recipe is a refresh of my previously published Chili con carne with some tweaks.
You can also be creative with the ingredients. I like cubed beef, but ground beef is just as tasty and a bit less fuss. Choose kidney beans or black beans – I prefer to cook mine from dried beans in the Instant Pot, but you can use a can of drained beans instead. For the tomato base, I use my own canned tomatoes, but once again, a large can of crushed tomatoes is great too. Again, the key ingredient is a nice, authentic chili powder.
Serve with chopped fresh cilanto and corn tortillas. For extra flavour, add a good splash of my Chipotle Madness hot sauce.
Chili con Carne
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Bluewater Pepper Farm Chipotle Chili powder
- 1 tsp salt adjust to taste
- 1 lb ground beef use 1/4" cubed beef instead if you like
- 1 can red kidney or black beans or cook your own dried beans using an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker
- 1 large can diced tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 celery stalk, finely chopped
- 2 tsp cooking oil
- 1/2 cup frozen corn optional
Instructions
- Use a 3 or 4 quart pot – oven proof if you want to finish in the oven. A 3 quart Instant Pot is also great. Go bigger if you're making a larger batch.
- Heat the oil on med-high and toss in the diced onion and celery. Cook for about 4 or 5 minutes until softened. (preheat the oven to 300F if you're using that method).
- Add the ground beef, Chipotle Chili Powder and salt. Break up the meat and sauté until nicely browned – about another 5 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, beans (and corn if you like) and bring up to a boil – about another 5 minutes.
- At this point, you can either put the pot in the 300 degree oven, turn down to simmer to finish on the stove, or set the Instant Pot to "chili" – all with the lid on.
- Cook for about 45-60 minutes until it thickens up a bit. The Instant Pot will beep when done in about 30 minutes.
- Taste test and adjust the salt if needed. Sauté a little longer if it's not thick enough.
- Garnish with a little chopped cilantro and serve with toasted tortillas (I like to use my gas stove).
- For some extra zing and awesome flavour, add some of my Chipotle Madness sauce.
As an added bonus, get $7 off (the price of a packet of Chipotle Chili powder) when you buy $30 or more online. The offer is valid until November 21, 2021. Use coupon code 7bucksoff at the checkout.
