Photo credit: Lindsey Scully

Hello fellow beer (and music) lovers! We’re going off course today and bringing you a recipe for some Sweet n Spicy Beer Chili! The recipe was inspired by this Washabinaros Chili recipe via All Recipes. The nice thing about any chili recipe ever is that they are highly adaptable and you can throw in whatever ingredients you have handy, as was the case here. We thought in turned out pretty tasty so enjoy. The chili is a bit sweet and tangy, like what you taste in baked beans, if you want it less sweet than I recommend cutting the brown sugar down (or out even) and use a more bitter beer. The chili has a small kick to it, add more chili flakes and horseradish for more heat or decrease for less heat. It’s about a 3 on a 5-star scale of heat.

Sweet n Spicy Beer Chili

3 TB olive oil

1 medium-large onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

1.5lbs Ground Pork (or whatever meat you wish)

1 – 28oz can Diced, Peeled tomatoes in juice

1 – 12oz bottle/can of beer (We used Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale, darker beers like browns/stouts/porters work well)

1/4cup brown sugar, packed

1- 6oz can tomato paste (we used the Italian-flavored style, but really anything will work)

2 – 15oz cans Chili Beans

Black pepper & salt to taste

1tsp dry ground mustard

1/4 tsp red chili flake

1tsp coffee grinds

1tsp cayenne

1/2tsp smoked paprika

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp ground cumin

3TB cream/prepared horseradish (more or less to taste, start at 1TB and work up)

2tsps Molasses

1TB fresh (or dried) chopped epazote, or use cilantro or parsley

Brown meat then transfer to large saucepot that will hold all chili ingredients, save drippings in skillet. In same skillet you cooked the meat in, saute the onions and garlic in the oil and drippings. Transfer onion mix to meat in pot. Dump in the tomatoes with juice, dump in beer. Add brown sugar, tomato paste, chili beans, salt and pepper, ground mustard and all other spices. Mix well. Add horseradish, molasses and epazote/cilantro/parsley if using dried (if using fresh add later), mix well. Allow chili to get to a boil, then reduce and simmer for at least 40 minutes. I set it to simmer on low for roughly 2 hours. Add freshly chopped epazote/cilantro/parsley and mix in or just garnish.

We chose to not add cheese or sour cream to this chili mainly because we didn’t have any on hand, but you can definitely add sharp cheddar or pepperjack for more heat.