Who is ready for some football?! This is the biggest football weekend of the year and I was so ready to make a pot of chili. The last time I was in St. Petersburg I had a great Bison chili at the Locale Market, so I recreated it for our Super Bowl Sunday feast. This Gameday Bison Chocolate Chili is a unique and spicy version of the classic chili recipe.
The interesting thing about this chili is that one of the ingredients is chocolate! Chocolate adds body, flavor and color to the chili. Make sure you don’t use sweet chocolate or it won’t add the correct flavor to the chili. I used Aldi’s 75% cocoa chocolate.
I don’t typically eat meat during the week, but on the weekend when I do eat meat I love bison. The meat is leaner than beef and from what I have read they do not use hormones, drugs and chemicals like they do in regular beef. This is one of the reasons I cut back on eating meat during the week.
Everything about the chili is gluten-free as well! I love it when my recipes are friendly to my restricted diet readers.
Cornbread goes well with chili so I thought I would use this as a side. I made waffles for breakfast yesterday morning and I thought why not make cornbread waffles to go with the chili?! I used the recipe straight from the Jiffy corn muffin mix box and it turned out really well! If you are gluten free there are many gluten free cornbread mixes available, unfortunately not for the amazing Jiffy price (55 cents at Publix today!!).
For wine pairing with this chili you want a strong red that will stand up to the chili’s flavors. A Malbec from Argentina or a Tempranillo from the Rioja region of Spain would work well. I chose Tapeña 2012 Tempranillo from Total Wine ($10.99) with berry flavors and a hint of chocolate that work well with the chili’s tomato sweetness and chocolate.
Enjoy your football weekend cheering for your favorite team (Go Broncos!). This chili is not only great while watching football, enjoy this while watching hockey or basketball too! Or any cool winter night for that matter.
Oh and did I mention GO BRONCOS!!!!!
Gameday Bison Chocolate Chili
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 medium green pepper, seeded and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 lb. ground bison
- 1 TBS chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 TBS seasoned salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
- 1 (28 oz) can tomato sauce
- 2 (15 oz) cans red kidney beans rinsed and drained
- 1 oz 75% dark chocolate
Instructions
- Saute onions, garlic and green pepper in oil
- Add meat and cook until browned
- Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, seasoned salt and cayenne pepper and mix until combined
- Add in tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans and chocolate
- Bring everything to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes
- Top with cheese and sour cream. Serve with cornbread waffles or corn chips for dipping.