Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 3 pounds ground chicken
- 1/2 pound sweet Italian style chicken sausage**, peel “skin” and crumble (brand-al fresco sweet Italian style chicken sausage with fresh red and green peppers)
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 3 carrots, finely chopped
- 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
- 1/2 red and 1/2 green pepper, finely chopped**
- 3 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chili powder to taste**
- 10 ounces of beer (it cooks off)
- 22 ounce can of tomato sauce (I use Hunts plain tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup cayenne pepper hot sauce (I use Frank’s Hot Sauce)
Directions:
Heat a large skillet over high heat (I just use a large enough stock pot to brown meat, and then continue cooking in it). Add the olive oil and the butter to melt together. Add the chicken and chicken sausage and cook, breaking up the meat until cooked. Add the garlic, celery, onion, carrots, jalapeno peppers, red and green peppers. Season with cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and chili powder. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the beer and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Concentrate the flavor of the beer by reducing the mixture over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the hot sauce and the tomato sauce. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the chili for 15 minutes.
Toppings (optional to add when serving):
Green onions (finely chopped), fresh cilantro (finely chopped), corn chips (fritos), tortilla chips, crumbled blue cheese, shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, cubed avocado, sour cream, hot sauce (extra Franks for more spice), lime wedges
**The base of this recipe is Rachael Ray’s Buffalo Chicken Chili…I made it Sandra’s “Chicken Dance” Chili by adding the extra ingredients noted with asterisks, and increasing the amounts of all the ingredients to fill up a crock pot (to keep warm for hosting football gatherings, or entering chili-making contests, or having leftovers to eat for several nights or for freezing for later)