It never fails, this is one of those things that I never have on hand when I need it.  Not to mention, I’m always a little leery of what’s in processed store bought chili so I thought we’d try our hand at canning our own.  Needless to say, my boys loved it and wanted to help jar this up – so they could scrap the pot!  This is great on a hotdog, by itself or you can add some beans and have chili beans!

Here’s the ingredients per 1 pound of ground beef.

• 1 lb of ground beef
• 3 1/2 cups of water
• 2 – 10 oz cans of tomato paste
• 1 lg onion finely chopped
• 2 T chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper

Do not brown the meat, if you do you’ll end up with clumpy, thick chili.  The trick to the smooth chili texture is to mix the thawed burger with hot water until it’s broken down and fine. We sauteed the onions, added the spices to the onions and then added that to the meat and water.

Mix well and then add the tomato paste, 1 can at a time, mixing well after each can.

Simmer 4-6 hours, stirring frequently or you can cook it on low over night.  After it’s cooked thoroughly, you may sample and adjust the spices as needed.

This roaster held 5 times this recipe and yielded 23 pints and LOTS of sampling.  So if you do 1 pound it will fit in a large crockpot and you’ll average 5 pints.  Scoop the chili sauce into hot, sterile jars, wipe the rims very well and remove air bubbles.  Adjust the 2 piece lid/ring and tighten.  Pressure can at 10 pounds of pressure for 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts.  Processing will thicken the chili, so once opened add water if desired.