Actually I like a thick chili and I am always adding that mexican flour stuff or just plain flour in my mix so it will be thick. My DH does not really care for it as thick as I do so sometimes I use those big big cans of tomato juice and because the rotel is sometimes too hot, I just use Hunts diced tomatoes. And we DO NOT like beans in our chili.

My favorite packaged chilli mix is Williams Chilli Mix. I add a little sugar to this and I'm off and running. We use 80%/20% ground meat (chuck). This is browned with a lot of onions and garlic. The fat is drained off after we've gotten it browned. I think that using the tomato juice and diced tomatoes with out adding anything to thicken will yield a good soupy chili.

I was introduced to Williams Chili Mix by a co-worker years and years ago and thought it was the best chili I had ever eaten. At the beginning of Winter she and her son made up LARGE batches and put it up in the freezer. She had one of those HUGH roasting pans and she cooked her chili in the oven. I think this eliminated the need to watch it really close.

I do not like kidney beans, and find the flavor of chili powder is just okay. However, at a recent non-guild meeting, the hostess served a version of chili that was so delicious, we all asked for the recipe. She has given permission to share it.

White Bean Chicken Chili

onion large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, diced
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, diced
2 boxes chicken stock
4 cans white beans
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 can diced peppers (I use mild, but you can use whatever heat you like!)
1 bunch curly leaf kale, stems removed, chopped

Heat oil in crockpot liner or skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until onion is softened and somewhat translucent. Add chicken and cook until chicken is cooked on all sides, stirring occasionally.

Add cumin, oregano, cilantro, and peppers and stir to combine. Add half of one of the boxes of chicken stock and scrap all of the good stuff from the bottom of the skillet or crockpot liner. If using a skillet, pour everything into the crocpot. If using the liner, put it in the crockpot.

Rinse three cans of the beans in a colander with cold water (the beans are too salty for my taste otherwise). Add the beans to the crockpot with the rest of the first box of stock. Rinse the fourth can of beans, then put them in a bowl. Mash them with some of the chicken stock from the second box. You will probably have to add more chicken stock as you mash as they tend to get pretty stiff.

Stir the mashed beans and the rest of the chicken stock into crock pot. Cook on low overnight (about 8 hours).

Chop the kale and add to the crockpot (I chop it up and put it in a ziploc while the chili is cooking). After 8 hours, add the kale and let the chili cook on low for a couple more hours (or on high for about an hour).

Serve with shredded pepper jack cheese, salsa and/or sour cream or whatever else sounds good!

Don't just add water ...
Consider all your liquid ingredients ... and make 1-1/2 of them.
Or consider the solids like the beans, burger etc. .... and make only 3/4
(or whatever proportion you think would be best).

Try grinding up your meat in the blender after it is cooked, then return to the pot and add the rest of the ingredients.

I brown the hamburger with onions, celery, green peppers & cilentro(coriander) Then add a can of ranch style beans & a can of stewed tomatoes & simmer for awhile more beans & tomatoes if I want a larger batch if it thickens too much I just add water & simmer to the consistancy I want everyone here likes it

I make a Mexican chili that my kids LOOOVE. I brown peppered bacon, chorizo sausage, and onions in a cast iron Dutch oven, then add 5 cans of pinquito beans. S&W has pinquito "chipotle" beans, which are delicious. Throw it in the oven and bake it for 30-45 minutes. I serve it with fried bread and my boys go nuts. It's pretty heavy on the sodium content, so I don't serve it often, but it's quite a treat.

I do a lot of meat smoking, so I save the leftovers for chili. Leftover smoked steak, smoked ribs, smoke pork loin and chops, even smoked turkey, whatever.

OK, so here's my secret chili recipe, which is a bit soupy cause that's how I like it too.

Chop up a whole red onion and sweat it till it just starts to wilt in a big pot with a tablespoon or so of oil along with a couple of big heaping tablespoons of minced garlic.

I cube up my smoked meat and toss it in the pot, usually about 4 or 5 cups of cubed up meat. I put in a couple cans of tomato sauce, a couple cans of plain petite-diced tomatoes without the spices, a small can of tomato paste, and a couple cans of black beans, drained and rinsed. I prefer the black beans to the kidney beans, but sometimes I'll mix in a can of dark red kidney beans too.

Put in one of those milk-carton-like containers of beef stock or beef broth, or a couple cans of same. This makes it soupy and gives it lots of flavor, also cuts the overpowering tomato flavor. Add a few good shakes of Worchestershire sauce if you like that, as well.

Now for the secret ingredient. Get a bottle of La Victoria Salsa Ranchera (Hot!) or your favorite chunky hot salsa. Put it in to taste, some people like it a little hotter than others.

For the amount I make I usually use about two or three heaping tablespoons because that's about all the heat the wife can take. Stir it in, bring it all up to a high simmer and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

I don't use any chili spices or chili powder because to me they don't have the flavor I get from the salsa, and the salsa goes well with the smoked meat. But I've also used the same recipe for hamburger chili and it works well too but you don't get the smoky flavor of the meat. I suppose if you were making hamburger chili you could put in a few drops of smoke flavoring.

I've always gotten rave reviews from my smoked chili - maybe you'll like it too!

Hmmm I'll have to try your smoked chili the next time we smoke a brisket. I make stock from leftover smoked turkey bones, I bet that would knock the flavor out of the park. Thanks for the recipe!

try adding tomato soup to your recipie with a can ad a half walter keeps flavor but is soupy

I rinse the beans before I put them in the chili and sometimes it doesn't get quite so thick!