Hello fellow slow cooker friends, who doesn't enjoy a good "Office Chili Cookoff"?
As the previous years personal Champion, I am set to defend my throne/title. Many winners would (and have, the cowards) bring the chili that won them their previous titles, but not I.
It is interesting to note that I have made chili twice now, one for each year's competition since I don't actually like chili. I was delivered a crushing defeat when I opted for Alton Brown's Chili recipe (beer+me=failure) but I redeemed myself with a smoky sweet chili that my arch nemesis branded "a dessert chili".
Cruel, but fair. This year I kinda wanted to do something a little different of course.
I am struggling between these 2 recipes and I'll let you know what draws me to them.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/26357/award-winning-chili/ : A1 sauce is KING in my household, that "secret" ingredient is wildly popular and might give me an edge up on the competition. I also like the idea of the added white wine, my coworkers (and myself) are not into spicy chili.
https://foolproofliving.com/chocolate-chili/ : Chocolate chili, I see what they're going for and I am here for it! I like the idea of bringing in a "different" kind of chili and I really think the sweet potato will make my chili stand out and several of my coworkers love a 'healthy sweet potato' one girl even made delicious dark chocolate brownies out of them. I am not a big fan of ground turkey, so I will likely opt for the "Stew meat" option, having a good sear on meat is always delicious.
So fellow redditors, which one is my "winning" chili?
The office: Chilis that have won in the past that are not mine are as following: A spicy chili with cooling pineapple pieces (this man brings the same chili every time), a white chicken chili (the only white chili ever submitted), a traditional chili that wasn't too spicy and had ground beef in it, a chili that was labeled a 'cheater chili' since it has bacon in it, and my own chili that had brown sugar in it and was labeled a 'dessert chili' by the sore loser who hosts the competition each year. Our office coworkers often opt for the pineapple chili and he's known for his chili so he's always the man to beat.
by Millenniumkitten
11 Comments
I think the chocolate chili. You could go full Cincinnati chili and offer spaghetti to serve it over.
Personally I think a white chicken/turkey chili is the winner. We do ours with salsa verde, poblano peppers, black and white beans, orange and/or yellow bell peppers, red and white onions.
As a wild alternative, you could do pork like stew meat, hominy in place of beans, etc. Look for chili colorado recipes but tone down the heat. Or pozole recipes but amp up the chili aspects.
Personally I don’t like either one 😆
If I have to choose, I would try the Chocolate chili. It sounds interesting for sure.
I made this recipe over the weekend and my very picky son actually loved it 😊
[Natasha’s Chili](https://natashaskitchen.com/slow-cooker-chili-recipe/)
I did add extra garlic and used light and dark kidney beans. I would suggest a larger crock pot than suggested since it overflowed.
I have a traditional (tomato based) chili that I make regularly, first discovered from a printout that my mom had laying around at her southern Virginia house several years ago. I’ve tweaked it a little and is a winner with my family, especially with my sister and her family.
[https://www.momontimeout.com/crockpot-chili-recipe](https://www.momontimeout.com/crockpot-chili-recipe)
I make a double batch for which an 8-quart crock pot is needed but, with my mom now convalescing at an assisted living facility, it ensures I have: several two-cup containers to freeze where she is so that the staff can thaw it down and give her when the house chow is less than appealing; and two larger containers, one for the staff, and the other for me.
Changes I implement … for the Italian sausage, I split that between sweet and hot with Chorizo as an option as well; cannellini beans instead of pinto; an extra half teaspoon of hot sauce (Texas Pete’s); sub beef broth with Better Than Bullion (1 cup of former <–> 1 tsp of latter)
If you are looking for something different, I found a recipe a couple of months ago that I made for the first time on Monday: Buffalo Chicken Chili.
[https://therecipecritic.com/crockpot-buffalo-chicken-chili](https://therecipecritic.com/crockpot-buffalo-chicken-chili)
This came out GREAT and might quickly become a new favorite.
Notes … wing sauce: Frank’s Garlic Buffalo with an additional 25 percent (1/6 cup); used smoked paprika as I already had that on hand; great northern for the white beans although cannellini would probably be good as well.
As I always do when using Low, I take a third off the time and check to see if the chicken has cleared the 165 mark which it did (170s after three and a half hours; 180s an hour later while the cream cheese got to room temperature).
Hope this helps with some ideas for your cookoff …
My basic (and maybe boring) chili recipe has minimal ingredients, no peppers, and a smidge of cocoa powder. Not-So-Secret ingredient is the ground bison. 😉 I vote you go with the chocolate chili.
Why don’t you do a five bean chili with ground beef or turkey and spicy sausage? I always use onions, celery, pepper, zucchini and mushrooms. Plus some kind of spicy pepper.
I don’t suppose I’m typically known for subtlety. I like to use chunks of stew meat in chili. A pound and a half or two pounds (before cooking) of stew meat makes 5-6 quarts of chili seem pretty meaty.
If I was picking between your two chili recipes I’d try the chocolate one. Mostly because I’d like to taste it myself!
Second the chocolate. Think about adding some cocoa powder and/or Cabernet. Works well with chuck or even buffalo but don’t go overboard for office chili. (Especially when you don’t like the stuff yourself).
I vote “other” – I recently won my office cookoff with this one:
[https://www.meatchurch.com/blogs/recipes/texas-chili](https://www.meatchurch.com/blogs/recipes/texas-chili)
Make pork chili verde with potatoes. Mexican style green chili stew. You can make it really mild by just using one or two jalapenos. I’m a huge fan of tomatillos and green salsa and this is my all time favorite dish.
[Easy to make and tasty](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV-JLcOrXc4)
Alright, the award winning chili (several times over) that I make is finished with smoked brisket, and always served with a mini corn muffin. No recipes given, I use boxed corn muffin mix (yes the sweet kind) and blow the competition it if the water
My go to base chili recipe is actually from Guy Fieri. Here’s the link… best of luck!
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/dragons-breath-chili-recipe-1945276.amp