The Easiest Clean and Quick Pantry Chili Recipe
The weather is cooling off and that means a few things. Pumpkin muffins, lots of tea in the afternoon, and of course, chili. I don’t know about your house, but for us chili is made almost weekly. I do love that it’s high in protein thanks to ground meat and canned beans, and my kids are getting more vegetables than they realize with green pepper, onions, and of course, tomatoes.
Having a good pantry recipe for chili is a must when it comes to quick dinners. If you generally stock your pantry with diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, beans and the ground spices you generally have on hand for taco seasoning you’ll be good to go.
While not pantry ingredients per se, I always have mixed cheese and sour cream in my refrigerator which come in handy for taco night and you guessed it, chili.
Let’s Talk Chili Recipes
Do you have a favorite recipe for chili? I used to go by recipes a lot, but chili has become one I can make up as I go. For your sake though, I’ve written down the ingredients and hope you love this pantry chili recipe.
Are you a creamy white chicken chili person or do you prefer red meat? You can absolutely take this easy recipe and sub out ground turkey in place of the ground beef. You can use red kidney beans and green bell pepper as I have here, or think of adding other type of beans and fresh veggies.
One thing to consider is using a ground turkey or ground chicken and then cannellini beans, you will start having something that will resemble more of a white chili. You may want to add diced green chilis in that one!
When it comes to the heart of Fall and Winter I love to throw butternut squash into chili or sweet potatoes.
A favorite chili recipe always ends with the best toppings, right? You have to make sure you’ve got a dollop of sour cream, some tortilla chips, hot sauce, shredded cheese and maybe even some diced green onion.
I’m not a big football fan, but with those favorite toppings I just mentioned, I’d love to sit down right now with a big bowl of this cozy meal and put my feet up to “watch some football.”
Slow and Batch Cooking
You can always brown the meat and throw this all in a slow cooker to set on high for a few hours or low for eight. You’re not cooking anything besides the vegetables at this point, but the length in time will help everything meld together. Or, I think of it as when the flavors of these pantry staples hang out longer, they’ll taste better and better. It’s why some recipes taste even better the next day!
A great way to batch cook and have meals on hand to come is to take a recipe like this one and double, triple, or quadruple it. Yes, you’ll have a lot of chili and may need two pots depending on your supplies, but you’ll have a perfect meal the next time you’re in a time crunch! Or, the next time you have guests over last minute, you know you’ve got delicious chili in your freezer!
This is a very simple recipe for pantry chili. If you’re down to some beef and canned goods, here’s an option for you! Recently we had not only some green peppers, but butternut squash as well so I threw that in there too.
Easy and Quick Pantry Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 2 green peppers chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 14 ounce can tomato sauce
- 2 cans kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Start by cooking the meat until brown and then draining the excess grease and fat. Season with salt and pepper. Be sure to do this part!
- Next add in your chopped green peppers and cook for a few minutes then add in the remaining ingredients.
- Allow to cook for about 20 minutes on medium heat. If you have more time you can place it on simmer for an hour stirring occasionally to help the flavors come together.
- Now, you’re ready to serve it up, with chips and cheese of course. Oh, and in our house, hot sauce!
