What I have done here is to bring together some simple and not so simple good chili recipes. I have tried to keep to the basics with these recipes and will add new ones as I come across new ones. There are thousands of chili recipes out there and these are just a few. I have been to other sites that I could look at for hours at all the recipes but I wanted to keep this site simple with just a few choices. Take what you find here and add your own flare to it.

Little History of Chili Recipes. Some people sat that chile was invented in Mexico during the 1800s, some will tell you that its origin is in Tijuana, Baja California, or Ciudad Jurez, Chihuahua, Mexico. The Mexican theory is that it was created to be served in cantinas, for outsiders, who wanted a spicy "Mexican" dish to eat, that was free or cheap. Original chili was made with leftovers from the meals and served for free to drinking customers. The chili recipes that originated in America were in wide use in pre-Columbian Mexican culture. Any stew made using significant amounts of chilies might be seen as a forerunner of all modern chili recipes.

Chili recipes come in all types of colors and flavors depending on what part of the country that you come from. They even come in the form of a diet chili. Chili itself is low in carbs, high in flavor and can be made in a very healthy way. Maybe we should change that old saying to "A bowl of chili a day keeps the Doctor away" if its with bean it may keep every one else away too.

 

If chili is a little bit on the heavy side for you today you might want to go visit of our sister sites Easy Potato Salad or Jambalaya Recipes and find something over there that will warm you up. Either way i hope you enjoy the Chili Recipes here.

Beans or No Beans
The debate is long running about the use of beans in chili, beans are a staple of Tex-Mex recipes and have combined with chili recipes to extend it as far back as the early 20th century. The debate is whether beans should be in chili has been a point of contention in the chili recipe world for as long as it has been made. Beans where added to chili recipes in poorer regions of texas and mexico to replace meat that was expensive.
Texas-style chili recips have no beans.

As you can imagin Texas-being a big cattle state had plenty of beef and that is the reason the Texas style chili contains no beans. Texas chili recipes only use chili peppers and no other vegies.
Some chili circles will go as far to call chili recipes with beans as "chili beans", and only use "chili" to reffer to the all-meat dish. Kidney beans are commonly used for chili.
If your going to by the canned stuff it will most likely come with beans and a truck load of salt.  If you do get canned chili its normally labled  "chili no beans" here in the USA.
A chili purist's proverb says "If you know beans about chili, you know chili ain't got no beans," though the evidence suggests that there is nothing inauthentic about their inclusion. The Chili Appreciation Society International specified in 1999 that, among other things, cooks are forbidden to include beans, marinate any meats, or discharge firearms in the preparation of chili for official competition.[10]
Tomatoes in Chili?

Yep even Tomatoes can be a debated ingredient..A guy named Wick Fowler, from Texas invented the famous Two Alarm Chili recipe that was sold as a spice kit for home chili makers. He always added tomatoes to his chili recipes. Wick would add one 15-oz. can of tomatoes to three pounds of meat.
Variations of chili recipes number in the multiple thousands region, time of the year, religious beliefs effect the recipe.

Even Vegetarians get into the chili recipe game. Vegetarian chili recipes(also known as chili sin carne, chili without meat, chili non carne, chili sans carne or chili) are very big and contiue to grow with the rise of vegetarianism. It is also popular with those on a diet restricting the use of red meat. To make the chili vegetarian, the cook leaves out the meat or replaces it with a meat analogue, such as textured vegetable protein or tofu, or a starchy vegetable, such as potatoes. These chiles nearly always include beans. Variants may contain corn, squash, mushrooms, or beets. Corn, squash, and beans are known as the

Chili verde orGreen chili is a normally a very spicy Mexican and Mexican-American chili or chili sauce usually made from pork that has been slowly-cooked in chicken broth, garlic, tomatillos, and roasted green chilis. Tomatoes are almost never used in Chili Verde Recipes inless they are Green Tomatoes. To adjust the heat and spiciness of chili we use chili pepers such as poblanos, jalapenos, serranos, and to really kick up the heat we add habanero peppers.

There is also a White chili recipe that is made white beans and ground turkey meat or ground chicken breast and is popular as a healthier version than the red meat versions of chili recipes. White chili recipes appears white when cooked as the name implies.

The next big debate has got to be what is be served with your chili. Toppings or accompaniments; grated cheese, diced onions, and sour cream are common toppings, as are broken saltine crackers, corn chips, cornbread, rolled-up corn or flour tortillas, and pork tamales. Chili can also be served over rice or pasta such as ditalini or spaghetti.
Seasoning mix is the secrete to great chili recipes, home cooks combine seasonings in very precise masurements and combine them into their chili in very presice times called drops. This has as much impact on the final taste as anything else you can do to your chili recipe. These are guarded and keep close at hand.
Hope you enjoyed this brief Chili Recipe tyraid.