Easy and Quick Chili Recipe

Chili is my go-to recipe. It's a workhorse in my kitchen. It doesn't hurt that I love chili, too. When I'm in a hurry, sick, or just don't want to cook, I use this homemade chili recipe. It's so easy to make, a kid could follow the instructions. And it's on the table start to finish in less than 30 minutes! To have a complete meal, serve cornbread on the side and a salad.

Another reason I love this homemade chili recipe is because I always have all of the ingredients on hand to make it. It's what I call one of my 'pantry' recipes. Whenever I get the urge to go to a drive-thru restaurant and order supper, I know that I can make this chili recipe without any extra trip to the store in less time than it takes to pick up something at a greasy spoon. Plus, it saves me money and it definitely tastes better than a sloppy cheeseburger!

So now that my chili recipe has been properly introduced, here's how to make it for 4 people: 1 pound ground beef 1 chopped medium onion 15 oz can tomato sauce 28 oz can petite diced tomatoes 15 oz can ranch beans 1 tablespoon chili powder, or to taste 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon cumin salt and pepper, to taste.

Brown the ground beef and onion on medium heat on the stove. After the onion has softened, add everything else.

Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, covered for 15 minutes.

Supper is done! Of course, this is better if it cooks all day on low on the stove or in a slow cooker. But for a quick, easy supper, it's hard to beat it! And that is its purpose.

One more thing, this isn't thick chili. I prefer thick chili myself. This is more of a soupy chili, like I remember being served in school cafeterias. But I like to use this chili recipe because it is a bit of a change every once in awhile and it stretches to feed a lot of hungry mouths. To make it thicker, use more meat and/or beans. Or drain some of the juice out of the canned tomateos.

This chili recipe is better if you also cook a couple of cloves of garlic with the ground beef and onion. But for convenience and speed, the garlic powder will do.

To give it even more flavor, top it with sour cream and your choice of shredded cheese.

Any leftovers are good poured over Fritos corn chips and topped with shredded cheese.

I always keep bags of browned hamburger in the freezer. And I also keep bags of browned ground beef and onions. I make so many recipes with these ingredients that it just makes sense to buy ground beef on sale and brown it all at once. Then I take out one pound packages from the freezer whenever I need them. I don't bother with thawing them out. I just dump them in frozen. Since it's already cooked and ground meat, it doesn't present any safety risks, and it doesn't affect the end recipe results whatsoever.