FIRST PLACE CHILI

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First Place Chili recipe is a great cold-weather meal. Made in one pot, it’s an easy weeknight dinner for your family with plenty of leftovers.
First Place Chili recipe is a great cold weather meal. Made in one pot, it's an easy weeknight dinner for your family with plenty of leftovers.

Over the years I have tried more chili recipes than I can count on both hands trying to find the perfect mix of flavors to suit the Hubs. I’ve tried countless homemade recipes and many mixes before altering this Chili recipe numerous times.

He wanted the chili thick but still ‘soupy’. He wanted spicy, but not too spicy. And, yes, to beans. And I finally figured out he doesn’t like the taste a masa even though he insisted that he did.

Don’t let the name, First Place Chili, fool you. I’ve never won a competition with it. This recipe has simply come in first place with Hubs after many, many attempts at perfecting chili.

First Place Chili

First Place Chili is spicy and hearty and can be made on the stove-top in just a few minutes. Make it early in the day and allow it to simmer for optimum flavor. It also makes a lot and is great for game day or entertaining. When I make it for my family of four I plan for leftovers such as chili dogs, nachos, and over tamales.
As well, First Place Chili can be made in a slow cooker. Break up the meats and cook on 1 one hour stirring and breaking up the meat 3 or 4 times during the hour. Next, simply add the remaining ingredients and simmer 4 hours on low.
 First Place Chili recipe is a great cold weather meal. Made in one pot, it's an easy weeknight dinner for your family with plenty of leftovers. 
First Place Chili recipe is a great cold weather meal. Made in one pot, it's an easy weeknight dinner for your family with plenty of leftovers.

First Place Chili

Hearty and spicy, First Place Chili is the perfect cold-weather dinner. It's a tasty, quick dinner that IS made in one pot with plenty of leftovers.
Author: Paula
5 from 24 votes
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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 10 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pound pork sausage regular flavor
  • 1 pound ground beef you can use lean ground beef, ground chicken or turkey
  • 1 large white onion chopped, about 1 cup or to your taste
  • 10 ounces tomatoes and green chiles Rotel tomatoes
  • 16 ounces chili beans drain & rinse if you're concerned about sodium
  • 15 ounces beans drained & rinsed. Any beans will work; use your favorite. I used chili and great Northern today.
  • 15 ounces tomato sauce
  • 3 Tablespoons chili powder adjust to your liking this is what I've found we like
  • 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon crushed dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 3 Tablespoon masa harina instant corn masa mix- this will make it thicker. You can leave this out

Instructions

  • Place sausage, beef and onion in a large stew pot over medium heat and cook until meat is browned and onions tender (about 15 min).
  • Break the meat into crumbles as it cooks. Drain off excess fat. Mix the diced tomatoes, chili beans, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt paprika, oregano, garlic powder and cayenne pepper (and masa harina, if using).
  • Bring the chili to a simmer and reduce heat. Simmer for at least an hour.
  • Alternately, mix all ingredients in a slow-cooker and simmer for 4 hours on low.

Nutrition

Calories: 353kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 65mg | Sodium: 1150mg | Potassium: 792mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1131IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 70mg | Iron: 5mg

Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.

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17 Comments

  1. Do you think using two pounds of ground beef will be fine? I don’t have any sausage on hand!

  2. Can you leave out beans family don’t like beans or use less beans will it still come out good thank you

    1. Yes, absolutely. You can leave them out and it’ll still be good. (I didn’t like beans for a long time.)

  3. 5 stars
    This chili was really good! Except for two small tweaks, I followed this recipe to the letter. Where the recipe says to use 3 tablespoons of chili powder, I used 2 1/2 tbsp of regular chili powder and 1/2 tbsp of chipotle chili powder. The second tweak I did, was using 1/2 tsp of regular paprika and 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika. It was fantastic! Thanks for the great recipe. 🙂

5 from 24 votes (13 ratings without comment)

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