Texas Ground Beef Chili
Chili is a dish that is universally loved for its spicy and flavourful taste. Known as “Chili” in the Americas, it is known as “Chilli Con Carne” in Australia, NZ, UK and some other parts of the world.
It is a stew made with various ingredients like meat, beans, tomatoes, and chili peppers. However, Texas chili is a whole different ball game. Texas chili is a spicy stew that originated in Texas, United States, and is a cuisine known as Tex-Mex. Tex-Mex is Texan food with a Mexican influence on spice and ingredients. The dish is made with beef, chili, and spices. It is a thick and meaty stew that is perfect for any cold evening.
Unlike regular chili, Texas chili does not contain beans. That’s the number one rule, NO BEANS! This is because Texas chili was created in a time when meat was abundant and beans were scarce.
Some interesting facts I found out while researching Chili origins include-
– Chili was first created in the 19th century by the Chili Queens of San Antonio, Texas. These women would set up stands in the plazas of San Antonio and sell their spicy stew to passersby.
– Chili was officially declared the state dish of Texas in 1977.
– The first chili cook-off took place in 1967 in Terlingua, Texas. It is now an annual event that attracts thousands of chili lovers from all over the world.
This chili is delicious served over rice or in a bowl and eaten with corn tortilla chips, or even cooked a bit further until all of the liquid has evaporated and served with nachos, with sour cream, pico de gallo, cheese, guacamole and anything else your heart desires.
Perfect for batch cooking and meal prepping as this freezes like a dream. It’s super budget friendly, due to it’s use of ground beef (beef mince) and you can make it as spicy as you like or as mild as you like (eg if you have small children to cater to).
Texas Ground Beef Chili
Equipment
- 1 large pot or frypan a lid helps if you have one
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 4 garlic cloves crushed, minced, finely grated
- 1 ea onion, diced brown, yellow, white
- 1 ea capsicum diced (bell pepper) diced
- 500 grams (1.10 pounds) beef mince (ground beef)
- 700 grams tomato passata sauce (tomato puree, tomato sauce in the USA)
- 50 gram sachet (1.7 ounces) tomato paste (concentrated tomato)
- 2 tbsp beef stock powder (low sodium if possible)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups water
- 0-1 tsp salt (if required)
Spices
- 0-2 tsp cayenne powder (see note 1)
- 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ tbsp paprika
- 1 ½ tbsp cumin
- 3 tsp garlic powder
- 3 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp pepper
For Serving
- rice
- sour cream
- shredded cheese
Instructions
- In a large pot or frypan, add oil and heat it medium-high. Add onion, garlic, capsicum and cook, stirring for about 3-4 minutes. Add ground beef, breaking up the beef with your spoon into small pieces. Cook until you see some browning on the beef (approximately 3-4 minutes).
- Turn heat to medium. Add all spices (except salt), water, passata, beef stock, brown sugar and tomato paste and stir well to combined. If the pot or frypan has a lid, partially cover, and let simmer for 30 mins, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent it sticking on the bottom.
- Once simmered for 30 mins, check thickness of chili. You want the water to have evaporated and to be left with a nice thick stew (not too thick though, you want some moistness). Once you have decided the chili is the right thickness for you, taste it and add salt if needed. I added 1/2 tsp.
- Serve over rice, sprinkled with cheese, sour cream and coriander if you desire.