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 & Flexible. Weight Watchers Friendly. Whole30 Friendly. Low Carb. Naturally Gluten Free. High Protein.

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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

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At Last, "My" Chili Recipe

It took the longest time to find "my" perfect recipe for chili. I experimented with one recipe 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 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).

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CHOCOLATE CHILI

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Total preparation time: 2 hours
Makes 12 cups

• 1-1/2 pounds 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

Cook ground beef and onion until meat is cooked. Drain fat. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and water. In a bowl, mix the vinegar, Tabasco, spices, salt and cocoa powder; stir into the chili. 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 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 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!

"SPICE FORWARD" CHOCOLATE CHILI Since 2013, I've played with this recipe, one of my oldest. To my taste, this chili keeps getting better and better! Here are the changes I make now:

• Stew meat instead of ground meat, browned really well in an iron skillet, really caramelizing the meat.
• Use double the tomatoes but half the water.
• Leave out the chili powder, I know, heresy!
• Double the vinegar and spices.
• Do NOT double the Tabasco.
• Increase the cocoa powder to a full tablespoon.

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 CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving = 7/8 cup (12g protein).

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Take Off the Cold-Weather Chill with Chili

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~ Chillin: Favorite Chili, Chowder & Cornbread Recipes ~
~ more chili recipes ~

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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 via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. 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, 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.

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