Competition Chili

2016 Chili Cook Off - Thanksgiving in Kentucky

2016 Award Winner

  • 1 lb 85/15 ground beef

  • 1 lb 93/7 ground beef

  • 1 ground Italian sweet sausage

  • 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

  • 1 28 oz can whole tomatoes (crushed by hand)

  • 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies

  • 2 14 oz can chili beans with mild sauce (Bush)

  • 1 14 oz can black beans

  • 1 14 oz can cannellini beans

  • 1 6 oz can tomato paste

  • 1 small can tomato soup

  • 1 large yellow onion chopped

  • 1 small onion chopped

  • 1 large green pepper

  • 1 large red pepper

  • 2 stalks celery

  • 2 T minced or grated garlic

  • 4 beef bouillon cubes

  • 1/2 C beer

  • 1/2 C Chili powder

  • 1 T Worcestershire sauce

  • 1T+ Franks hot pepper sauce to taste

  • 2 tsp cumin

  • 1 T dried oregano

  • 1 tsp dried basil

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp black pepper

  • 1 tsp paprika

  • 2 T white sugar or more to taste

  1. Chop small onion and saute in olive oil.

  2. Add meat and season with salt and pepper and brown.

  3. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato soup, and mix.

  4. Add onion, celery, red and green peppers, and garlic.

  5. Add beer and bouillon, stir.

  6. Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, basil, Worcestershire suace, hot sauce, salt, pepper, paprika and sugar.

  7. Stir well and simmer for one hour.

  8. Drain beans and add to chili and stir well.

  9. Continue to cook 1 to 2 hours.

We began a cooking competition tradition around the Thanksgiving holiday. The genres have varied from burgers, to grilled cheese, to soups, to red sauce and meatballs, to ravioli, to pizza. Some of these greatest hits will be sprinkled across this site. Many will not be added to this site for obvious reasons, specifically Uncle Al's potato pancake lobster lima bean sandwich debacle of 2019. 2016 was chili, and it's a good one derived from Jim and Sallie.

~Michael

I had my own from my mom that we had been using for years. I always thought it was pretty good but with the rules of the competition it had to be different than the old standbys. So I started searching different recipes and ingredients that sounded good. I didn't want it to be too hot though. The recipe I came up with is a melding of several recipes along with my own. It was the first trial for the competition and Jim and I liked it so much that we kept it. Now it's the only one I make.

~Sallie