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It’s Halloween! Here Are 20 Delicious Recipes For Chili To Keep The Ghouls Fed.
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If there was a meal that was synonymous with Halloween, it would have to be chili. Whenever friends and families gather together for trick or treating it is important to have food available that is hearty, healthy, and has the ability to stick to your bones out in the elements. We’ve made this year’s chili fest easier than ever before by gathering in one place the 20 best chili recipes we’ve ever tasted.
There aren’t a lot of rules to creating an epic chili feast for Halloween. But there are a few things you can do to ensure all of the ghouls and goblins that you invite enjoy the meal.
- Plan on making a couple of different types of chili to ensure that there is something for everyone. Easy, delicious recipes for chili that will please meat eaters, vegetarians, Keto, Whole30, and gluten-free partygoers can all be found below.
- Designate a self-serve chili topping station that is loaded with cheeses, sour cream, herbs like cilantro, pickled peppers, diced onions, hot sauce, and any other type of chili topping you can dream up!
- Don’t love having a fridge full of leftovers? Set up an area with pack-and-go containers so that guests can take chili home.
Chili recipes with meat.
Meat-based chili recipes are always a great option for Halloween night! These 7 meaty chili recipes from our California Grown Creators are sure to stick to your bones when you are out trick or treating.
Chicken Chili Recipe with White Beans and Hominy
Hola Jalapeno’s Chicken Chili recipe will have you winning at dinnertime. Tender chicken and white beans in a lime and chili broth with lots of veggies, so good!
Click here for this recipe for Chicken Chili!
Chorizo Beer Chili
This chili from the Displaced Housewife has some of the cornerstones of weeknight cooking: it’s tasty and easy. This chili is as hearty as they come and sure to stick to your bones!
Click here for this recipe for chili with chorizo!
Chipotle Chicken Chili
Smoky chipotles add tons of flavor to this easy slow-cooker or Instant Pot chicken chili from Wheat by the Wayside! This chili recipe uses super easy, essential ingredients! A lot of pantry staples and a few fresh items from the store.
Click here for this recipe for Chicken Chili.
Easy-to-Make Chili
This easy-to-make chili from Eat The Love comes together fast but can be made a day ahead of time if you want. Just cool it and store it in the fridge overnight inside an airtight container or in the pot with the lid on. Heat it up right before serving. In fact, chili improves overnight, as the spices and ingredients have time to slowly marry together as it chills.
Click here for this essential chili recipe!
Deliciously Cheesy Black Bean Chili
Britney Breaks Bread’s Cheesy Black Bean Chili is the perfect chili recipe! It’s full of smoky paprika, chili powder, a little cumin – and best of all? Cheese!
Click here for this cheesy chili recipe!
Keto & Whole30 Instant Pot Cowboy Chili
In the mood for a hearty, healthy, Whole30-friendly beef chili recipe packed with cubes of tender chuck roast that you can set and forget in your Instant Pot? Look no further than Nom Nom Paleo’s Instant Pot Cowboy Chili!
Click here for this Keto-friendly, Whole30 Chili recipe.
Anything but basic, Basic Chili recipe.
This chili recipe from the Big Delicious Life is a super basic and delicious classic chili recipe for the Instant Pot. Simply throw everything together, set it, and forget it while you work on last-minute costume adjustments for the kiddos.
Click here for this Instant Pot Chili recipe!
Vegetarian chili recipes.
No meat? No problem! These 7 vegetarian chili recipes from our California Grown Creators are so good that you won’t even miss the meat!
Chickpea and White Bean Chili
This unconventional chili from This Mess Is Ours is packed full of peppers and onions, layered with tons of spices like cumin and oregano, and filled to the brim with homemade veggie stock, chickpeas, and 2 types of white beans. It’s the kind of chili that sticks with you – which is precisely what you’ll need for all that trick-or-treating you are about to do.
Click here for this vegetarian chili recipe.
Healthy Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili Recipe
This easy chili recipe from Salt and Wind is a super easy and healthy vegetarian Black Bean Chili recipe loaded with sweet potatoes, chiles, and herbs.
Click here for this vegetarian chili recipe.
Quinoa & Coffee Chili
While the flavors required to make an amazing chili are complex, the recipe itself only has one simple rule. If you don’t cry while making it or sweat while eating it, you’re doing it wrong! This chili recipe from Jerry James Stone does both. Oh, and it’s vegan too!
Click here for this delicious vegan chili recipe.
Skillet Cornbread and Chili
Want to take Jerry James Stone’s Quinoa and Coffee Chili recipe above to the next level? Turn it into this skillet cornbread and chili!
Click here for this chili recipe.
Hearty Tofu Chili
This easy chili recipe from Vegetarian Mamma is the best vegan comfort food. You can make this chili recipe in less than an hour with tons of succulent veggies and protein-packed beans!
Click here for this vegan chili recipe.
Sweet Vegetarian Chili with Peppers and Corn
Love to warm up with a sweet chili? Try this Halloween-ready vegetarian chili from Vegetarian Mamma on for size!
It is a vegetarian chili that is hearty enough that your meat-eating friends won’t notice!
Click here for this chili recipe!
Roasted Poblano White Chili
Yes to Yolk’s veggie-laced chili is just as flavorful as any meat-based chili, and maybe even more! This recipe starts with roasted poblano peppers and tender white beans – what more could a chili-lover ask for?
Click here for this delicious vegetarian chili recipe.
100% Guaranteed gluten-free recipes for chili.
Believe it or not, gluten-free chili is just chili! Ya know, without any ingredients that contain gluten. If you have someone attending your Halloween festivities that is gluten-free you can feel confident that these chili recipes from our California Grown Creators are safe and delicious to make for them.
Rich Pumpkin Chili Recipe
This gluten-free chili recipe from G-free Foodie is a hearty dinner perfect for a chilly fall or winter night! This recipe is packed with enough flavor to have you going back for thirds. You can try her Secret-Ingredient Homemade Chili with Meat too.
Click here for this gluten-free pumpkin chili recipe.
White Chicken Chili with Bacon
This creamy, delicious chili with bacon from G-Free Foodie is easy to pull together and can be made on the stovetop, in the slow cooker, or in an InstantPot.
Click here for this gluten-free chili recipe.
Malaysian Turkey Chili
This chili recipe from A Girl Defloured is a great way to revive that same old boring turkey chili you’ve been making year in and year out.
Lemongrass and coconut milk work together to create a bright flavor and silky texture, and the spices add exciting complexity.
Click here for this gluten-free chili recipe.
Gluten-Free Chicken Chili
This gluten-free chili is what Curry Girls Kitchen has been serving for the past 25 years at their Halloween open house.
It’s sweet, savory, sassy, and so delish that kids of all ages eat it by the bowl full!
Click here for this gluten-free chicken chili recipe.
Vegetarian Chili with Herb-Laced Guacamole
This veggie-packed gluten-free chili from This Mess is Ours is anything but boring! It is loaded with 4 types of beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and peppers to create the ultimate chili-eating experience.
This chili is great on its own, but is pretty amazing ladled over burgers and hot dogs!\
Click here for this gluten-free chili recipe.
Be sure to share your favorite recipes for chili with us by snapping a pic and tagging us on social using #CAGROWN.
Craving more CA Grown goodness? Follow us on Pinterest for fresh and fabulous recipe inspiration!
A Simple Smoky Vegetarian Chili
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large red onion finely diced, set aside 2 tablespoons worth for serving.
- 6 cloves garlic peeled and finely chopped
- 1/2 of 1 bunch cilantro leaves removed from stems and set aside for serving, stems finely minced
- 2 teaspoons of your favorite chili powder we used Boonville Smoky Piment D'Ville
- 1 chipotle chile in adobo
- 1 teaspoon adobo sauce
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 15-ounce can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 15-ounce can pinto beans drained and rinsed
- 2 14.5 ounce cans fire-roasted tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
- juice of 1/2 a lime
For garnishing chili: all optional
- remaining 1/2 of a lime cut into wedges
- sour cream
- shredded cheeses
- minced onion
- avocado
- cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Prepare all of the finely chopped vegetables, drain and rinse beans, and open cans of tomatoes prior to heating the stove.
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the minced onion, garlic, cilantro stems, and chili powder. Cook, stirring frequently until the vegetables start to soften, about 5-6 minutes.
- Meanwhile, finely chop the chipotle chili until it forms a paste. Mix this with 1 teaspoon of adobo sauce and the tomato paste.
- When the vegetables have softened add the tomato paste mixture to the pan, and cook, stirring constantly until it turns brick red in color and starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the fire-roasted tomatoes and their juices to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently until the tomatoes are cooked down and are slightly darker in color, about 6-8 minutes.
- Add the drained and rinsed beans, the salt, and 5 cups of water to the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 30-35 minutes. If desired, use the back of a spoon to mash about one-quarter of the beans against the side of the pot to create a thicker, creamier chili.
- Squeeze in the juice of half a lime then taste for salt. Season accordingly and serve with desired toppings.