Make Your Own HOMEGROWN Chili

If you weren’t sitting in the stands at Super Bowl XLVI, you couldn’t enjoy Farm Aid’s HOMEGROWN Chili in person. But you can follow the recipes below for our beef, pork, and vegetarian varieties, to make all the hungry fans in your home happy for any special occasion.

Be sure to also take a look at our tips to “Make Your Chili HOMEGROWN.”

HOMEGROWN Beef Chili

HOMEGROWN Chili - Farm Aid Beef
Photo courtesy of flickr user linzersinlondon

Serves 8-10 people.

Ingredients

1 ¼ pounds ground beef
2-4 tablespoons (to taste) of garlic, crushed
¼ cup celery, diced
½ cup green bell pepper, diced
¼ cup jalapeño diced
½ cup onion, diced
1 cup tomato sauce
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
½ tablespoon black pepper
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 ½ tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons raw sugar (optional)
1 ½ cup cooked kidney beans

Instructions

In Dutch oven or large pot, brown the ground beef with the garlic, celery, green pepper, diced jalapeño and onion.

Remove excess grease, then add tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and thyme. Simmer 15 minutes.

Add kidney beans into sauce, cover and simmer on low for another 30-45 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, add sugar if desired. Garnish with your favorite toppings.

HOMEGROWN Pork Chili

HOMEGROWN Chili - Pork - from Farm Aid

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Fahy

Serves 8-10 people.

Ingredients

1 ¼ pounds pork shoulder, cut into quarter-inch cubes
½ cup vegetable or canola oil
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 ½ tablespoons black pepper, ground
4 tablespoons garlic, diced
½ pound green chiles (like poblano), chopped
½ cup jalapeños, diced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
¾ pounds cooked great northern beans
3 cups salsa verde* (store-bought or homemade, recipe follows)

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat the pork in oil, season with the salt and pepper and roast in the oven on a sheet pan for 25 minutes.

While pork is cooking, sauté the garlic, green chiles, jalapeño in a Dutch oven or large pot over low heat until soft.

Add cumin, great northern beans, and salsa verde and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove pork from oven, drain any fat, and add it to the pot. Simmer 5-10 minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with your favorite toppings.

Salsa Verde

Make this green tomatillo salsa ahead of time to add to the HOMEGROWN Pork Chili or enjoy it as a dip with tortilla chips.

Adapted from Mexico: One Plate At A Time by Rick Bayless

Makes 3 cups

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds tomatillos (about 15-18 medium), husks removed and rinsed
3 jalapeños (or other hot green chiles, like serranos, to taste), stems removed
15-20 sprigs of cilantro, roughly chopped
¾ cup water
¾ cup onion, minced
kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

Place tomatillos and jalapeños on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer (if necessary, do this in two or more batches) and broil until they are darkly roasted, about 5 minutes.

When they are black in spots, flip them over and broil the other side 4-5 more minutes, until they’re splotchy black, soft and cooked through.

Working in batches, if necessary, pour roasted tomatillos and jalapeños, including any juices, into a blender or food processor. Add cilantro, onion, and water and blend until it’s a coarse purée. Season to taste with salt, approximately ½ to ¾ teaspoon.

HOMEGROWN Vegetarian Chili

Beef and Pinto Bean or Vegetarian HOMEGROWN Chili

Photo courtesy of flickr user basheertome

Serves 8-10 people.

Ingredients

½ cup diced carrot
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced white onion
4 tablespoons cooking oil
3 teaspoons chopped garlic
3 tablespoons chopped jalapeño pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1½ teaspoons crushed red pepper
1½ teaspoons ground white pepper
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 cups vegetable stock
½ cup chopped green chiles (such as poblano or serrano)
½ cup cooked great northern beans, puréed in food processor or blender
1 cup cooked great northern beans, left whole
½ cup cooked black beans
½ cup cooked kidney beans
½ cup cooked garbanzo beans

Instructions

Sauté carrots, celery, and onions in oil until translucent.

Add garlic and jalapenos and sauté for an additional 30 seconds. Add spices and sauté until fragrant.

Add 1 cup of the vegetable stock and stir. Note: set aside the other 1 cup of stock to thin chili, if needed, after adding beans or during simmering.

Add chopped green chili, puréed beans and whole beans. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with your favorite toppings, like avocados, cilantro, fresh lime, or tortilla chips.

Make Your Chili HOMEGROWN!

  1. Buy direct at your local farmers market or farm stand. Even in the middle of winter and in northern climates, there are farmers markets to be found!
  2. Visit our Find Family Farmed Food page to find a farm or market near you.
  3. Read labels. Choose food with labels like “organic,” “non-GMO,” “grass-fed,” “pasture-raised,” and “local” to support family farmers.
  4. Spread the word! Let your party guests know about the righteous ingredients in your HOMEGROWN Chili and how they too can be HOMEGROWN.
  5. For future recipes, think about joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program to guarantee a bounty of good food for you and your family and a steady income for your farmer.
  6. Or grow your own vegetables and herbs. Farming our backyards, windowboxes and patios brings us closer to the roots of our food and makes us appreciate how hard our farmers work! Find inspiration and share your experience on HOMEGROWN.org

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