I know most people have a favorite chili recipe. I have some “secret” ingredients we like to use, but honestly it never turns out exactly the same twice. This one turned out to be one of the top 3 in our long chili history so I decided I should record this recipe for future and in case you are looking for some different chili ideas.

Even though it is still rather warm here in Arizona – it is still football season! We love college football in this house – go MIZZOU! And chili just seems like a fitting meal during this season. This is something I like to make the day before or early in the morning so it can simmer for hours. Chili just gets better the longer you cook it and the more times you re-heat!

Ok – this is easier if you gather, dice, mince your ingredients beforehand, but also not necessary. First thing to do: set your oven to broil. Place a poblano (or similar variety) pepper close to the top of the oven on a pan. Keep an eye on it – when it starts to turn about 1/2 black, flip it over and char the opposite side.

Once it’s charred at least 1/2 way on both sides, remove from the oven and place in a food safe plastic container, paper bag or my preference – a sandwich or ziplock bag. Let it steam for approx 5 minutes and until it’s just cool enough to handle. The steam helps separate the skin which you are then going to peel off. You can see in the picture above, I’ve peeled almost all of the skin off – I left a tiny bit at the bottom (for the picture)so you can see what we are talking about. Once it’s peeled, dice that sucker up. No need to remove the seeds, but usually when you remove the top of a poblano pepper the seeds follow easily.

While your poblano pepper is in the oven – go ahead and heat some olive oil in your pan. This makes a huge batch so you are going to need a large pan. I prefer my large dutch oven, but anything with a lid works fine. Add about one medium onion, diced and one large jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced to your oil. Stir until the onions begin to sweat. Then, add in about 3 cloves of minced garlic. We like garlic in this house so I may have used more! Add in your poblano pepper and stir together well – keeping your pot over medium heat.

Ok – isn’t this already looking amazing? To the pot above, I added a blend of hot sauces. I like to see whatever different ones we have on hand and just mix a few in. I kept this batch pretty mild and added in a green chili and another medium sauce local to AZ – probably 2 tablespoons each.

Next, I added a small can of tomato paste. Stir the mixture until combined well and let cook for about 3-5 minutes until you have a pretty thick paste like mixture. Then, I added in my meat. In honor of game day we kept with the theme and used venison, bison and lamb – a pound of each, ground. I warned that this makes a big batch! (but soo good leftover, even frozen). Mix those together well and as they start to cook let’s add in our dried seasonings. I used 2-3 tablespoons of each: ground coriander, chipotle chile pepper, cumin and chili powder.

Next, instead of adding salsa or canned tomatoes, I had a large bunch (about 1.5 pint+) of cherry tomatoes. I sliced them in 1/2 and added to the pot. I want these to completely cook down – so if you don’t have as much time for your chili to simmer you might consider cutting them into smaller pieces. Next into the pot goes about 1/2 cup of brown sugar and then your beans. I used 1 can each of pinto, red kidney and chili beans.

And we are getting closer to putting the lid on this pot for several hours.. The remaining ingredients added in after the beans were: 1/4 cup yellow mustard, 1/4 cup dark, pure maple syrup, 1/4 cup Worcestershire, 1/4 cup of liquid aminos and 1 chocolate beer – I used Sam Adams chocolate bock. Any dark beer would do, but I liked the idea of the chocolate flavor. That might be a “secret” ingredient in my other chili recipes..?

That’s it for now – stir it together well and put the lid on that pot! Let it simmer for preferably 2-3 hours minimum 🙂

This chili is good as is, but my favorite way to serve it is “Cincinnati style” which means over pasta topped with cheese (cheddar), sour cream and diced onions – yum! I love the crunch from the diced onions. My husband loves to top with Fritos – specifically the twist ones. We like to make it almost like a taco bar with all of the topping options and let friends pick however they want to build their bowl.