Homemade chili beans
Do you want to get your spice on? If so, I think you'll really enjoy my recipe for homemade chili beans. You can make the recipe with or without ground beef. It's really good either way.
To begin making this recipe, I started by cooking a sixteen-ounce bag of dried pinto beans first. If you are unsure how to cook dried pinto beans, I wrote an article a while back, teaching you how I prepare them in a crock-pot. If you don't want to make the recipe with homemade cooked beans, you can buy canned pinto beans to use as a substitute. However, keep in mind that a sixteen-ounce bag of dried pinto beans roughly makes close to six cups once they're cooked, while a fifteen-ounce can of store-bought beans equals about one cup and a half.
Ingredients:
6 cups of cooked pinto beans
1-24-ounce jar of pasta sauce (your preferred brand)
4-6 chili peppers, chopped and diced
1-2 jalapeno peppers, chopped and diced
4 teaspoons of chili powder
2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
½ teaspoon of cumin powder
2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper
Seasoning salt to taste
1-½ teaspoons of sriracha powder
2 teaspoons of onion powder
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
Optional:
2-4 teaspoons of your favorite hot sauce
2 pounds of cooked ground beef
Instructions:
Note: Since I cooked the sixteen-ounce bag of pinto beans in the crock-pot, I finished this recipe in it as well.
Leave the juice on your beans once they've cooked.
Finely dice the jalapeno peppers and chili peppers; add them to the crock-pot of beans. Then add the jar of pasta sauce; stir.
Next, add all the spices and combine until all the ingredients are well incorporated together. Add the optional ingredients if you prefer to do so.
Place the lid back on the crock-pot. Cook on the medium setting for about two hours, then stir. Do a quick taste test to see if the heat of the spices is to your preference. If not, add more diced peppers, etc..
Turn the crock-pot on the lowest setting and allow the spices to cook into the beans and also allow the bean sauce to thicken up. I normally let mine cook for about half a day, but I check on them periodically and stir them. Once yours has gotten to the consistency that you like, turn the crock-pot off and serve.