Tonight, I had a hankering for chili myself, and didn’t have the time for a long cook. I came up with this smoky 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 chili con carne recipe here.
This smoky 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 (ground 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 half an hour, which is what I gave it today.
This rich, smoky 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 low-fat cheddar 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, smoky 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.