FIRST PLACE CHILI
This post may contain affiliate links that won’t change your price but will share some commission.
First Place Chili recipe is a great cold-weather meal. Made in one pot, it’s an easy weeknight dinner for your family with plenty of leftovers.
Over the years I have tried more chili recipes than I can count on both hands trying to find the perfect mix of flavors to suit the Hubs. I’ve tried countless homemade recipes and many mixes before altering this Chili recipe numerous times.
He wanted the chili thick but still ‘soupy’. He wanted spicy, but not too spicy. And, yes, to beans. And I finally figured out he doesn’t like the taste a masa even though he insisted that he did.
Don’t let the name, First Place Chili, fool you. I’ve never won a competition with it. This recipe has simply come in first place with Hubs after many, many attempts at perfecting chili.
First Place Chili
 
First Place Chili
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork sausage regular flavor
- 1 pound ground beef you can use lean ground beef, ground chicken or turkey
- 1 large white onion chopped, about 1 cup or to your taste
- 10 ounces tomatoes and green chiles Rotel tomatoes
- 16 ounces chili beans drain & rinse if you're concerned about sodium
- 15 ounces beans drained & rinsed. Any beans will work; use your favorite. I used chili and great Northern today.
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 3 Tablespoons chili powder adjust to your liking this is what I've found we like
- 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon crushed dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3 Tablespoon masa harina instant corn masa mix- this will make it thicker. You can leave this out
Instructions
- Place sausage, beef and onion in a large stew pot over medium heat and cook until meat is browned and onions tender (about 15 min).
- Break the meat into crumbles as it cooks. Drain off excess fat. Mix the diced tomatoes, chili beans, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt paprika, oregano, garlic powder and cayenne pepper (and masa harina, if using).
- Bring the chili to a simmer and reduce heat. Simmer for at least an hour.
- Alternately, mix all ingredients in a slow-cooker and simmer for 4 hours on low.
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are important to you, I recommend calculating them yourself.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links. If you click the link and make a purchase I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Visit all my recommended products at Paula’s Picks on Amazon. Read my entire Privacy Policy here.
I’ve been looking for a new chili and this was a hit!I will be making this again! 10 servings? Are these 10, one cup servings?
Made this tonight for dinner and everyone loved it! I’ve never had pork sausage in chili before and it was fantastic! I also subbed paprika for smoked paprika and used fresh garlic instead of powdered (my family are garlic lovers) but thank you for the recipe and will definitely be making it again!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Made it last night, everyone loved it! The only tweak I made was adding 1-2 cups of broth for a soupier texture. Some of that steamed off during the simmer but the final result was really good.
If I’m making it in the crockpot, do I also put the corn masa harina in with all of the other ingredients and have it cook the whole time or should I stir it in at the end? Looks delicious!
I mix it in at the beginning and let it cook the whole time.
Do you think using two pounds of ground beef will be fine? I don’t have any sausage on hand!
yes, it will.
Can you leave out beans family don’t like beans or use less beans will it still come out good thank you
Yes, absolutely. You can leave them out and it’ll still be good. (I didn’t like beans for a long time.)
This chili was really good! Except for two small tweaks, I followed this recipe to the letter. Where the recipe says to use 3 tablespoons of chili powder, I used 2 1/2 tbsp of regular chili powder and 1/2 tbsp of chipotle chili powder. The second tweak I did, was using 1/2 tsp of regular paprika and 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika. It was fantastic! Thanks for the great recipe. 🙂
Love your subs! Thanks for commenting.