Hearty no-bean beef chili
Thick, smoky chili packed with beef and peppers that tastes even better the next day and freezes beautifully.
- 60 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $4.75 a serving
- 590 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 lb ground beef (85/15)
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cans diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz each, with their juice
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 avocado, diced (optional)
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp salt
Each serving has about 590 calories, 47 g protein, 20 g carbs and 36 g fat, and costs about $4.75 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No ground beef? Lean ground beef works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No beef broth? Bone broth or chicken broth works.
- No avocados? Guacamole works.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion and bell pepper and the garlic before you turn on the stove.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Put the beef in a large pot or over medium-high heat and break it into chunks with a wooden spoon.
Dutch oven. A Dutch oven is a heavy pot, usually enameled cast iron, with a tight-fitting lid. It holds heat evenly, so it’s great for soups, stews and anything that simmers a long time.
How you’ll know: Any large, heavy pot with a lid does the same job if you don’t have one.
Medium-high heat
Cook without for 4 minutes, until underneath, then break it up and cook 4 to 5 minutes more, until no pink is left.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Two pounds is a lot of meat. If it looks wet and gray, leave it longer; the water cooks off and then it browns.Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Add the onion and pepper and cook, now and then, for 5 minutes, until .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
in the garlic, spices, salt and tomato paste and cook 1 minute, and the paste darkens.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Pour in the tomatoes and broth, , and .
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium-high heat
to low, set the , and 25 minutes, now and then, until thick.
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Lid ajar. Lid ajar means resting the lid on the pot slightly off-center, leaving a small gap. Some steam escapes, so the sauce thickens and doesn’t boil over, while most of the heat stays in.
How you’ll know: A thin wisp of steam drifts out of the gap, and the pot bubbles gently without spilling.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Low heatTimer: 25 min
Dolly’s tip: Taste it at the end. Chili almost always wants a little more salt.Taste, add salt if it needs it, and ladle into bowls topped with avocado and cilantro if you like.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Beef stuffed peppers with cauliflower rice
60 min
Creamy coconut chicken curry
45 min
Chicken tortilla soup
45 min
Chicken cauliflower fried rice
35 min
One-pan dinners ›High-protein dinners ›What to make with canned tomatoes and bell peppers ›What to make with canned tomatoes and avocados ›