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Big-Batch Freezer Chili
Freeze your stock flat
Freeze it flat, then stack the bags like books. Leave room at the top, liquid expands as it freezes.
XXL Silicone Bag, Blue
One extra-large reusable silicone bag, about 135 oz, with a leakproof seal. Lies flat in the fridge or freezer.
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Chili is the one pot that gets better the second time, which makes it the best thing in the house to cook once and eat four times. This is a full gallon of it, thick enough to stand a spoon in, and it costs barely more to make than a single dinner does. The part people get wrong is the storing. Chili in tubs takes a whole freezer shelf and then comes out as a solid brick you cannot do anything with for two hours. Split between two XXL silicone bags and frozen flat, each half becomes a thin slab you can snap in two, and a piece reheats in fifteen minutes.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds ground beef, 80/20
- 2 large yellow onions, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cans (28 oz each) crushed tomatoes
- 3 cans (15 oz each) kidney or pinto beans, drained
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
Directions
- Brown the beef in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat in two batches, breaking it up as it cooks. Crowding the pan steams the meat instead of browning it, and the browning is where the flavor is. Set the beef aside.
- Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat. Cook the onions and bell pepper in it over medium heat for 8 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
- Add the chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano and tomato paste and stir constantly for 90 seconds. Toasting the spices in fat this way is the single biggest difference between good chili and flat chili.
- Return the beef to the pot with the crushed tomatoes, beans, broth and salt. Stir and bring to a simmer.
- Simmer uncovered, stirring every 20 minutes, for 2 hours. It should reduce and thicken until a spoon dragged across the bottom leaves a track. Taste and add salt.
- Cool the chili quickly in a sink of iced water, then divide it between two XXL bags, about half a gallon in each, which leaves headspace for it to expand as it freezes. Seal, lay flat on a sheet pan, and freeze solid.
Tips and variations
- Chili genuinely is better the next day. If you have the patience, chill it overnight and reheat before you freeze it.
- For heat, add two chopped chipotles in adobo with the tomatoes rather than more chili powder, which turns dusty in quantity.
- A square of dark chocolate or a tablespoon of masa harina stirred in at the end rounds it out and thickens it.
- Freeze each bag flat, then snap the slab in half through the silicone when you need less. One bag, half a gallon, feeds a family of four with leftovers.
- Reheat from frozen in a covered pot over low with a splash of broth, stirring as it loosens.
The bag this recipe is built around
One pot of chili fills two XXL Blue bags, about half a gallon each, with room to spare for freezing and no tubs. Frozen flat each one takes about an inch of shelf, and you can snap off exactly as much as you want instead of thawing the lot. Silicone does not stain or hold the smell of chili powder the way plastic tubs do.
See the Blue XXL Bag
Common questions
- How long does chili keep in the freezer
- Four to six months in a sealed bag with the air pressed out. The flavor holds better than the texture, so eat the beans within four months if you can.
- Can you freeze chili with beans in it
- Yes. Beans freeze well in a thick chili because the sauce protects them. They soften slightly on reheating, which most people prefer.
- Why is my chili watery
- It has not reduced enough. Simmer it uncovered for longer, or stir in a tablespoon of masa harina at the end. Do not add more tomato to fix thin chili.
- How do I reheat frozen chili
- Straight from frozen in a covered pot over low heat with a splash of broth. Stir every few minutes as the slab loosens. Twenty minutes for half a gallon.
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