5 Mistakes You're Making with Your Chili

bon appétit magazine

Danielle Walsh

Chili con Carne
Chili con Carne

There are handfuls of ways to make chili: some people like it with ground beef and beans, some like it Texas-style with big chunks of meat, and plenty go vegetarian. Whatever your pleasure, there are many mistakes made when cooking this football favorite. We asked senior food editor Dawn Perry to point them out so we can all avoid them. Read her list and you'll be on your way to making your best batch yet…

1. Browning doesn't matter: Just kidding! Browning ALWAYS matters. Searing your meat first will get you a deep, umami-packed flavor that will permeate your chili. Plus, you don't want your beef or pork to become grayish lumps in your stew, do you? No. So make sure you've got a nice sear-this goes for both diced and ground meat.

2. Vegetables? Throw them in raw: Wrong. Sautéing onions, garlic, and other veggies first coaxes maximum flavor out of them. So make sure your onions, for example, are soft and translucent before you add your liquid.

3. Use a pre-mixed chili powder: Take a look on the back of your chili powder bottle. Often times, it's a blend of spices: ancho chile, cumin, garlic powder usually. We recommend using all these spices, but use them separately to build layers of flavor. Garlic? Use fresh chopped cloves. Get a bottle of ancho chile powder instead of a blend. Buy whole cumin seeds, then toast and grind them yourself. Small changes like that will make your chili so much better.

4. Season with spices just before serving: Do the opposite. Like with your veggies, heat and fat draw out the flavor in ground spices. If you add them when the stew is almost finished, all you'll taste is raw spice-not the deep, rich, spicy flavor that you love about chili.

5. Quick is okay: Let that chili cooooook. The longer it simmers, the more the flavors will meld together. In fact, chili is just the kind of thing you want to make a day ahead: it gets better with a night in the fridge. For the record, we always say yes to toppings: onions, scallions, cheese, sour cream, and avocado. And we recommend that you serve your chili with sturdy chips, in case you want to forgo spoons.

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