I whipped this chili together last weekend when we were going sledding at Grandma George's. We needed something easy and warm to eat when we were done, so I used what I had and made a chili. What I didn't expect was for my nephew to LOVE it! He had like three bowls and then asked me if I would make this exact chili for his birthday! Now, if that isn't a compliment I don't know what it is! As soon as I got home I wrote down what I had done so I could make it the exact same way for his birthday. Now, you can make it too! (And since I'm from Texas, there will be NO beans in this chili :)
Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
6 strips bacon
3 bell peppers (any color), diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
2 onions, diced
3-4 tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 packet of taco seasoning
28 oz crushed tomatoes
28 oz diced tomatoes
8 oz tomato paste
1/2 can beef broth
heaping teaspoon of cumin
heaping teaspoon of paprika
2 heaping tbsp of chili powder
dash of cayenne (or more if you like heat)
2 bay leaves
salt/pepper
Instructions
In a Dutch oven or large pot, cook the strips of bacon and remove, leaving the bacon fat. Add a little bit of olive oil and cook the onions in the bacon fat/grease until brown, salting the onions.
Add bell peppers and jalapeno and cook until soft and then add garlic, cook for 2 minutes more. Remove from pot and set aside.
Add the ground beef and cook (salt and pepper the ground beef), make sure you're separating and cooking the ground beef as fine as possible.
Add the half packet of taco seasoning and evenly coat all the ground beef. Take the bacon strips from earlier, dice them up, and stir them in with the ground beef.
Add the onion and pepper mix back into the pot and the rest of the ingredients to the pot and stir together. Bring the pot to boil and then turn it down low to simmer for at least 40 minutes - you want the chili to thicken a little.
I like to let it cool and rest in the fridge overnight. The flavors seem to really pop on day two. Enjoy!