Here’s my favorite morel mushroom chili recipe – if you’re looking for some serious comfort food, look no further. Feel free to adapt this to your dining preferences and have fun working in different ingredients as you see fit (I have beef listed, but you can use whatever meat you most enjoy – this recipe is dynamite with wild game, and I think my all-time favorite mushroom chili recipe version was when we did this with elk — you can also go completely meat-free and work in your favorite proteins of choice.) I’m listing canned beans & tomatoes here for a standard quantity reference, but obviously, we celebrate homegrown, and if you dry/can/preserve your own, just use roughly the same amount.
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh morel mushrooms coarsely chopped
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15 oz) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp fresh sage, finely chopped
- 1 tsp fresh thyme, removed from stem
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- Salt and pepper to taste
Optional Toppings
- Shredded cheese
- Sour cream or Greek yogurt
Directions
- Brown the beef in a frying pan, drain grease, and set it aside.
- Toss your butter, herbs, and mushrooms into a pot (I like to use a Dutch oven, but a good cast iron pot or stock pot is great, too).
- Sautee them on medium heat with a pinch of salt and pepper for a few minutes until everything smells amazing, and then toss in your onion and garlic and let it all cook together for a few minutes until the onions become translucent.
- Add your beef, peppers, and carrot, let it cook for a few more minutes for the flavor to muddle together, then stir in your stock, tomatoes, beans, and spices.
- Give it all a good stir, then let it all simmer on low heat for an hour or two.
- If you have a crock pot/slow cooker, put it all in there and let it mellow all afternoon. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve in big bowls with shredded cheese and sour cream if so inclined.
