Chocolate Chili

My long-time homemade chili, meaty and full of spices and flavor and a touch of chocolate. Nothing says "welcome home" like a big pot of chili simmering on the stove but our favorite way to "slow cook" chili is in the oven. Feeding a crowd? Serve Chocolate Chili with mashed potatoes, an old Iowa farmwife technique to make meat go further when feeding hungry farmhands.

Real Food, Fresh & Family-Tested. Meaty and Bright with Spices and a Touch of Chocolate. Weight Watchers Friendly. Whole30 Friendly. Low Carb. Naturally Gluten Free. High Protein. A Signature Recipe. Budget Friendly. One-Pot Meal. Great for Meal Prep. How to Feed a Crowd. Potluck & Party Friendly. Rave Reviews.

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

COMPLIMENTS!

• "The chili was excellent!" ~Megan
• "Holy cow! Was that chili good!!!" ~Sally
• "... it was so good ..." ~BabyAlan
• "The spices and flavor were exquisite." ~Laurie

BEST RECIPES!

• Chocolate Chili Was 2002's Single "Most Useful Recipe"!
• Kitchen Parade’s Best-Ever “Most Useful” Recipes, just one per year since 2002

---

At Last, "My" Chili Recipe

It took the longest time to find "my" personal recipe for chili. I experimented with one pot after another, finding many "good" chilis but not yet the right combination to claim as my own.

My first chili experiment was borrowed from a great cook from Texas. It called for – get this – two cups (cups!) of beef suet and one-half cup (cup!) of chili powder. Whew – greasy AND spicy and definitely NOT to my taste!

I even entered a chili contest once – I thought it was pretty good chili but the judges were unimpressed to learn my entry included a can of tomato soup!

And then finally, my search brought me to Chocolate Chili, the source, sadly is long lost.

Chocolate Chili is a must when the yen for “real” chili hits, when the weather turns brisk, when the snow piles high, when somehow, nothing, nothing at all, will do for Sunday supper. If you're like me, you'll be charmed by the spice-chocolate combination – it softens and deepens the warmth from the chili powder and Tabasco.

While many chilis are somewhat sweet or worse sometimes way too spicy-hot, Chocolate Chili recipe falls into the not-sweet camp even with slightly "sweet" spices.

What's In Chocolate Chili? Pantry Ingredients!

In all my recipes and most well-written recipes, every ingredient serves a purpose. Each one matters. Each one contributes to the overall dish. It's not that an ingredient can't be substituted by something else but when choosing the substitute, it's important to understand why the original ingredient was present in the first place.

• Beef Ground beef works but leave it clumpy instead of breaking it down to fine bits. With this advice, no wonder then that I also love to make Chocolate Chili with chunks of stew meat. Do let the stew meat get really brown, almost crispy.


• Onion Chop it small if you want the onion to disappear texture-wise or in big chunks if you want the pieces to be obvious. Want to add a little more? A poblano chile works great.


• Tomato Canned diced tomatoes provide bulk and texture, tomato paste adds flavor depth and a certain "umami," that deep, savory deliciousness we strive for.


• Water I use water for this chili. Could you use stock? Sure, if you've got good homemade beef stock, that would be great. But I don't recommend a commercial beef stock, too salty and too much flavor to compete with the spices.


• Chocolate! Yep, Chocolate Chili calls for chocolate, specifically unsweetened cocoa powder but if you don't have any, sure, throw in some chocolate chips instead. They'll melt and meld in with everything else.





• Spices Warm spices! This is not a "hot and spicy" chili, nobody will be wiping sweat off their brow. But it is full of spices, cinnamon, cumin, marjoram and coriander plus chili powder, itself a blend of spice but tending more "hot" than spiced. Like so many of my recipes, call it "spiced" versus "spicy".


• Vinegar Ahhh, vinegar, it shows up in what might seem like the oddest spots. But vinegar is one of those magic ingredients. If a savory dish ever seems like it's missing something? Try a splash of vinegar or another acidic ingredient like lemon juice. That tiny bit of acidity somehow brightens the pot. Try it! And ... once it's added, you can taste for salt and often, need none at all.


• No Beans But if you need to stretch the chili further, sure, throw in a can or two of beans, I'd suggest black beans.

Why Put Chocolate in Chili?

One of the things we love about chili is that basically, we can throw anything we d-a-m-n want into the pot and the pot will take it. So why chocolate?

But chili and chocolate are no accident.

Chili and chocolate are a happy flavor combination in Mexican cuisine, especially in the traditional moles (that's mo-lays not underground creatures) that produce deep, rich flavors. Chocolate moderates the heat in chiles (that is, the poblanos, jalapeños and other spicy peppers) and enriches the spices in chili (that is, the chili powder, cumin and other warm spices).

What to Serve with Chili

TOPPINGS?! Some folks love to load their chili up with grated cheddar, chopped onion, jalapeños and for chili Cincinatti-style, spaghetti! Others put their beans on top of chili!

CHILI AS TOPPING Here, we like chili "over something," nearly always something starchy like:

• Mac 'n' Cheese I use this recipe for Mac n Chicken but skip the chicken.
• Mashed Potatoes The family tradition is Mashed Potatoes & Carrots or for something low-carb, Mashed Cauliflower.
• Baked Potatoes (Sloooow) Baked Potatoes, of course.
• Sweet Potatoes Either Mashed Sweet Potatoes or whole Baked Sweet Potatoes.
• Cornbread! Savory Cornbread Muffins work well, so does the very wonderful Skillet Cornbread.

And you? What goes with chili at your table?

Bookmark! PIN! Share!

How do you save and share favorite recipes? recipes that fit your personal cooking style? a particular recipe your mom or daughter or best friend would just love? If my chili recipe inspires you, please do save and share! I'd be honored ...

---

CHOCOLATE CHILI

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time-to-table: 2-1/2 hours
Makes 12 cups

ORIGINAL RECIPE
• 1-1/2 pounds (680g) lean ground beef
• 1-1/2 cups diced onion
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 6 ounces tomato paste
• 4 cups water (or less for a thicker chili)
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco
• 1 – 3 tablespoons chili powder (start with 1 tablespoon, add to taste)
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

SPICE-FORWARD RECIPE (see ALANNA's TIPS)
• 1-1/2 pounds (680g) beef stew meat, cut in bite-size chunks
• 1-1/2 cups diced onion
• 2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes
• 6 ounces tomato paste
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco
• 0 tablespoons chili powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon marjoram
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

BROWN Cook ground beef and onion until the meat is fully cooked and the onions soft and golden. (For the Spice-Forward Recipe, brown the meat pieces really well in an iron skillet, really caramelizing the edges of the beef.) Drain off any excess fat.

Stir in the remaining ingredients. Cover and bring to a boil.

FINISH ON THE STOVETOP Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

~ or ~

FINISH IN THE OVEN Leave the cover on, let cook for 2 hours in a 250F/120C oven.

Serve with oyster crackers or "Alanna-style" with a baked potato, mashed potatoes or mac 'n' cheese.

ALANNA's TIPS The Original Recipe goes way-way back, it's one of my very oldest recipes, long before I was publishing recipes online. But over time, I played with this recipe, to my taste, it keeps getting better and better! The Spice-Forward Recipe is how I make Chocolate Chili since 2013. Chocolate Chili is good straight off the stove (or out of the oven) but like many chili recipes, always seems to improve after a day. Even making it in the morning for serving at night makes a difference. Try not to break up the ground beef too small while it's cooking, big clumps are better than fine particles. In fact, we've started asking our butcher to separately package some "chili meat" (a rougher grind) along with the regular "ground beef" (the usual grind). One comes in one-pound rolls, the other in two-pound rolls, easy to tell apart! Ground elk works just as well as ground beef in Chocolate Chili. Go ahead, add beans if you like! Yum! This chili tastes great with Mashed Potatoes & Carrots! And regular mashed potatoes! And mac 'n' cheese!

FOR MORE INFO If you "skipped straight to the recipe," please scroll back to the top of this page for ingredient information, ingredient substitutions, tips and more. If you print this recipe, you'll want to check the recipe online for even more tips and extra information about ingredient substitutions, best results and more. See https://www.kitchenparade.com/2002/11/chocolate-chili.php .

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Cup: 107 Calories; 3g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 7g Carb; 2g Fiber; 505mg Sodium; 35mg Cholesterol; 4g Sugars; 13g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 2 & PointsPlus 3 & SmartPoints 3 & Freestyle 2 & myWW green 2 & blue 2 & purple 2 & future WW points CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving = 7/8 cup (12g protein).

---

Take Off the Cold-Weather Chill with Chili

more
~ chili recipes ~

• THE RECIPE Vegetable Chili with Sweet Potatoes & Chipotle Vegan chili, colorful vegetables and beans warmed with chili spices.
• ANOTHER TAKE Beefy Tomatillo Chili A big pot of rib-sticking chili.

• THE RECIPE White Chicken Chili An old favorite, a little lighter.
• ANOTHER TAKE Easy Turkey Chili Zero points for Weight Watchers.

• THE RECIPE Crockpot Chili with Spicy Sausage Brown the meat, dump and go.
• Twenty-Minute Beefy Black Bean Chili Gets a head start with tomato salsa.

---

Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ tomato recipes ~
~ cocoa powder recipes ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

---

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

---

© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2002, 2008 (online), 2009, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2022 (repub) & 2023