A couple weeks ago I made a double recipe of my Hearty Bean and Tempeh Chili. I cooked it in an 8-qt pot and I’m guessing that it made about 7 (which comes out to… 28 cups?). Which is a lot of chili. I took some to a friend who’d just had a baby, put some in the fridge, and froze the rest. It’s in the freezer now and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m telling you, I LOVE chili. To the point where it might be borderline unhealthy, or an obsession, or something.
Consider, also, that my giant behemoth pot of chili only cost me about $23 to make. So, in the spirit of Shakespeare, I will count for you the ways in which I love to eat chili and when your fridge and freezer are cleared out you can get you some beans and go to town.
Assuming the recipe makes 28 cups and 1 serving is about 12 oz the cost per serving would be about $1.30. If you used non-organic tomatoes and/or left out the tempeh, it would be even less!
20 Things to Do with Leftover Chili
- Eat a bowl of it, duh.
- Pour it into a bag of Fritos. This is called Frito Pie, I think.
- Serve it over cornbread.
- Make a breakfast scramble with chili, potatoes, crumbled tofu and vegan cheese. Serve with tortillas, if you’d like.
- Use it as a burrito filling. Add spinach or lettuce, tomatoes, olives, vegan cheese, etc.
- Use it as enchilada filling.
- Make a casserole: Grease a casserole pan. Starting with a layer of tortillas or tortilla chips, layer the chili, remaining tortillas/chips, vegan cheese, olives, cashews, whatever you’ve got ending with a layer of chili and/or cheese. Bake at 375 till heated through.
- Make chili dogs. Use the Field Roast frankfurters because they are AMAZING.
- Make baked potatoes and smother with chili, vegan cheese, chopped scallions, and vegan sour cream. (Or just chili.)
- Make a taco salad substituting chili for fake meat and beans.
- Heat it up in a sauce pan with vegan cheese, a small can of roasted green chiles, and some vegan sour cream or cream cheese. Serve it as a dip with chips.
- Make french fries and the cover them with chili and cheese.
- Give it to a friend who is sad.
- Better yet, share it with a friend who is sad.
- Share it with friends who are happy.
- Have a pot luck where everybody brings something that will go with the chili and then you will all have less cluttered refrigerators.
- Apparently kids love pizza made with chili, hot dogs and cheese. I want to be grossed out, but it looks kind of amazing. Use a vegan biscuit recipe and Field Roast frankfurters.
- Steam broccoli and cover it with chili and melted cheese for a side dish.
- Add some BBQ sauce and make sloppy joes? (I haven’t tried this, hence the question mark.)
- Chili Stuffed Bell Peppers. Substitute vegan things for the dairy things. This just sounds incredible.
