This giant batch of chili is budget through careful shopping and doing everything from scratch!
This giant batch of chili is budget through careful shopping and doing everything from scratch!
by Caylennea
7 Comments
Caylennea
Ingredients:
1 pound dried black beans 1 pound dried kidney beans 1/2 pound dried pinto beans Water
2 2/3 pounds ground beef 1 pound chorizo 1 pound chuck roast, trimmed and cubes into small cubes 3 tbs bacon grease
2 poblano peppers 2 Anaheim peppers 2 red peppers 1 yellow pepper 1 orange pepper 3 jalapeños 2 large sweet onions 1 large head of garlic 2 large cans crushed tomatoes 1 can diced tomatoes
This is a time consuming recipe and the process starts the night before with the beans. And then you start again in the morning. It could definitely be done more efficiently than I did it but there was a lot of other stuff that needed to get done today and I forgot some ingredients and had to run to the store (actually I forgot that I’d lost all my bone broth when our freezer went out so I had to go get some)
Caylennea
1) the night before rinse and sort all of the beans and put them in a large pot to soak, cover with about an inch of water and let soak overnight.
2) wash all of the produce, separate the poblano and Anaheim peppers from the others and start roasting them over the clam on a gas burner. Turn them frequently with tongs until the skin is all blistered and blackened then wrap in aluminum foil and put the packet inside a leftover plastic store bag tied up tight. Let it rest to steam for about 30 minutes
3) while roasting and steaming the poblanos and Anaheim’s chop up the rest of the peppers, onions and garlic. Heat 2 tbs bacon grease in a heavy pot (I used an enameled dutch oven) I put the veggies in as I chopped them, size is up to your preference. I always coarsely chop the garlic and toast it separately.
4) when the roasted peppers are done steaming, peel off the skin with your hands, it should come off easily if the peppers were blackened. Remove the stems and seeds and then chop and add to the veggies
5 when the veggies are almost done (slightly caramelized and cooked well) dump the beans into a colander and rinse. Set aside while you brown the meat.
6) transfer the veggies to the (cleaned or at least rinsed well) bean pot pot
7) add a bit of oil or bacon grease if needed and throw the garlic into the hot heavy pot after the veggies are removed. Toast until golden and slightly caramelized then add to the veggie pot.
8) add the rest of the bacon grease to the pot and make sure it’s hot then put in the chuck roast, salt and pepper to taste and cook until browned and cooked mostly through then transfer to the veggie pot.
9) throw the chorizo in next and cook through, add to the other pot
10) add the ground beef to the hot pot, salt and pepper to taste. Brown then poor everything from the other or veggie pot back into the heavy pot with the beef and combine. Add 2/3 of the spices ( you can mix them together in advance or do the math and do them separately, whatever floats your boat) and mix thoroughly.
11) put the beans back into their original pot, no need to rinse, cover by at least an inch with chicken bone broth. Ideally this will have been nearly free as it will have been made from leftover chicken bones and veggies scraps. I had to buy it this time but I got it on sale at Aldi so it want too bad at all! Bring to a boil, make sure the beans boil vigorously (a temp of at least 212 f) to eliminate the toxic levels of lectin. I think my thermometer might be off because a rolling boil was only registering 210 so I boiled them for 30 minutes to be safe. Continue to simmer them until they are cooked through and soft. If you are paranoid like me you can boil them for another 10 minutes when the are done. I like my beans to be a bit broken down though.
12) after you have started the beans add one can of crushed tomatoes and the can of diced tomatoes to the meat and veggies. This pot will now be referred to as the chili pot and the other will be the bean pot. If it’s dry add some beer, whatever kind you like. I’m pretty sure the alcohol actually does cook off in this situation because it will be steaming for hours.
13) when the beans are nearly done l, or whenever you get a chance add the second can of crushed tomatoes and about a third of the spices (whatever’s left or to taste if you accidentally added them all this is a very mild chili by my tastes so you can always add extra) continue to cook until the beans have been cooking separately for about 2 hours and the chili pot has had lots of time for the flavors to meld
14) mis the chili pot and the bean pot together. I had to switch to a very large stock pot for this but you could also remove 1/2 the beans into a large bowl or pot and then move 1/2 of the chili into the bean pot. Then pour the removed beans into the chili pot. Add more stock or beer if it’s dry, whatever you have left. You can always add water or an extra beer if you find you didn’t have enough liquid. Stir everything regularly to keep from sticking.
15) let everything simmer together for as long as possible. It only gets better the longer it simmers then serve when it’s time to eat! Sour cream or crema, chihuahua cheese or whatever you prefer and some cilantro leaves and enjoy!
16) if it was done turn it off when you eat, if you think it could keep going let it go for another hour or so then turn off and let cool. Let all of the chili cool thoroughly then pack whatever you will not eat in the next few days into freezer bags in convenient sizes for you and freeze flat with as little air as possible.
17) continue to enjoy whenever you want chili, preferably within the next 6 months. Just thaw out and reheat on the stove. It is excellent in chili Mac, on hot dogs, mixed with queso for a dip and whatever else you might want chili for! It ends up costing much less than cans if you use it all and it is so so so much better! If you watch the store ads and carefully buy and freeze at the lowest prices for meat and have a decent store with low price elf produce near you and bulk beans then this expensive meal becomes very budget! Plus making a huge batch and freezing for later saves time and future grocery budget!
Enjoi27
This looked and tasted delicious. I can honestly say since I’m her very lucky husband.
Caylennea
*recipe note! If you want spicy chili please follow these changes!*
If you like your chili hot! Like I used to befor my family all vetoed it being hot and spicy then follow this suggestion for change! While you are toast ingredients the garlic also toast between 1-4 Serrano peppers and if you want more heat 1-2 habanero peppers. You can always add more to your heat level preference but my original recipe contained 3 or 4 serranos and 2 habaneros with the seeds. I like to hold them in tongs on a glam to roast and blister them so they are both hot and Smokey. Be careful about getting them on your hands. Some people wear gloves, it might be a good idea but I always just accidentally burn my eyes by rubbing them an hour later. Whatever works for you.
Caylennea
Budget tips!
The most important thing about how this is budget is to get your meat on awesome loss leader sales. I always buy meat when it’s cheap and freeze it. Also the chorizo is required! I love the chuck roast but it might be expensive and it is a pain in the ass to chop up small. I used about a third of it for the chili and then chopped the rest into large stew meat chunks to refreeze. (Yeah yeah, your not supposed to tefreeze meat. Whatever? I think it’s better than wasting it and I can’t cut it frozen solid. It wasn’t completely defrosted when I cut it so I’m going to assume it’s fine.) If you have Mexican grocery stores near you or at least grocery stores with a good ethnic food selection they will likely have better deals on spices, peppers and bulk dried beans among other things.
kbenn17
I applaud you for using dried beans. Super cheap and healthy. Looks so good!
7 Comments
Ingredients:
1 pound dried black beans
1 pound dried kidney beans
1/2 pound dried pinto beans
Water
2 2/3 pounds ground beef
1 pound chorizo
1 pound chuck roast, trimmed and cubes into small cubes
3 tbs bacon grease
2 poblano peppers
2 Anaheim peppers
2 red peppers
1 yellow pepper
1 orange pepper
3 jalapeños
2 large sweet onions
1 large head of garlic
2 large cans crushed tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
12 cups chicken bone broth
1 beer
4 tbs chili powder
1 – 3 tsp Cayenne pepper
3 tsp coriander
3 tsp cumin
3 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp onion powder
3 tsp smoked paprika
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
This is a time consuming recipe and the process starts the night before with the beans. And then you start again in the morning. It could definitely be done more efficiently than I did it but there was a lot of other stuff that needed to get done today and I forgot some ingredients and had to run to the store (actually I forgot that I’d lost all my bone broth when our freezer went out so I had to go get some)
1) the night before rinse and sort all of the beans and put them in a large pot to soak, cover with about an inch of water and let soak overnight.
2) wash all of the produce, separate the poblano and Anaheim peppers from the others and start roasting them over the clam on a gas burner. Turn them frequently with tongs until the skin is all blistered and blackened then wrap in aluminum foil and put the packet inside a leftover plastic store bag tied up tight. Let it rest to steam for about 30 minutes
3) while roasting and steaming the poblanos and Anaheim’s chop up the rest of the peppers, onions and garlic. Heat 2 tbs bacon grease in a heavy pot (I used an enameled dutch oven) I put the veggies in as I chopped them, size is up to your preference. I always coarsely chop the garlic and toast it separately.
4) when the roasted peppers are done steaming, peel off the skin with your hands, it should come off easily if the peppers were blackened. Remove the stems and seeds and then chop and add to the veggies
5 when the veggies are almost done (slightly caramelized and cooked well) dump the beans into a colander and rinse. Set aside while you brown the meat.
6) transfer the veggies to the (cleaned or at least rinsed well) bean pot pot
7) add a bit of oil or bacon grease if needed and throw the garlic into the hot heavy pot after the veggies are removed. Toast until golden and slightly caramelized then add to the veggie pot.
8) add the rest of the bacon grease to the pot and make sure it’s hot then put in the chuck roast, salt and pepper to taste and cook until browned and cooked mostly through then transfer to the veggie pot.
9) throw the chorizo in next and cook through, add to the other pot
10) add the ground beef to the hot pot, salt and pepper to taste. Brown then poor everything from the other or veggie pot back into the heavy pot with the beef and combine. Add 2/3 of the spices ( you can mix them together in advance or do the math and do them separately, whatever floats your boat) and mix thoroughly.
11) put the beans back into their original pot, no need to rinse, cover by at least an inch with chicken bone broth. Ideally this will have been nearly free as it will have been made from leftover chicken bones and veggies scraps. I had to buy it this time but I got it on sale at Aldi so it want too bad at all! Bring to a boil, make sure the beans boil vigorously (a temp of at least 212 f) to eliminate the toxic levels of lectin. I think my thermometer might be off because a rolling boil was only registering 210 so I boiled them for 30 minutes to be safe. Continue to simmer them until they are cooked through and soft. If you are paranoid like me you can boil them for another 10 minutes when the are done. I like my beans to be a bit broken down though.
12) after you have started the beans add one can of crushed tomatoes and the can of diced tomatoes to the meat and veggies. This pot will now be referred to as the chili pot and the other will be the bean pot. If it’s dry add some beer, whatever kind you like. I’m pretty sure the alcohol actually does cook off in this situation because it will be steaming for hours.
13) when the beans are nearly done l, or whenever you get a chance add the second can of crushed tomatoes and about a third of the spices (whatever’s left or to taste if you accidentally added them all this is a very mild chili by my tastes so you can always add extra) continue to cook until the beans have been cooking separately for about 2 hours and the chili pot has had lots of time for the flavors to meld
14) mis the chili pot and the bean pot together. I had to switch to a very large stock pot for this but you could also remove 1/2 the beans into a large bowl or pot and then move 1/2 of the chili into the bean pot. Then pour the removed beans into the chili pot. Add more stock or beer if it’s dry, whatever you have left. You can always add water or an extra beer if you find you didn’t have enough liquid. Stir everything regularly to keep from sticking.
15) let everything simmer together for as long as possible. It only gets better the longer it simmers then serve when it’s time to eat! Sour cream or crema, chihuahua cheese or whatever you prefer and some cilantro leaves and enjoy!
16) if it was done turn it off when you eat, if you think it could keep going let it go for another hour or so then turn off and let cool. Let all of the chili cool thoroughly then pack whatever you will not eat in the next few days into freezer bags in convenient sizes for you and freeze flat with as little air as possible.
17) continue to enjoy whenever you want chili, preferably within the next 6 months. Just thaw out and reheat on the stove. It is excellent in chili Mac, on hot dogs, mixed with queso for a dip and whatever else you might want chili for! It ends up costing much less than cans if you use it all and it is so so so much better! If you watch the store ads and carefully buy and freeze at the lowest prices for meat and have a decent store with low price elf produce near you and bulk beans then this expensive meal becomes very budget! Plus making a huge batch and freezing for later saves time and future grocery budget!
This looked and tasted delicious. I can honestly say since I’m her very lucky husband.
*recipe note! If you want spicy chili please follow these changes!*
If you like your chili hot! Like I used to befor my family all vetoed it being hot and spicy then follow this suggestion for change! While you are toast ingredients the garlic also toast between 1-4 Serrano peppers and if you want more heat 1-2 habanero peppers. You can always add more to your heat level preference but my original recipe contained 3 or 4 serranos and 2 habaneros with the seeds. I like to hold them in tongs on a glam to roast and blister them so they are both hot and Smokey. Be careful about getting them on your hands. Some people wear gloves, it might be a good idea but I always just accidentally burn my eyes by rubbing them an hour later. Whatever works for you.
Budget tips!
The most important thing about how this is budget is to get your meat on awesome loss leader sales. I always buy meat when it’s cheap and freeze it. Also the chorizo is required! I love the chuck roast but it might be expensive and it is a pain in the ass to chop up small. I used about a third of it for the chili and then chopped the rest into large stew meat chunks to refreeze. (Yeah yeah, your not supposed to tefreeze meat. Whatever? I think it’s better than wasting it and I can’t cut it frozen solid. It wasn’t completely defrosted when I cut it so I’m going to assume it’s fine.) If you have Mexican grocery stores near you or at least grocery stores with a good ethnic food selection they will likely have better deals on spices, peppers and bulk dried beans among other things.
I applaud you for using dried beans. Super cheap and healthy. Looks so good!