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This Four Bean Chili is not only delicious, but so incredibly easy to make. What’s even better, is you can use it on a multitude of different recipes.
Normally each year during the super bowl, we have a big group of friends over and though I always say I won’t stress myself making a feast to feed everyone, old habits are hard to break. Who wants to be in the kitchen catering to everyone’s needs when there are so many awesome commercials to watch — oh yeah, of course there’s the football game, too! 🙂 This Four Bean Chili is has been one of my go-to game day recipes for years! It’s a total crowd pleaser.
This leads me to my incredibly easy and incredibly delicious Four Bean Chili recipe. Besides the fact that the adults will adore it, your kids will have a ball adorning their chili bowls with tons of accompaniments. But the best part about this recipe no doubt has to be the versatility of it.
My husband is all about the Four Bean Chili Baked Potato. To make this, poke a few holes in the side of a russet potato and put it in the oven at 425 degrees for 50 minutes. Once they’re done, slice the potatoes in half and serve the chili on top.
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You can also make Four Bean Chili Spaghetti simply by making a big old pot of spaghetti and adorning it with the chili before serving. So simple and the perfect weeknight dinner.
Four Bean Chili Baked Fries have to be Chloe’s favorite. For these, I cut two russet potatoes into fries and air fried them for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. You can totally bake them in the oven too, it just might need a couple more minutes.
Last but certainly not least is this Four Bean Chili Mac & Cheese. For this one, cook the macaroni as directed. After you drain the pasta, place it back in the pot and mix with the chili and shredded cheddar cheese. Voila!
I would love to hear which variation is your favorite, or if you come up of any of your own!
Four Bean Chili
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil, divided
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 15 ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 15 ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 15 ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 28 ounce can chopped tomatoes with juice
- 2 15 ounce cans tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
- In a sauté pan over medium heat place 1 tbsp of oil and sauté onions for 3 minutes. Add minced garlic and sauté another minute until the onions start to caramelize, then remove and place in a crock pot.
- In the same sauté pan, add another tbsp of oil and sauté the ground beef for 5 minutes, breaking down the beef with a wooden spoon until it’s cooked through and most of its juice has evaporated.
- Add the cooked beef and the remaining ingredients to the crock pot and stir to combine.
- Cover and cook the chili on low for 8 hours.
- Top with desired accompaniments and serve.
The recipe itself is perfect for little ones 🙂 you don’t need to change anything but if you like to change it up for parents you can add extra spice and hot sauce if you like 🙂
Catherine – if i wanted to make this not spicy and kind of sweet (for the little ones to enjoy too) would i need to modify anything, or is it so as is? Thanks!
So yummy! I made ours vegetarian simply by omitting the beef and adding veggie crumbles to the crock pot at about the last half our point.
You can use morning star brand soy crumbles.
Just leave the meat out 🙂 You won’t need to adjust anything, thats the best part of this recipe! 🙂
This sounds delicious! How would I make this vegetarian? Should I simply omit the beef and keep everything else the same or do I need to adjust the other items proportionally as well?
Thanks!
Made this last night and it was really good. I used chicken breast instead of ground beef because that’s what we had on hand. I also added habanero sauce to my bowl because I like spicy and obviously my 3 and 4 yr olds don’t. But…it was really good and the girls gobbled it up!!!!
I, for one, will definitely be working this recipe on Super Bowl Sunday! I was also wondering about the substitutability (is that a word?) of the tomato juice. But thanks to filaree way and Tori, I think my question has been answered! I will try this with the cans of tomato sauce I have on hand. Thanks again for the great (and fun) recipes, Catherine!
Tori,
When soaking dried beans the night before how many cups of dried beans equals a 15 oz can?
Thanks!
Gina
I do a very similar recipe but I use one big can or two cans of diced tomatoes instead of tomatoe juice… we like tomato chunks 🙂 I also try to avoid canned foods most of the time, but sometimes I just don’t have time and this recipe is so great for those days!
I just made this recipe. Very good! My husband isn’t eating meat this month so I did a veggie version with carrots, green bell peppers, zucchini, celery and corn. Didn’t have white beans, so it was 3 bean for us, but it was still great. What kind of tomato juice do you use? Does tomato sauce work? I only had organic pizza sauce, so I just used one can and then added another can of vegetable broth to make it the right consistency (it turned out great! but I usually wouldn’t do it that way).
The recipe looks great, but I hate the reliance on canned foods. We stay away from canned food since the BPA leaches into the food. (Although Eden’s organic canned beans are bpa free, they are pretty expensive.)
One 15 oz can of beans is about 1 2/3 cups cooked; I round a half cup up when I scoop them from a pot. Websites differ a bit on how many dry beans to cook to make a can’s worth… some say 2/3 cup, others say that 1 c dry beans makes 3 1/2 cups cooked, I make big pots of beans and freeze extras in cottage cheese and yogurt tubs in the freezer in 1 and 2 can equivalents. I would NOT cook all these different beans together, as some will turn mushy before others are done. And always toss the soaking liquid for kidney beans, as they can release toxins.
What is the ratio of one 15oz can to dried beans? We really don’t buy the cans anymore, but I’d love to make this from all the dried bean varieties mentioned! Thank you.
Since the beef and beans are already cooked you really just need to keep it on the stove until it’s warmed through. If I was making it for all day eating though, I would put the burner on the lowest setting and just let it simmer. Check it periodically and give it a quick stir to make sure it’s not sticking or burning.
If I don’t have a crock pot, how long would you recommend cooking this on the stove top?
Thanks!