This is another recipe where I use ground meat. The key to choosing which ground meats to use is to balance cost with health concerns. If you can get something on sale, use it! We have a friend who hunts deer and gave me some ground deer. I think it would be wonderful in this recipe as is ground turkey, chicken, beef, etc. You can mix them up however you want. While this one calls for 4 lbs of meat, if you find you can get more in your dutch oven, feel free to cook it all at once and just pull the rest out to use in Teenager Meat or another recipe of that sort. Combining cooking steps for different recipes is one of the key points in bulk cooking.
- 4 lb ground meat (beef, chicken, turkey, etc.)
- 3 cups water
- 3 cups chopped onion
- 4 minced garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 (12 oz.) can tomato paste
Combine the meat, water and onion in a dutch oven. Cook covered over medium heat for about 30 minutes — until it is brown and cooked all the way through. Drain and stir. Add the remaining ingredients and cook over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes. This should be a very thick mixture. Remember, it is condensed on purpose. Cool and then freeze it in 1 or 2 cup containers.
Use this in: sweet chili, traditional chili with beans, chili lasagna, chili-pizza burgers, or chili with corn bread topping.