“Chili” Sans Chili
This isn’t your average “chili”.
It’s like it chili, but it’s not. It doesn’t have chili or any of your typical reflux triggers like onion, tomatoes, garlic, chili powder, or spice. So wait, it doesn’t have chili or most of the major chili players, so it is chili? I don’t know, but I do know that this is absolutely delicious and it definitely hits the chili spot if you’re on a low-acid or reflux safe diet.
So let’s start with the base, my veggie sauce. You can find the recipe HERE. I make a metric ton of it and freeze it in freezer bags to have on hand for meals just like this.
Next the other low-acid ingredients typical found in chili, although it you’re from Texas you might beg to differ, beans and ground beef. In this recipe I use extra-lean grass fed beef along with organic black beans & red kidney beans. I threw in a bit of cubed sweet potato for a fall touch and extra nutrients.
The fresh cilantro cooks down and adds a ton of flavor while the oregano adds a bit of pungent deliciousness.
Now to the secret ingredient. Carob powder! I know it sounds weird but hear me out. I’ve seen tons of chili recipes that include chocolate in chili, so I thought adding this reflux safe ingredient would work. OMG, did this add to the flavor profile and create such a depth that’s hard to obtain in low acid cooking. It blew me away.
If you aren’t familiar with carob it sort of taste like chocolate, but not. Both carob and chocolate come from a tropical pod. However, unlike chocolate, carob doesn’t contain any caffeine and has 3 times more calcium. It’s also free of tyramine, a byproduct of the animo acid tyrosine. (P.S. I feel some sort of special connection with tyrosine after spending at least 2 weeks working with it and researching it for a biology lab.) Interestingly, this byproduct is the culprit in chocolate known to cause migraines in some individuals. Alright, this isn’t a research paper so I’ll stop now. Ultimately, carob can be a great alternative to chocolate on a low-acid reflux safe diet
Crockpot Low-Acid "Chili" sans Chili
Ingredients
- 1 lb extra lean grass-fed beef (93% lean)
- 1 can black beans, rinsed
- 1 can red kidney beans, rinsed
- 2 cups veggie sauce
- 1 cup sweet potato, cubed
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin (optional)
- 1 tsp paprika (optional)
- 1 tbs carob powder
- T O P P I N G S
- Cheddar Cheese, shredded
- Cilantro
- Greek yogurt
- Avocado
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef.
- In a crockpot combine browned ground beef, black beans, kidney beans, veggies sauce, sweet potatoes, cilantro, oregano, salt, & if adding add cumin and paprika.
- On high setting, cook for 6 hours.
- About 30 minutes before it’s done, remove lid and at carob powder.
- Top with cheddar cheese, cilantro, avocado, and Greek yogurt.
Notes
You can totally substitute ground turkey or chicken.
I omit the paprika or cumin if I'm struggling with reflux. If you are cooking for others you can always take a bit out for yourself before adding it into this dish.
If you don’t want to do this in a crockpot, go ahead and put it on the stove, it will work just as well!
Something interesting about this recipes is that the color changes from red to orange the longer you cook. The veggie sauce is made of beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, and celery. The betalains found in beets are sensitive to heat and prolonged cooking degrades these pigments, losing the deep red color.
On the other hand, carrots and sweet potatoes get their orange hue from carotenoids, but they are much more heat stable and don’t change as easily with heat, resulting in a orange hue the longer this cooks.
I’ve made this a few times, but feel like I need to make it tonight. Do you have any ingredients that you would add?
