2011 ODOT Chili Competition

Every year my workplace (ODOT) holds a Chili competition in the fall as a fundraiser for our charity of the year. As the reigning overall and progressive chili champion, I have  entered the race again this year to fight for my crown (a Buffalo Wild Wing crown with my name and title pasted over it). I did not make my award-winning recipe from last year, because I wanted to try something new. I tried out three chili recipes on my roommate Danielle (but only the vegetarian one) and her boyfriend Dane, my boyfriend Ian and his housemates/family (Joe, Michael, Sean, Bill and Joleen). I entered the Progressive category which is vegetarian, turkey, chicken, etc., no gross red meat allowed here! (Even though I believe a lot of my test tasters would have enjoyed it…) Below are the three recipes and reviews!

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili (RR recipe) (Chili Trial #1)

Ian's favorite

This one was Ian’s favorite but unfortunately not the one I chose to make for the competition. My ODOT employees love their meat and even though I could add chicken or turkey to it, I just didn’t think that appearance and texture would take me to the championship.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium-large sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 large onion, diced

8 cloves garlic, minced (this is the doubled amount)

2 tablespoons chili powder

4 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile (I couldn’t find any in the bulk section so I added more chili powder)

1/4 teaspoon salt                                            

2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed

1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes

4 teaspoons lime juice

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

To cook sweet potatoes: boil in water, let cool and cut into variable-sized pieces. Add everything to the Crockpot and cook on high for 2-4 hours, then turn to low.

Buffalo Chicken Chili (RR recipe) (Chili Trial #2)

The winning recipe!

I made this the weekend Bill and Joleen were here to run the Portland marathon. This is the chili I made for the competition (and won)! It was my favorite but what I love about it the buffalo sauce flavor. Franks makes this great Buffalo hot sauce which gives the chili actual buffalo flavoring. It’s spicy, the celery and carrots fall apart in your mouth, it has the pulled chicken texturing and sweet tomato sauce, how can you go wrong? It’s the total wings experience in your mouth and my ODOT employees loved it.Also, the recipe doesn’t call for beans but I added some great northern beans, black beans and kidney beans to mine just to make it more “hearty.”

Ingredients

To cook chicken:

2 tbsp olive oil

2 lbs ground chicken (I used frozen chicken pieces but for the competition I will be using ground chicken or pulled chicken)

Chicken stock

For crock pot:

2 cups of shredded carrots, chopped more

4 ribs of celery, chopped

8 cloves of garlic, chopped (this is the doubled amount)

½ - ¾ large Walla Walla onion, chopped

1 can tomato sauce

1 can Rotel

1/2 cup Franks Buffalo hot sauce
1/2 can each of great northern beans, kidney beans and black beans

Seasonings:

Salt and pepper

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp chili powder

Instructions

Cook chicken in large pan, cook on low and add chicken stock so that it doesn’t dry out. I add a little chili powder and salt to it while cooking.

Chop carrots, onion, celery and garlic. Put in Crockpot with tomato sauce and Rotel. Add hot sauce and seasonings. Cook on high for 2-4 hours, then turn to low.

Consensus

Personally this was my favorite! I couldn’t stop eating it and I would add cottage cheese to it! It was definitely spicy but I’m a wimp when it comes to spiciness so adding the cottage cheese helped me. It’s also great with tortilla chips.

Indian Summer Turkey Chili (RR recipe) (Chili Trial #3)

I whipped this one up in no time at all!

Ingredients

To cook turkey:

3 tbsp olive oil

1.25 lbs of lean ground turkey

4 tbsp dark chili powder

2 tbsp grilling seasoning ( I used BBQ rub)

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

3 tbsp Franks hot sauce (or any hot sauce)

Put in Crockpot:

1 15-oz can of tomato sauce

1 bell pepper

½ large Walla Walla onion

¼  - ½ a beer (I used Jubelale)

½ cup smoky BBQ sauce

1 can of corn

Instructions

Open beer and start drinking. In large pan cook turkey in olive oil and seasonings/sauces.

Chop the onion and bell pepper in small pieces, put in Crockpot with tomato sauce, BBQ sauce and drained corn.

Pour turkey mixture and rest of beer into Crockpot and cook on high for 2-4 hours.

Consensus

I added more hot sauce (necessary) and Worcestershire sauce (not necessary). Ian and I ate it with tortilla chips and we both enjoyed it. I would make it again because it’s so easy and healthy. I didn’t have time to let it cook as long so the onions and bell peppers were still crunchy but it wasn’t bad that way. You could really taste the BBQ sauce which I thought was great, adding hot sauce balanced the flavor. 

Update:

I was crowned progressive chili champion! The buffalo chicken chili was a hit!