Game Day Ground Beef Chili
on Sep 28, 2016, Updated Jan 31, 2024
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This easy ground beef chili is a pretty classic beef chili recipe with a nice medium (but adjustable!) level of heat.
We love our chili at casa Mom 100. We love it with beef, with chicken, with pork. We love it with beans, with cubed meat, with loads of vegetables, with not too many vegetables, with loads of spiciness, with less spiciness. But ground beef chili is the OG of chilis, and if made well, it never disappoints.
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Easy Chili Recipe
This Game Day Ground Beef Chili is a very straightforward ground beef chili, with a bit of interest from the smoked paprika and a nice medium level of heat (add more if you want, in the form of additional chili powder or red pepper flakes, or a shot of hot sauce, or some pureed chipotles in adobo sauce). The generous amount of tomato paste gives it richness and a nice depth of flavor.
This easy Game Day Ground Beef Chili is pretty classic, with a bit of interest from the smoked paprika and a nice medium (but adjustable!) level of heat.
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What to Serve with Ground Beef Chili
Serve Game Day Ground Beef Chili over hot cooked rice (brown or white). Be sure to pass around shredded cheese and sour cream at a minimum, and additional toppings (like avocados or guacamole, shredded lettuce, chopped scallions or tomatoes, salsa or pico de gallo) are always welcome.
Make Ahead Chili Recipe
There are few foods that are more suited to making ahead of time than chili. Make this up to 3 days ahead of time (do this intentionally, if you can, to let the flavors develop). Reheat over medium-low heat on the stove and serve hot.
How to Freeze Chili
Freeze those leftovers! Nothing beats a container or zipper-tip bag of ground beef chili in the freezer. You can load it into plastic or glass containers with lids — just make sure to leave 1/2 space between the top of the chili and the lid, as the chili will expand a bit when it freezes, and you want the lids to stay securely on. Use smaller containers so you can defrost it fairly quickly, and you can take out just what you need.
Or use sturdy zipper-top freezer-proof plastic bags. Fill them almost full, press out any extra air, then seal them tightly. Freeze them lying flat, and then once they are frozen, you can stand them upright if that allows you to fit them into the freezer and save some space.
Use a Sharpie or another permanent marker to mark the name of the chili (specify what kind of meat you used, as you may not quite remember, and it may be important) and the date. This beef chili will last, properly frozen, for 4 or 5 months.
More Chili Recipes
- Buffalo Chicken and White Bean Chili
- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
- Beef, Black Bean, and Jalapeño Chili
- Barbacoa Beef Chili
- Turkey or Chicken Chili
And should you need it: 10 Things To Make With Leftover Ground Beef!
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Game Day Ground Beef Chili
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
- 2 onions (chopped)
- 1 red bell pepper (cored, seeded, and chopped)
- 4 garlic cloves (minced)
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (or use regular if that’s what you have)
- 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 1 14.5-ounce can beef or chicken broth
- 1 35-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 15.5 ounce can black beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1 15.5 ounce can garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- Hot cooked rice (to serve)
Instructions
- In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, brown the beef, stirring to break up the clumps, for about 5 minutes until no pink remains. Drain the beef and set aside.
- In the same pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions, bell pepper, and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes until the vegetables start to become tender. Add the chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, and smoked paprika, and sauté for another minute until you can smell the spices. Add the tomato pasta, broth, and crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld a bit.
- Add the beans, Worcestershire, and browned beef and simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- Serve hot, over rice.
I’m always up for a new chili recipe and this one is right up there with my all time fave, The Silver Palate Chili for a Crowd. Well done!