For about six years I thought sweet potato had no business anywhere near a chili pot.
A friend served me a bowl of it at a football party and it tasted like a casserole somebody had thinned out with broth.
Sweet, bright orange, and vaguely confused about what it wanted to be.
I ate half of it and quietly went back to the chips.
So when my wife asked me to try making one, I agreed mostly to prove a point.
What I figured out is that his version had no counterweight in it.
Sweet potato needs smoke and heat pushing back against it or the whole bowl tips over into dessert territory.
Mine gets 85/15 beef browned hard into real crumbles, tomato paste cooked until it goes almost brown, chipotle powder, and smoked paprika doing the heavy work.
There's a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon in there too, and nobody has ever guessed it.
The result is dark red brown and thick enough that a spoon leaves a track in it.
Crumbled beef in every bite, kidney beans, and half inch cubes of sweet potato that still have edges on them.
It takes 55 minutes on the stove and I make a double batch most Novembers.
I owe that friend an apology, honestly. He was right about the idea and just gentle with the spices.
Why You'll Love This Chili
This is a chili first and a sweet potato recipe second. Everything about the build is aimed at color, depth, and body.
- Deep red brown, not orange. 2 tablespoons of tomato paste cooked dark before any liquid goes in.
- Real beef crumbles. 85/15 broken small while it browns, so there's meat in every spoonful.
- Sweet potato that stays cubed. A ½ inch dice and a 25 minute simmer, not a four hour mush.
- One pot, 55 minutes. Faster than most chilis and it doesn't taste like it.
- A no bean version. Written out below, because plenty of people want one.
- Freezes beautifully. I keep quart containers in the door of the freezer all winter.
Why Sweet Potato Works in a Beef Chili
The point isn't the sweetness. It's what the sweet potato does to the spices. Those cubes soak up chili powder, chipotle, and smoked paprika and turn them into something rounder and less sharp.
It's the same reason a lot of Texas cooks put a little masa or a square of dark chocolate in the pot.
You're softening the edges without dulling the heat.
But it only works one direction.
Fair warning: if you go light on the smoke and the chile, the sweetness runs the show and you end up with the bowl I described up top. Chipotle and smoked paprika aren't optional garnishes here, they're structural.
Ingredients You'll Need
- Ground beef (1 pound, 85/15). The fat matters. Lean beef goes chalky over a long simmer.
- Olive oil (1 tablespoon). Just enough to get the beef started.
- Yellow onion (1 large, diced). Cooked in the beef fat after the meat browns.
- Red bell pepper (1, diced). Sweetness and a bit of color contrast.
- Garlic (4 cloves, minced). In late so it doesn't burn.
- Tomato paste (2 tablespoons). The most important ingredient in the list and the one nobody else uses.
- Chili powder (1 ½ tablespoons). The American blend, not straight cayenne.
- Ground cumin (1 tablespoon). Earthy and essential.
- Smoked paprika (1 teaspoon). Smoked, not sweet. They are not interchangeable.
- Chipotle powder (¼ teaspoon). Heat plus more smoke. Start here and add more if you want.
- Dried oregano (1 teaspoon). Mexican oregano if you have it.
- Ground cinnamon (¼ teaspoon). Trust me on this one. It should be completely undetectable.
- Fire roasted diced tomatoes (1 can, 15 ounces). With juices.
- Beef broth (2 cups). Low sodium, so you can salt at the end.
- Sweet potatoes (1 pound). Peeled, cut into ½ inch dice. Be strict about the size.
- Dark red kidney beans (1 can, 15 ounces). Drained and rinsed, added in the last ten minutes.
- Kosher salt (1 ½ teaspoons). Plus more to taste at the end.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Fat percentage. 85/15 is the sweet spot. 93/7 turns dry and grainy after twenty five minutes in liquid, and you'd only drain a tablespoon of fat off the fattier beef anyway.
- Ground turkey. Works, but add 1 extra tablespoon of oil and don't simmer past twenty minutes.
- Chipotle in adobo. One minced canned chipotle plus 1 teaspoon of the adobo sauce instead of the powder. Slightly wetter, slightly better.
- Fire roasted tomatoes. Regular diced tomatoes work, you'll just want an extra ¼ teaspoon of smoked paprika to make up the difference.
- The cinnamon. A quarter teaspoon reads as depth. Half a teaspoon reads as a cinnamon roll. Don't round up.
- Sweet potato variety. Orange fleshed garnet or jewel. The white fleshed ones are drier and go crumbly.
How to Make Sweet Potato Chili With Ground Beef
Step 1: Brown the Beef
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and add the ground beef. Break it up aggressively with a wooden spoon as it cooks, 7 to 8 minutes.
You want small crumbles and actual browning, not grey pebbles.
Drain off the fat if there's a lot, but leave about a tablespoon in the pot.
Step 2: Soften the Vegetables
Add the onion and bell pepper and cook 5 minutes, scraping up whatever the beef left on the bottom.
Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Step 3: Cook the Paste and Spices Dark
Stir in the tomato paste along with all the dry spices and cook 2 full minutes. Keep it moving so nothing catches.
The paste turns from bright red to a deep brick color and the whole pot starts smelling like chili instead of like ingredients.
Sound like a small step? It's the difference between this and beef in tomato sauce.
Step 4: Add the Liquid and Sweet Potatoes
Pour in the tomatoes with their juices and the beef broth, then add the sweet potato cubes and the salt. Scrape the bottom of the pot clean as it comes up to heat.
Step 5: Simmer Uncovered
Simmer uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally so nothing sticks.
Uncovered is deliberate. That's how it thickens.
Test a sweet potato cube at 20 minutes. It should be tender all the way through and still square.
Step 6: Beans, Salt, Acid
Stir in the kidney beans and cook 10 more minutes. Late, so their skins stay intact.
Taste it now.
It'll probably want more salt, and a small splash of lime juice or red wine vinegar sharpens everything without announcing itself.
Slow Cooker Directions
Brown the beef and cook the paste and spices in a skillet first. I know it's an extra pan. Skip it and you get a flat, watery chili, so it's worth the ninety seconds of washing up.
- Transfer everything from the skillet to the crock, along with the tomatoes and only 1 cup of broth, since nothing evaporates in a slow cooker.
- Cook 4 hours on low or 2 hours on high.
- Add the sweet potatoes for the last 90 minutes on low.
- Add the beans for the last 20 minutes.
Tips for the Best Chili
- Break the beef small. Keep working it with the spoon while it browns. Big clumps make for boring spoonfuls.
- Cook the tomato paste until it darkens. Two minutes, and watch the color change. This is THE step.
- Half inch dice, no bigger. Larger cubes need extra time and by then the beans are falling apart.
- Simmer with the lid off. Covered chili stays thin no matter how long you leave it.
- Salt at the end. Broth and canned tomatoes both carry sodium and it concentrates as the pot reduces.
- Add acid last. Lime or vinegar, off the heat. It wakes up a pot that tastes slightly flat.
- Make it a day ahead. It's noticeably better on day two, which is annoying but true.
Variations
- No beans. Leave the kidney beans out and add another ½ pound of sweet potato. The chili stays thick and the texture holds up fine.
- Black beans. Straight swap if that's what's in the cupboard.
- Ground turkey. Lighter, faster, needs a little more oil and a shorter simmer.
- More heat. A diced jalapeno with the bell pepper, or double the chipotle powder.
- Beer instead of broth. Replace 1 cup of the broth with a dark lager or a brown ale.
Toppings and What to Serve With It
Half the fun of a chili night is the bowls of stuff on the table. I put out most of these and let people build their own.
- Sour cream. A spoonful in the middle, always.
- Sharp cheddar. Shredded off the block so it actually melts.
- Sliced green onion. For a fresh, sharp bite against the richness.
- Pickled jalapeno. Heat plus acid in one move.
- Crushed tortilla chips. Crunch on top, and I won't hear anything against it.
- On the side. Cornbread, or a scoop of plain rice under the chili if you're stretching it further.
Storage, Freezing and Reheating
- Refrigerator. Up to 5 days in a sealed container, and it peaks on day two.
- Freezer. Up to 3 months in portions. The sweet potato softens after thawing, so cut it slightly larger if you're freezing on purpose.
- Reheating. Gentle heat on the stove with a splash of broth to loosen it up.
Make a pot on the next cold Sunday and see how fast it disappears. Give it a try!
Recipe
Deep Red Sweet Potato Chili With Ground Beef
Ingredients
For the Chili
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef 85/15
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon chipotle powder or to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 15 ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes with juices
- 2 cups low sodium beef broth
- 1 pound sweet potatoes peeled and cut into ½ inch dice
- 15 ounce can dark red kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt plus more to taste
Instructions
Brown and Build
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and break it into small crumbles with a wooden spoon as it browns, 7 to 8 minutes. Drain excess fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pot.
- Add the onion and bell pepper and cook 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
- Stir in the tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, chipotle powder, oregano, and cinnamon. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the paste darkens to a deep brick color.
Simmer
- Add the diced tomatoes with their juices, the beef broth, the sweet potato cubes, and the salt. Scrape the bottom of the pot as it comes to a simmer.
- Simmer uncovered 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potato cubes are tender all the way through but still hold their shape.
- Stir in the kidney beans and cook 10 minutes more.
Finish
- Taste and add salt as needed. Add a small splash of lime juice or red wine vinegar off the heat to sharpen the flavors, then serve with your toppings.
Notes
- Slow cooker: brown the beef and cook the paste and spices in a skillet first, transfer to the crock with only 1 cup of broth, cook 4 hours on low, add sweet potatoes for the last 90 minutes and beans for the last 20.
- No bean version: leave out the kidney beans and add another ½ pound of sweet potato.
- Fat percentage: 85/15 beef stays tender. Lean beef goes chalky in a long simmer.
- The cinnamon: a quarter teaspoon adds depth. Do not round up.
- Storage: keeps 5 days refrigerated and freezes 3 months.
