Mole Chili |Cooking With Amanda

I grew up eating a lot of chili. It was a family favorite. And that chili tradition is something I carried on into my own family. But like with many recipes that make a very regular appearance on our kitchen table, the flavors became a little too repetitive. Regular chili needed a kick in the pants! Enter Mole. Mole sauce can be kind of hard to nail. But this mole chili recipe is easy, I promise.

That kick in the pants? Yeah, it's a pretty strong kick. This chili is spicy. And they say that one of the best ways to cut the spice is with something creamy, right? Which is why I served up a batch of gluten free pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting right after we ate this, because we needed something to cool down the tongue. If you're against eating pumpkin anytime but the autumn season, go ahead and give my red velvet fudge recipe a shot instead.

If you've never made chili with any sort of cocoa or coffee, you have been missing out. The bitterness of the cocoa and espresso adds a depth of flavor you didn't know that you needed.

It really enhances the flavors of the adobo sauce and chipotle peppers. You won't believe it until you try it. And you really need to, because once you cook chili this way, there is no going back.

You can cook this one of two ways; In a slow cooker all day, or just on the stove. If you're cooking it on the stove, it has to simmer for at least 5 minutes, but you don't have to stop there. Watch it closely, but feel free to let it simmer for a while to let the flavors really develop.

While your mole chili is simmering away, throw some gluten free honey cornbread into the oven to eat with your chili. I grew up where chili was always accompanied by a pan of hot cornbread, and eating chili any other way just seems wrong.

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Mole Chili Recipe

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Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion, or 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 16 ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed, no salt added
1 16 ounce can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed, no salt added
1 can petite diced tomatoes, no salt added
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee, or espresso
3 gluten free chipotle peppers in adobo sauces, finely diced, not all chipotle peppers are gluten free, so be sure to double check
1 cup beef broth

Directions

In a pot, brown the ground beef and drain off the excess oil.
Add the onion and garlic to the beef and saute until softened.
Add the diced tomatoes, cocoa powder, coffee, diced chipotles, and beef broth.
Bring to a simmer, and let cook for at least 5 minutes so the flavors can meld together.