A healthy yet still delicious and decadent Superbowl meal. This chili is fantastic as is, or topped with shredded cheese, sour cream or yogurt, avocado, chopped red onion, cilantro and/or crumbled tortilla chips and serve with cornbread and beer. True fans top with crumbled blue corn tortilla chips and bright green diced avocado. 🙂
A fantastic chili has lots of spices. Even if you don’t like a lot of heat, you still need a lot of spice. Lots of cumin and ancho can provide great flavor without much heat. I have also used enchilada sauce in this recipe to help create a slightly thicker and more viscus texture. The secret to a great meaty flavor is a little Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce to provide umami, and smoked paprika and liquid smoke to provide smokiness.
12th Man Chili
Ingredients
- 2 TBSP margarine or canola oil
- 1 small onion finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 serrano chilies minced (for less heat, remove seeds and membrane before mincing)
- 1 TBSP tomato paste
- 1 TBSP ancho chilie powder
- 2 TBSP cumin
- 1 TBSP Mexican oregano
- 1 TBSP smoked paprika
- salt and pepper
- 1 20 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 8 oz can enchilada sauce
- 3.5 cups water or vegetable broth
- 1 12 oz bag Morningstar Farms veggie crumbles or other meat analog of your choice
- 11/2 cups cooked or one can, rinsed and drained pinto, black or kidney beans (or blend of all three)
- 1/2 cup corn optional
- 1/2 cup chopped grilled pepper optional
- 1/2 cup chopped grilled zucchini optional
- 1 TBSP liquid smoke
- 1 TSP Worcestershire sauce
- 1 TSP soy sauce
- 3 TBSP chopped cilantro
- 1 TBSP fresh lime juice
Optional Toppings
- shredded cheddar or pepper jack cheese
- sour cream or vegan sour cream
- yogurt
- crumbled tortilla chips
- diced avocado
- minced red onion
- diced tomato
- chopped scallions
Instructions
- Heat margarine on medium heat in large soup pot or dutch oven.
- Add onions, garlic and serrano peppers and cook for 4-5 minutes until softened and starting to brown.
- Add spices and tomato paste and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add tomatoes and stir to remove spices from the bottom of the pan.
- Add enchilada sauce and veggie crumbles and bring to a boil.
- Boil for 10 minutes, then add beans, extra vegetables (if using), liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce.
- Immediately before serving, stir in lime juice and cilantro and top with optional toppings.
Yum! This looks delicious! I think all your add-ins like liquid smoke probably make this pretty spectacular. 🙂
The liquid smoke is a big help in getting that smokey flavor. If you wanted to add the smoke flavor in a slightly different way, you could try adding smoked tea a la this smoked tea lentil soup.