Six Ingredient Skillet Beef Chili

In the first week of March I’m scheduled to visit Wilfred Laurier University (Waterloo, Ontario) to hold a cooking 101 class for graduate students. One of the dishes we’ll be preparing together is Beef Chili.

My bet is many in attendance will already have some experience preparing chili but I often include it because it gives me a chance to cover a lot of cooking skills such as:

setting the proper cooking temperature (instead of cooking everything on maximum temperature)

how to dice an onion quickly

how to seed and chop a bell pepper without the seeds making a mess

and most importantly...

how to save a recipe if it tastes like...it's missing something.

The chili recipe we prepare is great for sharing cooking skills but it probably has more ingredients than most busy students are willing to deal with.

An easier mid-week option would be this Six Ingredient Skillet Beef Chili. There’s no chopping required, you don’t need herbs or spices and it can be made in about 10 minutes!

I made this recipe the other night and was surprised how good it was considering you don't add chili powder! The only thing I would have done differently was use reduced sodium products. By using the regular baked beans and soup my sodium levels probably skyrocketed through the roof!

At the event we’ll be using fourteen different ingredients to prepare the traditional Beef Chili. Now I can also let the students know they can create another tasty version using only six!

Six Ingredient Skillet Beef Chili

Beef chili with baked beans, corn and green chilies

Recipe adapted from: Pillsbury Kids Cookbook

Time it takes: 10 minutes

• Makes: 2 Big Bowls or 4 Small Bowls of Chili
• ½ lb lean ground beef
• 1 can (10 oz.) tomato soup
• 1 can (14 oz.) baked beans in tomato sauce
• 1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies
• 1 cup thawed frozen corn
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

In a skillet, cook beef over medium-high heat until brown. Drain excess fat and transfer meat mixture to a medium bowl. Set aside.

Add soup, baked beans, green chilies and corn to skillet. Stir to combine and cook over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble.