Spicy Beef Chili Recipe

Beef chili recipe is one of many varieties and a great lifestyle solution for your Sunday dinner meal plan. The house will smell heavenly for a few hours and the spicy aroma will almost make your eyes water. A true chili maker does not use a recipe and no two pots of chili will ever taste quite the same, depending on what ingredients are available at the time of production. That being said, this recipe was spicy great!

I added tomato puree, rather than chopped tomatoes, because I knew there was a picky eater that did not like tomato chunks. You could substitute in cans of chopped tomatoes, if you prefer chunks. You could extend the beef chili recipe by adding more beans to the mix, which I actually did. I had two extra eaters for the meal, so I just added two more cans of black beans.

I ended up adding water because it seemed thick, but if you use canned tomatoes, you would not need to do this. Chili thickness is a personal preference though. Some like it thick like a stew and some like it thin like a soup and some like it hot and some not so much spice. That sums up why you should make your beef chili recipe to your specifications.

The lemon and cilantro in this recipe are the secret ingredients and will allow you to greatly reduce salt. Many Mediterranean soups include these two ingredients, like my Moroccan Harira soup.

This beef chili recipe will give you a healthy base to start with and you can change it in any way you please!

Ingredients in Beef Chili:

• Drizzle of olive oil
• 1 pound beef cut into small cubes
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 chopped red bell pepper
• 1 - 4 oz. can diced fire roasted green chilies
• 2 cups prepared salsa (pick your spicy level)
• 1 - 27 oz can tomato puree
• 1 cup to 2 cups water
• 2 cans great northern beans (drained and rinsed)
• 2 cans black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 T chili powder
• 2 T cumin
• 1/2 t. pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1 bunch chopped cilantro (added right before serving)
• Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon (added right before serving)
• Garnish with cheese, sour cream, chopped onions, and baked corn tortillas.

Directions for Beef Chili:

• Add a drizzle of olive oil to a soup pot.
• Add the chopped beef and stir fry it on medium heat until it is browned a bit.
• Add the onions and red and green pepper and stir fry them for a couple of minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients except the cilantro and lemon.
• Reduce the heat and simmer the chili for 1 to 2 hours. You could actually eat it in 30 minutes, if you are pressed for time, but the longer simmering blends the flavors better.
• Stir every now and again to avoid sticking.
• When you are ready to serve, add the cilantro and lemon. I used the juice of an entire lemon.

Other Helpful Hints for Beef Chili:

• When you are slicing beef into small chunks, it's easiest to use frozen beef that is not quite all the way unthawed. It is much easier to cut.

• For the baked tortillas, I simply line up corn tortillas on my oven racks, spray them with tiny amount of oil, and then bake or broil them, until they are lightly browned on each side. You can use them to dip into the chili or crunch them on top as a garnish. Making home baked tortillas allows great portion control and saves many calories. Prepare a couple of tortillas for each person, rather than buying a bag of tortilla chips that gets entirely demolished, you know the habit of having a little chili drizzled over your plate of tortilla chips.
• Start with 1/2 of a lemon first and taste it. It greatly aids the flavor, but it's different. Make sure you like it before you ruin your chili.

ENJOY YOUR BEEF CHILI!!