In my last post, I mentioned a chili we had with our cornbread.  Well, here it is! 🙂

I love this chili! It’s a nice switch up from your beef chili.  I always like to include sausages or ham steak (plus bone for flavor) in my pot of chili.  I find it gives it texture than just plain old ground meat.  Leftovers are fabulous in nachos or chili macs.  I used mine for nachos.  Sorry! Didn’t get a chance to photograph it.  Chris got too hungry and couldn’t wait. 😉

I’m always looking for new ways to make chili, care to share some of your favorite recipes?

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Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground chicken
• 1 pound of sweet Italian chicken sausage links, casings removed
• olive oil for cooking
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 mini sweet pepper, seeded and chopped (I used a red one)
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped (leave the seeds in if you want heat and spiciness)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of chili powder
• 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon of ancho chili
• 1/2 tablespoon of smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• salt and pepper to season
• 1 cup of beer (I used a Belgian style pale ale)
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh cilantro
• Garnish (optional):
  shredded cheddar cheese
  sour cream
  fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Preparation:

In a large Dutch oven over medium high heat add olive oil, ground chicken and chicken sausages.  Crumble and brown meat.  Once cooked, use a slotted spoon to transfer meat into a bowl; set aside.  Remove any grease left in the pot, if any.

Drizzle olive oil and add onions and garlic.  Cook until soften then add peppers (sweet and jalapeño).  Add chili powder, cumin, ancho chili, paprika, oregano, bay leaf, tomato paste and cooked meat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.  Then pour the beer and scrape the bottom of the pot.  Let it bubble and reduce, about 2 minutes.  Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and black beans.  Continue to stir then cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium low and leave the lid ajar.  Simmer for 30-35 minutes.  Discard bay leaf and check for seasoning.  Stir in cilantro.  Ladle chili into a bowl and garnish with cheese, sour cream and cilantro, if desire.