Easy 1-Pot Chili

This recipe was designed to be a keto-compatible recipe (we didn’t include beans) and was something we needed for a cold January evening.

Our goal was to make a recipe that everybody would like – from our strict keto dieters to our picky eaters. After a couple of experiments this was a success.

Cooking everything in one pot made clean up a breeze.

I also wanted to try out the Galaxy food chopper my mom got me for my birthday and it not only made quick work of the dicing, it made for very uniformly sized pieces. We did have to reduce the size of the chunks we put in the chopper, though.

Ingredients

1.5 lbs ground beef (80/20 ground beef works really well)

1 cup water

1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes

1 8oz can of tomato paste

2 cloves minced garlic

1 medium orange or red bell pepper, diced.

3 diced celery stalks

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons paprika

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large pot, brown ground beef in a medium pot with salt. Once browned remove from pot beef and drain away all but one tablespoon of drippings. With the tablespoon of drippings in the pot, return to heat and add crushed garlic. After stirring for about 2 minutes, add diced onions and peppers to pot and cook for an additional 2 minutes or so until softened.

Add cooked and drained beef, tomato paste and diced tomatoes into pot along with chili powder, paprika and black pepper.

Simmer at medium low for about 2 hours, stirring every half to make sure the chili doesn’t scorch on the bottom of the pan.

Serve with grated cheddar cheese on top while it is hot so the cheese melts.

Variations

Add raw, finely diced purple onions to give an additional punch.

Alternatively, use it for a hot dog topping to make chili dogs or serve with cheddar cheese over tortilla chips for chili nachos.

You can easily substitute chicken stock for the water, but we found that the chicken stock flavor distracted from the beef in the chili. Beef stock made it too beefy for our tastes.

This recipe can also be done in a crockpot with a browning function if you want to set the crockpot on low and let it cook in the crockpot for six hours.

Why I Would Make This Recipe Again

Once the vegetables are cleaned and diced, this is a really easy recipe to put together. The long simmering time is the most difficult part of this recipe. You can’t leave it cooking unattended.

This is one of those recipes that is worth doubling because it tastes even better after it sets in the fridge for awhile and is reheated.

I also really like that it incorporates a lot of fresh vegetables which is a good way to slip some extra nutrition and fiber to the picky vegetable eaters in our family.

This recipe also freezes well in airtight containers.