Easy Homemade Chili

There is nothing better than a warm bowl of chili on a cold day. Growing up my dad made this chili was a favorite on Halloween, cold snowy days after playing in the snow, or watching a good basketball game with friends. Now days I enjoy making this delicious soup when fall and winter weather comes upon us. This chili is the perfect comfort food and super simple to make. I can have all ingredients on hand to make anytime. I also love it as I make it with all homegrown ingredients from the homegrown beef to the tomatoes and sauce, to the herbs, onions and garlic from the garden, this is a soup made from wholesome ingredients. This recipe is also very forgiving, if you don’t have the exact ingredients, there are several ways you can change it up and or make it your own.

The first step in making this recipe is to brown your meat in a large soup pot on the stove. The beef we have has a lot of fat in it so I utilize that by adding the chopped onions at this point as they will cook in the drippings and add some more flavor. If you are using lean meat then cook meat separately, adding 1 Tbsp olive oil to sauté the onion in. When the meat and onions are lightly browned, I add the chopped garlic as well.
Step 2 is to add the tomato paste to the beef mixture along with the tomato sauce, beef broth, and canned tomatoes.
Step 3 Add the kidney beans then the spices and stir.

Simple Homemade Chili
Servings: 6 Prep Time: 10minutes Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground Beef
- 1 medium yellow chopped
- 1 clove of Garlic finely chopped
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 16oz can tomato paste
- 2 cups of Beef broth
- 1 16oz can kidney beans
- 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2/3 Tbsp Chili powder
- 1/8 tsp Caynne pepper
- 1/2 tsp Oregano
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 Tbsp dried or fresh basil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Directions
- In a large soup pot sauté beef on medium heat until lightly browned, and remove from the pot.
- Add 1 Tbsp of oil to the pot and add chopped onions. Sauté until they start to turn color and add the chopped garlic and cook a minute or two.
- Add tomato paste and sauté for a minute then add tomato sauce, beef broth and stir.
- Add the kidney beans and stir.
- Add all spices and then simmer 1 hour on low.
Additions and Substitutions
Ground Beef The recipe calls for ground beef, but I have made it with ground pork, venison, and turkey and it tastes good. Onion A yellow onion is what is recommended but you can use whatever ones you have on hand, as long as the size is about the same. Kidney beans You may use light or dark kidney beans work. I prefer to use dried that I precook, in the instapot as I have a lot of dried beans on hand. Hot sauce I make this recipe on the mild side so its kid friendly, but I personally like to add some hot sauce and or some more Cyanne pepper or red pepper flakes to spice it up. Toppings you can add any combination of toppings you like my favorites are sour cream, cheese and chopped onions. Tomato sauce you can add any kind of tomato sauce you like. I use my homemade canned sauce. thehumblecook.com
Easy Homemade Chili
Details
Servings: 6 Prep time: 10 min Cook time: 40 min
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Ground Beef
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic chopped
- 2 15 oz cans of red kidney beans
- 2 cups of Beef broth
- 1 6oz can tomato paste
- 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 16oz canned diced tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp Oregano
- 1 tsp basil
- 1/4 tsp cyanine pepper
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes,
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Directions
- In a large soup pot brown ground beef on medium heat along with the onion until browned. Then add the garlic and cook about 3 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste and let cook a minute or two.
- Add the Beef broth, tomato paste, and canned tomatoes and stir together.
- Add the kidney beans and all spices and stir together.
- Lastly, bring mixture to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes, then serve and enjoy.