Yes Diamonds! Loaded Potato Chili!! You all heard that right!

Every weekend my boyfriend, brother, and I try to plan out our Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons very well so that we all spend time together, visit new places, and try new foods. Along with dining out and living our best lives on Saturday at our local lounge, I’ve been cooking Sunday dinner while we all yell at the big screen when the games are playing. It’s becoming quite the tradition in our household! During the week I plan out the menu, make a stop at the grocery store the morning of, and then I have the house smelling incredible for hours and hours until we finally feast!

This past Sunday was the day of spice! I wanted to make something classic, yet creative and warming considering we had the first cold day since Fall began. It was very warm for weeks until just recently and I am living it up now that it is exactly the weather I desire! As soon as I feel that first real chill in the air I automatically think “CHILI!”.

Let me show you how I created this comforting chili recipe:

No matter what kind of chili I’m concocting I always, always throw in a whole white or sweet onion, and two different types of bell peppers.

• Small dice an entire sweet onion
• Small dice a green bell pepper
• Small dice an orange bell pepper.

• Inside a large soup pot..pour in two tablespoons of olive oil, and one tablespoon of butter over all of the veggies and caramelize them over medium heat for about ten-fifteen minutes.
• Don’t forget to season with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

I like to cook my meat in a separate pan so that I can easily remove the excess fat from being inside of the chili. Then it’s an easy transfer into the pot with the veggies by using a slotted spoon for scooping all of that meat out of the pan after its been completely browned.

• The ground beef will take just about 3-5 minutes to fully brown over medium heat.

• Once you’ve scooped all of the meat into the soup pot with the veggies, squeeze in the juice of half a lime, along with a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce. These ingredients just give the chili a certain taste that you’ll long for time and time again once you have your first bowl of it!
• As for seasonings- 2 1/2 tablespoons of chili powder, 2 tablespoons of paprika, 1 tablespoon of cumin, 1 1/2 tablespoons of garlic powder, 1/2 tablespoon of onion powder, 1/2-1 tablespoons of cayenne pepper depending on how hot you can handle it, and 1/2 tablespoon of dried oregano.

• Drain and rinse one can of white kidney beans and one can of dark red kidney beans. These are the best beans for chili!

• Toss both kind of beans into the chili
• Once the beans have made their entrance into the chili, add in one 16oz can of tomato sauce along with an 8oz can of tomato sauce.
• Save the cans and fill them up with beef stock and pour that into the pot. Most people just use water, but I prefer to add in even more flavor wherever I could.

• Let this chili simmer on medium-low heat for two hours to let all of the wonderful flavors marry. Also, the longer you let it cook, the thicker and spicier the chili will become!

• While the chili simmers, wash 3-5 Yukon gold potatoes.

• Chop the potatoes for boiling so that we can get ready for the “loaded potato” part of this chili recipe!

• Drop the raw, chopped potatoes into a small soup pot and cover them with water to be boiled until the potatoes become fork tender.

• Strain the water from the potatoes, but DO NOT RINSE!

• Chop up a handful of fresh parsley to toss in with the potatoes

• Over the fresh chopped parsley, sprinkle a good amount of sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

• These potatoes are basically the old fashioned buttered potatoes that your grandmother used to make, so for the final step: add 3 tablespoons of butter! These are so simple, yet so so delicious!!

• Right before serving the chili I chopped up five slices of slab bacon and cooked it until it was super crunchy and crispy to use as one of the loaded potato toppings.

Serving Instructions:

• Fill your chili bowl up with a spoonful of the buttered potatoes.

• On top of the potatoes, ladle the spicy, succulent chili into the bowl.

Chili toppings:

• The crispy bacon we cooked earlier
• Thick cut white and yellow cheddar cheeses
• Sour cream
• Parsley for garnish

This chili turned out absolutely incredible! It was just enough of the traditional flavors mixed with the comforting indulgence of a creamy, cheesy loaded potato! You really can’t go wrong making any kind of chili on game day especially during the Fall season. It’s a no brainer! Everyone usually goes wild for it wether they pile it high, layer it over nachos, or enjoy it with just an unadorned dollop of sour cream. Whatever way your family members usually consume their chili, they’ll definitely want this to be their new go to!

I hope everyone is having a great football & Fall filled season so far!

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xoxo