Emily's Chipotle Chili Recipe

My boyfriend and I made this recipe last night and we LOVED IT!!! We made a few variations: we substituted spicy chicken sausage for pork sausage, fiery roasted tomatoes for plain tomatoes, doubled the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (which I thought would be hard to find, but were at a regular grocery store!), left out the coriander because my boyfriend hates cilantro. It was spicy, smokey and wonderful - huge hit and we will make again!

What I liked about it is that it is simpler than many chili recipes. Changes: 1) I only use very low fat hamburger so there’s no need for the grease draining step. I air fried it and also 3 diced hot Italian chicken sausages and they went right into the slow cooker ) I prefer navy beans and canellini beans. 2) I usually thicken soups, sauces, and stews with refried beans and frozen parmesan rinds grated. Never corn starch or flour. 3) I used a large can of Italian crushed tomatoes. I used less chili powder and more cumin and garlic. I alomist never add salt because everyone always grabs the salt shaker at dinner no matter what. And there is salt already in the parmesan rind and the sausage. Next time I will use even more cumin, a slug of balsamic vinegar, a second can of beans, an additional vidalia onion, several slices of fresh ginger, (or a spoonful of Indian ginger-garlic paste) a diced bell pepper, two diced and seeded jalapeños. Add fresh lemon and lime juice before serving. Cilantro. Serve with whole Greek yogurt. Many thanks again.

Gave it 4 since i didn't follow it exactly because i read other reviews about spicyness and acidic.., but close and didn't slow cook, i used my pressure cooker because i had my 2 slow cookers occupied with soups...so...the changes:...i left out the diced tomatoes & tomato sauce and subbed Ketchup..judged the amount to make it wet..makes it sweeter the way i like..i accidentally used hot Mexican Chili powder instead of regular and i used up the rest of my chipotle peppers which was the point of me trying this recipe...i used about 5 chopped..2 cans of kidney beans, one was undrained and one cup of chicken broth, pressed stew button on my pressure cooker which was 10 minutes. naturally released it and it was awesome but very spicy for those that complained original recipe wasn't spicy enough...cleared my nose, lol...i like a lot of meat in my chili so i loved it..between prep, cooking the meat, and bringing to pressure ,natural release etc..probably about an hour to hour 15 min give or take...i cooked the onions and garlic just a little bit with the meat and spices then threw everything into the pressure cooker..

Made this in the crockpot. Browned hot breakfast sausage, hamburger then onion in cast iron skillet, used 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, run through a food processor in bottom of crockpot then added meat and onions. Add other ingredients on top. Cooked on high 5hrs. Excellent! Will do it again

Decided to try making this in the Instant Pot since short on time. Did the browning on saute function. Then did under manual pressure for 20 min with quick release. Stirred in some frozen corn. Other than using ground turkey, turkey Italian sausage and package of regular Italian sausage I followed the recipe. Saved a few fat calories. It was delicious! The husband loved it.

I made this chili this past week and it was a big hit !!! Followed the recipe as written except used 1 can black beans & 1 can red kidney beans. Added some chicken stock and didn't need to add the tomato paste as the chili was nice & thick...The only other thing I added was 2 small finely diced carrots to help cut the acidity....We loved it and it made a nice big pot...Had a few bowls then chili dogs and some was left to freeze to enjoy later..thanks for posting the recipe, it was the first time a cooked I in the crockpot instead of the stovetop and it came out GREAT !!!!

This is my FAVORITE chili recipe. It's perfect the way it is, but I do like to change it up every now and then. I like to use 1 lb of smoked turkey sausage (cut into tiny pieces) instead of the Italian sausage- that is my effort at making it healthy :) plus, it really does add a little extra texture in there that we enjoy. I use all of the chipotle peppers from a 7 oz can and then add the adobo sauce to the mix. I like to use black beans instead of kidney beans (and I think I usually add 2 cans.) We love garlic so I always add extra cloves. Next time I make it I'm going to add a chopped green pepper. I've used different seasonings each time, but you can do that with this recipe and it's not going to ruin the flavors. I follow the first step by cooking the meat, draining it and adding the spices, onion and garlic, but then I go ahead and put that mixture in the crock pot and add all the other ingredients (except tomato paste) and it works out perfectly. I just don't have the coordination to cleanly pour everything from the Lg. pot to the crock pot. I sometimes cheat and do step 1 the night before and refrigerate the meat mixture so I can get up the next morning and just throw everything together and start cooking it before going to work. This is a wonderful recipe if you aren't looking for standard chili. Thanks, Emily!

Pretty good! Made but with only 1lb hot Jimmy deans and 1lb hamburger- and then reduced the chili powder by 1TBLS accordingly. Also used closer to about 1TBLS of adobe peppers only because it’s tricky confirming amounts when dicing the peppers amongst the sauce they are covered in 😂. After cooking all day - we also found we didn’t need the tomato paste; it was thick enough. Served with sour cream and cheese. The smoky from the adobe peppers and for us, the heat was just right. Good winter recipe. Thanks Emilyweaverbrown.

I've made this chili several times and I think it's my favorite chili recipe. I love the taste of the chipotle peppers and sauce. I only use half the amount of meat and it's still pretty meaty, and I don't like Italian sausage, so I've tried different meats like chorizo. This last time I used a mix of hot pork sausage and turkey and it's great. I also make it in my Instant Pot instead of the Crock Pot and it works great, but it's so thick that it takes a little longer than normal to build up pressure.

I did not make this in the slow cooker, just on the stove over about a 2 hour period. We don't care for over tomato-y chili's so for personal preference I omitted one of the cans of diced tomatoes and only used an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and added 3 cups of chicken stock. I upped all the seasoning some but added some cayenne as well for extra heat. Definitely could double the chipotle's as I hardly tasted them. Topped mine with onions, cilantro and Mexican cheese :)

I am giving this recipe 5 stars but I made a LOT of changes. To start I used hot pork sausage and 1lb lean turkey. I added 1tbsp of cayenne, same of garlic powder and onion powder. I also added some sofrito. Then I used about 1/2 can of the chipotle chilis in adobo. It was also too thick so I added a cup of water. I used dried kidney beans as well (soaked them the night before). It is delicious and spicy just the way me and my hubby love it! The depth of flavor is amazing! I am going to decrease how much tomato paste I use though.

Everyone at home loved it.

I enjoyed this chili as a way to use up extra chipotle chilies with adobo. It adds a wonderful smokiness with the right amount of heat. When I make chili with just chili powder it seems kinda blah. The only changes I made were to scale back the size of the dish since I'm not cooking for an army. Loved it with cornbread. Thanks so much!

This is good chili! I too only used 2 lbs of meat. I used 1 can each pinto and black beans as kidney beans are not my favorite. Did not need the tomato paste. Yum,!!!

I followed the recipe exactly and it was fabulous!

With a little change, It was great!

This is delicious!!! Looking forward to dinner tonight. And tomorrow. And the night after. Like everyone else, I made a few tweaks: used ground turkey as I don't like beef chop meat (one tiny bit of gristle makes me gag) and Italian chicken sausages as I don't like Italian pork sausages (blobs of fat gross me out), doubled the garlic and chipotles in adobo sauce, returned the juices from the browned meat to the slow cooker minus the little bit of fat that was rendered, added a second can of beans (one can no salt added black beans and lowsodium kidney beans). Cooked it for the whole 10 hours on low and it was so yummy, no additional salt was needed. You'll love this recipe!

I have been making this chili for many years with the following modifications. I only use two pounds of meat, one pound hot sausage and one pound 90/10 ground beef. I double the tomato sauce and coriander. Use a half 7 ounce can of chipotle with adobo sauce. No tomato paste or additional salt. And I split the chili powder to half normal chili powder and half either Chimayo or ancho chili powder. A true family favorite!

I wandered around the internet briefly looking for a chili recipe that used chipotle chilies in adobo as one of the ingredients. I found them in my pantry and thought it might be a nice touch. This recipe found me. And I’m so glad it did. It’s delicious. Thank you for sharing.

Made as directed, very good and just enough heat. I might have added more chipotle peppers then called for.