Chili is a hearty stew that can be easily made without the top 8 allergens as long as you take care to read labels for hidden ingredients in canned goods. It truly is a nutritious and delicious one-pot wonder!
Chili is one of my favorite dinners to make because it's quick and easy and it can be made ahead of time and left to simmer until it's time to eat (in fact, the longer it simmers, the better it is!)
Ingredients for chili
The best part about chili is that the ingredients are generally easy to find at the regular grocery store. A pot of allergy friendly chili is pretty much the same as a pot of regular chili - as long as care is taken to read food labels for hidden allergens.
Seasoned chili beans often have wheat in them so I use plain kidney beans and add seasonings myself. That also works well for my kids because they can't handle a lot of heat and sometimes the chili beans are too spicy for them anyway.
Some people use a chili seasoning mix in place of the chili-style beans. Again, just make sure this is gluten free as many seasoning mixes do contain wheat starch.
Beef stock can sometimes have gluten/wheat in it so be sure you are choosing one that is gluten free if you are avoiding gluten/wheat.
I sometimes buy ready-made broth but most of the time I have the bouillon granules on hand and mix up the amount I need.
Recipe tips
If you would like to lighten up this dish a bit, try swapping ground turkey for the ground beef. This reduces the amount of saturated fat in the dish. If you prefer the flavor of ground beef, try using 1/2 pound beef and 1/2 pound turkey.
Do you have an allergy to nightshades? Fruits and vegetables from the nightshade family include white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, cayenne pepper, paprika. If you're avoiding nightshades due to an allergy, try this nightshade-free chili submitted by a reader.
If your kids don't like chunks of tomatoes in their chili, try using crushed tomatoes or petite cut diced tomatoes.
This is not a spicy version of chili at all. If you prefer a little heat, feel free to add some cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, and any other spices that you like.
We like chili topped with a few tortilla chips and some chopped green olives...is that weird? You can also top with dairy free shredded cheese and dairy free sour cream.
I hope you enjoy this one-pot wonder as much as we do!
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📋 Recipe
Chili
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 med. onion chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 stalk of celery chopped
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 cup beef broth
- 2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
- 1 8 oz can tomato sauce +1 can water
- 2 16 oz cans dark red kidney beans, drained
- 1 15 oz can black beans, drained
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 T. chili powder
- 1 bay leaf
Instructions
- In a stockpot, brown the hamburger on medium high heat. Drain fat. Add the onion, garlic and celery; cook until tender. Add salt and pepper and beef broth. Stir scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen all of the beef bits. Add the tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce and water, kidney beans, black beans, spices and bay leaf. Stir to combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least one hour. Remove bay leaf. Serve with corn tortilla chips.
Notes
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I need an allergan free chili recipe but also no cumin /mustard as child has these allergies also. What substitute would you use for cumin? chili powder? and what amounts?
thank you
Hi!
I would just omit the cumin - it will still taste good without it. Enjoy!