Chili Colorado w Sausage

About

If you enjoy spicy stews, don’t pass up on Chili Colorado! Chili Colorado is a thick, meaty, red stew that is made with a blended base of hot chiles and onions. You may find other recipes using beef, but this Keto chili recipe uses pork sausage. There’s room to spare for all sorts of favorite Keto toppings for your chili. Try adding shredded cheese, sour cream, Keto guacamole, or fresh avocado slices on top of your bowl. After letting the chili cool, you can easily store it in your refrigerator for up to 5 days. Just reheat it in your microwave whenever you need a lunch on the fly. Don’t be fooled – this stew is spicy and builds in heat! If you’d like to tone down the level of spiciness, some recommendations are made further below.

What Is A ‘Good Blender’?

Step 2 in this recipe mentions using a “good blender” to pulverize some ingredients. For a recipe like this, a food processor should be your first choice in an appliance. If you only have a blender, avoid using small bullet blenders or any blenders that only have 2 blades. You need a blender with at least 4 blades to cut through whole pieces of food that won’t let large pieces get stuck. If you only have one of the less-helpful styles of a blender, just take your time and use some extra liquid when blending whole ingredients.

Making The Chili Less Spicy

Do you like spicy foods but not THAT spicy? There are some ways you can tone down the heat to enjoy this chili. Use only guajillo peppers for the chili base and avoid arbol chiles. Omit the bay leaves as well. You can also consider omitting some of the beef broth and substituting it with low-carb non-dairy milk or heavy cream. The thicker texture will help combat some of the spice, and real dairy is known for eliminating heat on the palette quickly. You can also stir in sour cream at the end of cooking for a similar effect.

Ingredients

10 g chile guajillo dried
1 g chile arbol dried
4 oz yellow onion
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon oregano, dried
½ teaspoon cumin, ground
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
1 lb pork sausage
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon paleo baking flour
1 cup beef broth
3 cup beef broth
½ g bay leaf

Instructions

Remove the stems of the dried chiles (about 2 guajillos and 1 arbol chile) and shake out any extra seeds inside. Add the chiles to a small pot. Peel and cut a yellow onion into 1 or 2 large chunks, then add it to the pot. Fill the pot with water, and bring the pot to a boil on your stove. Once the water is boiling, let the ingredients cook until the chiles are rehydrated and the onion is soft and mostly translucent.
Take the pot off the stove and use a pair of tongs to transfer the chiles and onion to either a food processor or a good blender. Pulse the ingredients once or twice. Add about ¼ cup of the water used to boil the ingredients to your appliance along with salt, oregano, cumin, and garlic powder. Blend the ingredients until you have a thick and soupy base for your chili. You can blend in more of the chile water as needed and discard the remainder.
Save the chili base aside for later, and turn your attention to the ground pork. You may use either plain ground pork or ground pork removed from a sausage casing. Be wary that some stuffed sausages have extra carbohydrates that aren’t accounted for here. Pour the olive oil into the bottom of a soup pot, and break the sausage into chunky pieces in the oil with a wooden spoon. Heat the pot on medium-high heat as you season the pork with the pepper. Cook the pork until the pieces are browned on all sides. Turn the stove heat down to low and sprinkle the paleo flour over the pieces of sausage. Toss the sausage around in the pot while the flour cooks to a light golden color. Then, pour the first amount of beef broth into the pot. Stir the pot until the flour emulsifies with the broth. Place a lid on the pot and bring the liquid to a simmer, letting it cook down until it’s a thickened roux.
Pour the chile base from Step 2 into the pot, followed by the remaining beef broth and bay leaf. You shouldn’t need more than 1 or 2 bay leaves. Stir the ingredients together, cover the pot, and bring it all to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer while covered for 10-15 minutes. Then, remove the lid and leave the pot simmering openly until it reduces to a thicker chili. This can take up to another 15 minutes. Some serving suggestions are made in the introduction of the recipe.