Graveyard Chili

I call this graveyard chili not so much because it’s spooky, but because it’s where all your leftovers go to die. Soups are a great way to use up the last little bits and pieces from your fridge, cutting down on food waste and stretching your grocery bill. With that in mind, this is not so much a recipe but a blueprint to help you make consistently delicious chilis, no matter what you have on hand.

• 1 pound of protein (ground beef or turkey are my go-tos)
• 1 14 oz can of Rotel, or regular diced tomatoes
• 1 can of beans (for best results of the pinto or black bean variety)
• 2 cups of broth, approximately
• 4 tablespoons of chili powder*
• salt, pepper onion, garlic, and cumin powder to taste (I usually generously cover the meat with garlic, then less onion, and then less cumin.)
• Add ins-leftover salsa, tomato sauce/paste, bits of onion, bell pepper, carrots, or frozen corn

1. Start by frying your protein in a bit of oil after seasoning it with the salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and cumin powder. The oil may not be necessary if you are using 90/10 ground beef. Break up the meat and cook until it is browned. At this step, if you are adding in a harder veggie like onion or bell peppers, throw them in now and cook until soft. Personally, I love the taste of some charred onions.
2. Add enough broth to cover to the meat. For mine I threw in some leftover chicken and beef broth. You can use water as well.
3. Add the chili powder, beans, and Rotel. Throw in the rest of your add-ins at this point. In mine I had some leftover chipotle salsa and tomato puree. (I got a huge bottle of tomato puree and only needed 1 tablespoon, don’t you hate when that happens?) Mix.
4. Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes. Taste test and adjust salt and chili powder if needed. (How do you know? If you taste it and think, meh, then it probably needs some more salt. If it still tastes meh, try an acid.) The mixture should be an opaque red hue. Take off the heat. If you are adding something acidic like lime juice, now is the time to add.
5. Top off with leftover cheese or sour cream if you have it. My chili this time had a great smokiness to it from the chipotle salsa, I only wish we had some leftover cheese too!

*You can lessen the amount of chili powder if this is too hot for you, or if you like things spicy, you can add in some cayenne pepper or hot sauce