Last year, I saw this at a festival, but I was unable to test it, so I developed a recipe that I adore and is very flexible to suit a variety of tastes. Serve warm with papadums and brown basmati rice.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, or more to taste
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup diced poblano pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 (15 ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 (15 ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups water, or as needed
- 1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 (7.5 ounce) packages corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy®)
- 1 cup grated white Cheddar cheese, divided
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup sour cream, or to taste
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, or to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over high heat. Add onion, salt, and ground beef. Cook and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until meat is browned and crumbled into small pieces, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add poblano pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, cayenne, and oregano; cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stir in diced tomatoes and crushed tomatoes. Measure water using the empty tomato cans and pour into the pot. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat to medium-low. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes before stirring in kidney beans. Continue simmering until bubbling and fragrant, about 30 minutes more. Taste for seasoning and adjust.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Place a deep 9×13-inch baking dish on a baking sheet. Transfer chili to the dish, being sure to leave at least 1 inch of space at the top. Stir to evenly distribute.
- Whisk corn muffin mix, 1/2 of the Cheddar cheese, eggs, and milk together in a bowl until smooth. Spoon evenly over chili until the surface is covered. Sprinkle with remaining Cheddar cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until cornbread crust is browned and a toothpick inserted into the crust comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
- Spoon or ladle into a dish and garnish with sour cream and cilantro.
- Personally, I go for the 85:15 lean-to-fat ratio for ground beef, but even something a little leaner would work here.
- You can use any green pepper you like. You can use fire-roasted diced tomatoes with or without diced green chiles.
- This recipe may make more than what fits into your baking dish, so reserve any leftovers for another use.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 523 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 47 g |
| Cholesterol | 114 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 29 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 1529 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 25 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I haven’t even finished this yet and it is amazing! I had to make some on the fly changes due to a grocery snafu, using dehydrated onions, etc. I chopped up some angus beef patties, added the dehydrated onion, garlic, and then I added the cumin, a good bit of paprika, a few tablespoons of Adobo, and smoked ancho pepper, along with Arizona Dreaming from Penzy’s. All of my spices are Penzy’s which make a difference. After the meat was done, I added a 28 oz can of organic crushed tomatoes. After that was simmered in, I added a can of organic chili spiced kidney beans. It is now simmering as I try it out with some mozzarella cheese, since I am out of cheddar! Oh I added a good sprinkle of salt also. It is Amazing!! I will finish it with the corn bread, but I will make this again.
Come on….baking the cornbread directly on the chili!?! It was amazing. I made as written but used yellow cheddar. The overall flavor of the chili was spot on and the texture of the cornbread was light but held up to the chili. It was almost like a savory chili cobbler. The cornbread does soak up some of the liquid of the chili so I would probably add a little more liquid or not reduce it as much. The husband was a big fan and this would be very impressive to take to a pot luck or game day party. Thanks, Chef John!
Oh yeah! This was good. Chef John’s recipes seem to always be good. Since it’s just my husband and me I had to cut the recipe in half. I used bell pepper instead of the poblano peppers and I didn’t have any crushed tomatoes so I used an 8oz can of tomato sauce, otherwise I followed the recipe. I only used about 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper but I should have cut that back to 1/8 tsp because the heat was overpowering but still good. I put about 1/2 cup cheddar cheese in the one box of cornbread mix (Jiffy) but couldn’t taste it, probably because of the cayenne. I will make it again, it’s really good.
I have made twice without any changes and both times it was very good. I recommend putting a cookie sheet under the baking dish in the oven incase the chili bubbles over.
I made it. I didn’t add a whole onion,because my kids don’t like onion too much. I sprinkled mozzarella on top after finishing. it was delicious. Super easy. Very quick.
awesome!!! made the chili hot and the corn bread cooks on top!! very tasty recipe.
Chef John does it again!
The chili was fabulous. I ended up doing the cornbread separately. Everything was delicious.
Although I did make a few changes based on personal likes – this was amazing!! I took it to a potluck and everyone wanted the recipe. Highly recommend and frankly, I might not ever make chili any other way. The crunchy corn bread on the top was to DIE for and will likely add more next time. Here are the changes I made. Ground turkey instead of beef. Chipotle spice instead of cayenne. Oat milk instead of cow. Used 2 cans of of fire roasted diced tomatoes, no crushed. Added some left over black beans to use up as well as Kidney. Double all the spices except salt. Next time, I will make all these same changes, but also add diced jalapeno to the corn bread mix with the cheese. GREAT recipe!!!
I like my cornbread on it’s own but this is a very tasty chili recipie that doesn’t take a lot of prep time. In fact, I’ve created seasoning “pods” of all the seasonings (except flour) using small screw top food savers.
This recipe is great! My family loves it and has already requested that I make it again soon!
This was even better than expected! I made a oil
I rarely write reviews, but with this recipe couldn’t resist. I followed the instructions but omitted the peppers, with 3 picky eaters at home, my 3 boys, didn’t whant to risk it. My family loved it, the 9×13 inch dish was gone 30 minutes after getting out of the oven. Thank you for the recipe, I’ll definitely make it again.
So awesome!
This was a little bit of work but chili and cornbread is always worth it
Loved this. Will definitely be in regular rotation. I cut the salt and cayenne in half and it was still great. Missed where it called for how much cheese in the ingredient listing? I winged it and just sprinkled 3/4 cup cheddar on top at the end.
We love Chef John’s recipes! This one in particular has become a home staple for cooler days!
Wonderful ! I will 100% make it again!
absolutly delicious
Chef John did it again. I enjoy his recipes and videos! I made this one as written and it came out very yummy! The only change I made is I cooked and baked this in my large Dutch oven (6 qt). I’m a big fan of one-pot meals. This did lead to the cornbread being a little thicker and took about 5 extra minutes of baking time. Will definitely add this to my favorites!
I know if it’s Chef John’s recipe, it is good. When I made the chili, I tasted it and wasn’t loving it; however, when I baked it with the cornbread, all the flavors melded together and it was so fabulous!!! Cant wait to make again!!