Chipotle Beef Chili

Are you a follow-the-recipe sort of a person or a go-with-the-flow kind of cook?  I would guess since you’re coming here for recipes, you’re more of a recipe person.  Or maybe you see a recipe, follow it about 75% and freehand the rest of it.

In my day-to-day cooking, I’m definitely a freehand cook.  I like to add a little of this and a lot of that and taste as I go.  Obviously when I’m cooking something for the blog, I write everything down.  But when I’m cooking for “fun” it’s all a guessing game.

So when someone asked me what my favorite chili recipe was, I had no idea.  I think that especially in a dish like chili, I usually just play around with the spices until it tastes like what I want it to taste like.

Fast forward to a couple of months later when my dad was raving about a new chili recipe that he tried with chipotle peppers in it.  Even though I’m not a big recipe follower when it comes to chili, it sounded too good not to try.

Of course, I did switch things up a bit.  The recipe called for cinnamon and allspice which my dad actually tried the first time he made it and wasn’t a fan of the flavoring.  So I took his advice and skipped it.  The original recipe also calls for bison instead of beef but I do love a good beef chili.  You could definitely use ground turkey, chicken, or bison if you prefer!  Last, I added an extra can of beans.  I’m definitely a fan of beans in my chili so I added one extra can to bulk it up.

That said, this makes a LOT of chili!  My huge Dutch oven was almost overflowing by the time I added the last can of beans.

I served this Chipotle Beef Chili to some friends who came over to watch the Super Bowl and even though this made a huge amount, we practically ate the entire pot of chili.  It’s good stuff!  The chili is packed with flavor from all of the spices, and the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce add a perfect amount of smokiness and spice that makes it special.  With the chipotle peppers – if you’re not a huge fan of spice, start with the minimum amount recommended in the recipe and go from there.  With chipotle peppers, a little goes a long way.  

Another note about the chipotle peppers – I find them in the Mexican/Hispanic food section in a can.  You can puree the peppers in the sauce in a food processor, since you won’t want a huge pepper floating aroudn your chili.  I’d hate to be the unlucky one with that pepper in my bowl!  Ha.

I have to say – I am pretty positive I have found my new go-to chili recipe!  I’m sure I’ll make various versions of it each time, but the one thing I won’t leave out is the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  Give it a try.  I hope you love it as much as we did!