Chili

lazygirllosesweight
lazygirllosesweight Posts: 190
edited September 20 in Food and Nutrition
I assumed chili would be pretty healthy with the beans and such but I looked at the cans in the grocery store and they are almost 600 calories per can!

Can chili be healthy? If I made it myself? Is the high calorie count due to added ingredients that aren't needed?

Replies

  • ebkins7
    ebkins7 Posts: 427 Member
    Yes... try turkey chili... it has way less calories than regular meat chili! And, I think, tastes much better too!
  • amberdm
    amberdm Posts: 5 Member
    Try this one it is delicious, got the recipie from a friend!!

    1 teaspoon olive oil
    1 pound lean ground turkey
    1 teaspoon minced garlic
    1 large onion, chopped
    3 tablespoons chili powder
    1 teaspoon ground cumin
    1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
    salt to taste
    ground black pepper to taste
    garlic powder to taste
    1 can chicken broth
    1 jar salsa, pick your heat 16 oz
    1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
    1 can corn, drained


    Directions
    Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the turkey, onion, minced garlic, garlic powder, salt, and peper. Cook until turkey is well browned, stirring frequently to break up meat.
    Stir the broth, salsa, beans, corn, oregano, cumin, and chili powder into the saucepan. Heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low.
    Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Stir the chili occasionally while cooking.
  • Mylo301
    Mylo301 Posts: 7
    Homemade of just about anything is healthier than buying it from a can. For chili you can make it healthier in lots of ways:

    -- Use lean ground turkey. (Check the ground turkey though, some varieties have just as much or more fat than beef.)
    -- Use regular ground beef but, after browning it, rinse it and the pot well. You'll remove lots of the fat that way.
    -- Don't use any meat and add extra beans.
    -- Add veggies to the chili: red, yellow, or orange peppers, acorn squash, butternut squash, extra tomatoes, etc.
    -- Use a combo of beans, regular kidney beans, but you can also use black beans, or any tri-color can of beans.
    -- Also, I rinse the beans before using them. Removes some of the sodium.

    I live by soups...add tons of veggies to them and you're almost guaranteed to have a hearty meal with a lower amount of calories than you'd probably expect.

    My two cents...
  • no_worries
    no_worries Posts: 61 Member
    The Betty Crocker cookbook has a recipe for Chili cooked in a slow cooker that is only 305 calories a serving. The only hard part is figuring out how much a serving is exactly. There are a ton of great recipes in that book, if you don't already have it.

    Also, if you make the chili yourself, you can pick out leaner ground beef. Most cans of chili have an icky layer of grease on top, or at least the type I used to buy.
  • sallymurph
    sallymurph Posts: 56 Member
    I make a homemade chilli and it is about 300 cals for a cup. The issue with chilli is that we tend to eat large servings. Try making a chilli using extra leab ground beef or turkey. Here is my recipe

    4.5 lbs of extra lean group beef
    1 19oz can of kidney beans
    1 sm can of tomato paste
    2 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes
    1 green pepper
    1 red pepper
    2 sm onions
    2 packages of the club house chilli spice (for slow cookers)
    1/4 100% pure maple syrup (this is optional, but will cut the acidity of the tomatoes)
    Pam

    1. Saute chopped onions until opaque. Add ground beef.
    2. Once beef is cooked, combine remaining ingredients in slow cooker and set for 4-6 hours.

    Yields 14 servings of 1 1/2 cups
  • COFFEEBREAK19
    COFFEEBREAK19 Posts: 1
    Does anyone have an idea on the nutitional/calories for deer chilli?
  • lazygirllosesweight
    lazygirllosesweight Posts: 190
    There is some website where you can enter recipe components and it figures the nutritional info for you. Spark something. SOmeone on here should know.
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