Open Source Chili

Congratulations, you've just found the last chili recipe you'll ever need!

Open Source Chili is the ultimate recipe for a hearty chili that will have your family or guests clamoring for a second or even third helping. The following page will guide you through customizing the batch size and heat level, show you the appropriate ingredients, and walk you through the process of making it and optionally canning it for long term storage.

How Much How Hot Ingredients Instructions

How Much Chili?

Select the options to determine how much you want to make.

1
Batch
Approximately 5 quarts

Each batch makes approximately 5 quarts. For a single batch (default) I usually use my crock pot to let the batch simmer all day. However, when making larger batches for canning, I generally use a very large stock pot.

How Hot?

Selecting a heat level will affect the ingredients in the next section(s).

Mild Medium Hot

The Medium version (default) will produce a good runny nose, and make you sweat a fair deal. The mild still has a decent kick to it, while the hot version will make your intestines bleed.

Ingredients

The following section will walk you through the ingredients for the Open Source Chili based on your selections above for batch size and heat level. There will be a on/off switch for each ingredient to help your mark your progress. By simply clicking on the check mark next to each ingredient, you will be able to save your current position in the process.

Item Amount
SauceCheck All / Uncheck All
Crushed Tomatoes
1 28oz cans
Diced Tomatoes
2 14.5oz cans
Tomato Sauce
1 15oz cans
Water
2 cups
SubstanceCheck All / Uncheck All
Beans
Dry, Cooked; The weight reference for beans is before the dry beans are cooked. I recommend a mixture of beans, like black beans, pinto beans & kidney beans.
 1 pounds
Ground Beef
Browned.
 2 pounds
Ground Italian Sausage
Browned.
 1 pounds
Bacon
Cooked, Chopped into small bits.
 8 slices
Onion
Large, Chopped.
 1 large
Celery
Chopped in 1" slices.
 5 stalks
Jalapeño
Chopped or sliced to preference.
 3 any size
SpiceCheck All / Uncheck All
Chili Powder
Can be either original or dark chili powder.
 0.25 cups
Oregano
1 tbsps
Cumin
2 teaspoons
Basil
1 teaspoons
Cayenne Pepper
1 teaspoons
Paprika
1 teaspoons
Beef Bouillon
3 cubes
Black Pepper
1 teaspoons
Crushed Red Pepper
1 teaspoons
Worcestershire Sauce
ONLY use Lea & Perrins brand, all others are imposters!
 1 tbsps
Cholula Hot Sauce
Can be substituted with Tabasco, Sririacha, Tapatío, etc.
 2 teaspoons

Instructions

The following section will walk you through making the chili step by step. Like the ingredients section above, there will be a on/off switch for each section to help your mark your progress and return to the recipe at a later time and resume your progress.

Prepare Beans

Beans, Beans, the magical fruit...
  • Sort and rinse beans well.
  • Soak beans overnight in cold water.

Sorting and soaking should be done the night before you plan to make your chili. Cooked dry beans are so much better (and better for you) (and cheaper) than canned beans.

Cook Beans

Beans, Beans, the magical fruit...
  • Drain beans, cover with hot water, and bring to a boil.
  • Lower heat to medium, and low boil until they are soft (approximately 2 hours).
  • Drain beans, add to sauce.

While the beans are boiling, you can move on to starting the sauce/spice steps.

Measure the spice

Chili spices...
  • Measure out and combine all dry spices in a prep bowl.

I prefer to measure out my spices the night before into a bowl that can quickly be added to the sauce as it speeds up the prep time on the day you are making the chili. Otherwise, it is fine to add spice directly to sauce as you measure it, just don't lose your count!!

Make the sauce

Tomato sauce...
  • Mix your cans of Crushed Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, Diced Tomatoes, and water in stock pot.
  • Bring to low boil in stock pot over medium heat.

The Diced Tomatoes can be substituted with most types of tomato you might prefer more. I prefer smaller chunks of tomato in my chili, so I really prefer the Petite Cut variety, otherwise diced, stewed, or anything similar will work just fine. Use your imagination!

Combine spice & sauce

Chili spices...
  • Add all spices to the sauce.

Include any "wet" spices to the sauce as well, including the Worcestershire, Tabasco and Cholula.

Chop onion(s)

Chili spices...
  • Chop onion and add to sauce.

You can chop the onion to any size large or small that you prefer. You can also cook them with the meat in the next step before adding them to the sauce.

Chop Jalapeños

Chili spices...
  • Chop (or slice) jalapeños and add to sauce.

You can opt to substitute or supplement Jalapeños with other hot peppers to your own taste.

Brown meat

Chili spices...
  • Brown ground beef & sausage, drain, add to sauce.

If you are doing a smaller batch, this can be done in a single skillet, but may require either a ginormous skillet or doing several batches of meat.

Let it simmer

Chili spices...
  • Let chili simmer for 2-8 hours.

If you are serving this chili the same day, let it simmer as long as possible. If you are canning the chili, the simmer process is not really needed, so an hour or two of simmer time would be more than enough before processing your jars.

Add celery

Chili spices...
  • Cut celery into 1" slices, and add to chili..

For best results, only add the celery 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving if doing a single batch in a crock pot, or 30 minutes before placing chili in jars for canning. This ensures they stay as crisp and firm as possible.

Most people that have my chili think the celery is odd until they try it. It adds some "crisp" (literally) to the chili. You won't regret adding it!

Serve & Enjoy

  • Serve
  • Receive praise
  • Enjoy

Hope you enjoyed the recipe!

Recommended Reading

For more information on chili, both the dish and the pepper, I highly recommend the following books to satisfy your curiosity!

Canning Chili

When canning chili, I use my All American Pressure Cooker/Canner. There is no better pressure cooker/canner on the market. The lack of a rubber gasket/seal means the canner will be working just as well in 30+ years with only greasing the metal to metal seal every few uses.

For more information on canning, I highly recommend the following books to get you going. Preserving delicious meals for years to come is much easier than you might think!

Detailed chilling canning instructions from Open Source Chili coming soon.

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