There is a recipe that I make once a year, every year of my adult life. I have been making this Homemade Chili recipe for over 10 years now and have never been good about keeping track of how and what I add to this recipe. A friend of mine wanted me to get the specifics on this HUGE batch of chili that I make and so I am excited to share this recipe with you. I only make chili once a year, once my garden tomatoes are ripe and ready to be used. I then make up this monster batch of chili, we eat a lot of it at our annual Halloween party and then I freeze several gallon size bags of this chili for later. We love this chili plain, it’s delicious on Cornbread Waffles, and fabulous on Fried Dough. No matter how you serve this chili, it really couldn’t be better. The combination of spices are perfect, the kick from the chipotle peppers and the red peppers goes nicely with the undertone of brown sugar and top it all off with some sour cream and cheese and that’s what fall is all about 😉
*If you have a large roaster oven, this recipe will fill it to the top and works great. If you only have a crock pot, just half this recipe and you will be fine. If you have a smaller family and don’t want to freeze this recipe for later, just fourth the recipe and that will be the perfect amount for one dinner for 5-6 people. I promise though, you will want lots to freeze for later, so make lots 😉 Enjoy!


- 8 cups dried pinto beans
- 15 cups water
- 7 cups onions, chopped (I throw all of the onions in a food processor to chop them quickly)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3 1/2-4 lbs. ground beef, pork sausage or turkey (or some of all three)
- 12 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 bell peppers of any color
- 12-15 cans of diced tomatoes
- 16 oz. salsa verde
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbls. black pepper
- 1/4 cup salt
- 1/2 cup cumin
- 1/2 cup chili powder
- 1 Tbls. crushed red pepper
- 1 Tbls. paprika
- 1 can chipotle peppers, chopped
- 1/4 cup worchestershire sauce
- Dried Beans: Cook the dried beans on low heat in a crock pot (or your roaster oven) overnight until soft and tender. Once the beans are tender in the morning, drain the bean water from the beans and rinse with water. Set aside the beans. I do my beans in a large crock pot so I can prep the other items in the roaster oven and then add the beans into the roaster once I'm done.
- For the chili: Saute together the onions and the olive oil in a roaster pan that is nice and hot (about 350-400 degrees). Then add the ground beef or sausage to the onions and saute until the beef is ground up and browned.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients to the pan.
- Add the cooked and drained beans to the roaster oven and bring the chili to a simmer. Simmer the chili for several hours until the flavors meld and everything comes together. Season with additional salt and pepper for flavor. Serve the chili with sour cream, cheese, avocados, cilantro and fresh limes.
- *FREEZER MEAL: Let the chili cool and then fill several freezer gallon bags full of chili. Freeze for later. Chili will last in the freezer for up to six months.
This chili sounds delish! I just made the pasta e'fagioli from your meal plan and it was fantastic! I just have one question though. I went to buy the tennessee pride sausage that was on sale last week and couldn't figure out if it was Italian sausage or not. There was mild, hot or sage but didn't see "Italian"…help? Are they all Italian? And would you have totally stocked up on it while it was $2.99/lb? Sorry I have so many questions!
I love questions! Wait until Thanksgiving and then stock up on sausage, hopefully it will go closer to $2/lb. then. That is a good question about Italian. If they don't sell Italian, just use regular sausage and then add some Italian seasoning, extra basil, oregano, etc. It will taste the same just a little less Italian flavor.
I am so glad you loved that soup. It's super healthy and yummy. Thanks for your comments 😉
It's always nice when you can not only be informed, but also get knowledge, from these type of site, nice entry. Thanks
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