Quick Beef-and-Bacon Chili
A fast-cooking recipe with convenient ingredients and great flavor.
In this authentic-tasting chili recipe, convenient ingredients and quick cooking methods let you make delicious homemade chili in less than 1 hour.
So many chili lovers believe, and with good reason, that the best chili recipes are those that simmer ingredients gently and slowly for hours. And there’s a lot of truth to that fact, and a lot of delicious chili that results from such approaches.
But let’s be realistic! Sometimes, you just want a great-tasting bowl of homemade chili a little bit faster. When you do, give the following recipe a try. Made with bacon for a touch of smoky richness, ground beef for robust flavor, canned kidney beans (for folks who love their chili with beans), and generous doses of classic chili seasonings, it’s full of satisfaction. Yet it’s ready to serve, start to finish, in well under an hour.
Beef and Bacon Chili with Beans Recipe
Makes 4 to 6 servings
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, halved, stemmed, seeded, deveined, and cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1/2 pound smoked streaky bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips
- 3/4 pound lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
- 2 cans (8 3/4 ounces each) kidney beans, drained
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 pound sharp Cheddar cheese, coarsely shredded, for garnish
- 1 medium red onion, finely chopped, for garnish
- 1/2 cup sour cream, for garnish
Method:
- In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onions, bell pepper, and bacon, and sauté until the onions start to turn translucent and the bacon begins to color slightly, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the beef and sauté until evenly browned, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up the meat into fine particles, 7 to 10 minutes.
- Add the chili powder, cayenne, and cumin. Sauté until the spices are fragrant, about 1 minute more.
- Stir in the tomatoes, drained kidney beans, tomato paste, brown sugar, oregano, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer until thick and the flavors have blended, about 20 minutes.
- Ladle the chili into individual bowls. Offer the cheese, onion, and sour cream as garnishes.
Lower-fat option: If you’d like a version of this recipe that yields a lower-fat chili, try substituting lean Canadian bacon or turkey bacon for the regularly streaky bacon and ground turkey for the ground beef, and reduce the oil by half. Serve with reduced-fat cheese and nondairy sour cream substitute.
Looking for other great chili recipe ideas? Check out Chicken Breast White Bean Chili, Sirloin Steak Lover's Chili, and Chili Dog Chili.
