Tonight, I had a hankering for chili myself, and didn’t have the time for a long cook. I came up with this smokey 3 bean chili and it has the most amazing flavor. No one will know it is one of your 30 minute meals!
One of my favorite go to meals when I really want to please my husband is chili. He loves anything spicy and has never met a chili he didn’t make friends with!
Normally, I cook it in the crock pot or give it a low simmer on the stove for hours.
As fall approaches, I find myself thinking more and more about a big bowl of chili. Nothing seems to do the job of warming me up quite like a tasty chili recipe.
See my One pot chile con carne recipe here.
This smokey 3 bean chili is ready in a flash and tastes like you spent hours making it.
This chili has a bit of spice, but not too much. It makes hubby happy and I loved it too, even though I am not so much of a heat freak as he is. I love my chili recipes more on the savory side with plenty of flavor but not too much heat.
This truly is a “whatever you have in the pantry recipe.” I just had a quick look to see what I had on hand and that is what went into the pot. Today it was these ingredients:
- yellow onions
- garlic cloves
- olive oil
- lean ground beef (turkey, pork or any protein will work just as well)
- kidney beans
- black beans
- garbanzo beans
- tomato sauce
- diced tomatoes
- smokey cumin
- Mexican style chili powder
- tomato paste
- chili paste
After a quick chop of the onions and garlic cloves, I heated the olive oil and sautéed them in a non stick pan for a few minutes until they were tender.
I added the ground beef to the same pan and then put everything in a large saucepan to cook for about 30 minutes.
You can cook it longer and the flavors will get more intense as you do, but it’s really just fine after a half hour, which is what I gave it today.
This rich, smokey 3 bean chili has a bit of heat, a bit of sweetness and lots of savory tastes. It is thick and bursting at the seams with flavor.
I served it tonight with some grated cheddar low fat cheese, a dollop of light sour cream and a new find that I just love quinoa and black bean tortilla chips to scoop up every last drop.
Go on…you know you want to make a batch. What is in your pantry that you can add to this delicious smokey 3 bean chili?
If you love chili, try this savory and hearty white bean chili.
Smokey 3 Bean Chili - Ready in 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 large cloves of garlic
- 1 lb of lean ground beef
- 2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 14 oz can of black beans
- 1 14 oz can of kidney beans
- 1 14 oz can of garbanzo beans
- 1 28 oz can of tomato sauce
- 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
- 1 1/2 tbsp of smokey cumin
- 1 1/2 tbsp of Mexican style chili powder
- 1 tbsp of tomato paste
- 1 tbsp of chili paste
- sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste.