Lots of spices come together to make this Award Winning Three Bean Chili that my daughter Emily entered into a contest and won! With lots of flavor and three different beans; it’s delicious!
I could not have managed making this Award Winning Three Bean Chili if not for my oldest daughter Emily; she has been a Godsend the past few weeks; working beside me almost nonstop in preparations for both selling my home and moving.
We started with cleaning out storage areas and closets and sometimes I left the keep/don’t keep decisions up to her. Otherwise I might still consider doing cross-stitch even if I haven’t made anything in the past two decades!
But it also means she has discovered some treasures that she and her sister thought they didn’t want until they saw them. She now has a charming old kids school desk that I refinished a bazillion years ago and will also be inheriting my grandmother Bathe’s china hutch that I’ve had since I was 18 years old.
How fitting that I had also packed away my first set of china I got when I was married; it will be filling that hutch! This is all good. So…what’s that got to do with chili?
Well, Emily’s time has been so dedicated to my needs that she has been stretched pretty thin for her own so when she was pressed for time to bring to bring chili to her company’s annual Chili Cook-Off this past week, I offered to be her sous chef.
Preparing it here also meant using up some more of the pantry staples I don’t want to either store or move so it was a definite win-win for both of us. It’s a great source of pride to see how innovative Emily is with both her cooking and eating (she loves Sushi and I only love those fried spider roll thingys!).
My obsession with wanting every single spice that is offered at Penzey’s Spices certainly didn’t hurt either…I had everything she needed.
I know there were times when my kids were younger that they resented some of the responsibilities brought on them as the result of being raised by a single parent but over the years it has served them well and that includes their capability in the kitchen.
Emily is by far the most knowledgeable and successful cook of her circle of friends and apparently holds her own during a company wide cooking event too…her chili was the winner!
Mom did make one little suggestion and Em has agreed a good one; she has used white wine when making this chili before because that is what she drinks; I thought chili required something a bit more robust so she bought some dark Guinness beer for this effort and we both loved it.
It was the one ingredient that was a clear indicator of what low and slow cooking brings to the ingredients. For the first couple of hours in the crockpot, the beer taste was evident but once the chili had cooked all day, it simply added to the overall flavor profile and the end result was simply delicious.
This is a crowd pleasing chili; not too hot, not too tame, nope…just right! Em’s professional cohorts did not benefit from the garnish of lime crema; both the size of tasting samples and the number of people being served forced that decision but do try it, it’s not just a pretty garnish; it adds a great touch to the flavor too.
PIN IT! ‘Award Winning Three Bean Chili’
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Emily’s Award Winning Three Bean Crockpot Chili
Ingredients
- 8 oz bacon cut into 1 inch pieces
- 2 lbs ground beef (93% lean)
- 2 large white onions, diced (I diced one very finely in a food processor, and the other a bit more chunky)
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, diced
- ¼ green bell pepper, diced
- ½ red bell pepper, diced
- 1 Jalapeño, finely diced, seeds removed
- 1 - 16 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 can Rotel tomatoes (mild)
- 2 - 16oz cans diced tomatoes
- 1 - 7 oz can chopped green chiles
- 1 can red kidney beans
- 1 can pinto beans
- 1 can black beans
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 beef or chicken bouillon cube
- 1 Tbsp cumin
- 2 tsp oregano
- 3 Tbsp chili powder (more or less to taste)
- 2 Tbsp dry parsley, crumbled
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp Salt (or more, to taste)
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp cayenne
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 12 oz dark beer (I used Guinness)
- Lime crema and cilantro for garnish
For the lime crema:
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 & 1/2 tsp fresh grated lime peel
Instructions
- Saute bacon until crisp in large skillet; remove from pan and drain. Drain off all but 2 Tbsp of bacon fat. Add lean ground beef, onion, celery, garlic, green, red and jalapeno peppers and saute until beef is browned and vegetables are tender.
- Put meat and vegetable mixture into a crockpot. Crumble crisp bacon and add rest to pot with all remaining ingredients except cilantro. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours; taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
To Make the Lime Crema:
- Mix together the sour cream, lime juice and lime zest.
- Garnish with a drizzle of lime crema and cilantro.
Notes
I suggested to Emily that she only serve cilantro on the side; though we love it many don't. If serving to folks that love it like we do? Mix about a quarter cup chopped to the chili right before serving it.
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