My 7 year old has really started wanting to do everything in the kitchen. She helps, cuts, peels, and even cooks. I think it’s her love language to be in the kitchen. I’m only slightly taking advantage. You see, I started with browning meat, and then she opened cans, and the rest is history…she can easily cook chili from start to finish with only 4 ingredients!

When the oldest two give input for meals for the week, she asks that we have chili every week because everybody loves eating it and she enjoys cooking it. All wins.

All you need is some ground beef, turkey or even imitation meat crumbles (about 1 pound), tomato sauce (6 small cans), your choice of beans (3-5 cans), and chili powder.

First you brown the meat, while it’s browning, open the cans or tomato sauce and beans (drain if necessary). We’ve used chili beans, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, great northern beans and even chickpeas just depending on what we have and what we feel like.

Once the meat is browned, add in the sauce and the beans and 3 Tablespoons of chili powder (of course, you can adjust this to your taste). Stir it up, heat it and let it simmer covered. We find the longer you can simmer it, the more the tastes mix and the better it tastes. But, you can cook it and get it ready in about 15 minutes, if you are in a pinch.

We serve it sometimes on a baked potato, sometimes on left-over mashed potatoes or tater tots, or sometimes just with corn chips (gluten-free for me) or crackers (for the family). The beauty of chili is that it’s easy to make and also easy to make your own.

Yield: 8

Easy 4 ingredient chili | Kids in the kitchen

Print

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb 93/7 ground beef
• 5 61g cans tomato sauce
• 4 cans of beans, drain and rinse if necessary
• 3 T chili powder

Instructions

1. Brown the meat
2. Add the sauce, chili powder and beans
3. Simmer chili at least 30 minutes, but ideally several hours
4. Serve with crackers, cheese, corn chips, potatoes or more

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1 Servings
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 265Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 745mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 7gSugar: 12gProtein: 20g

Do your kids cook in the kitchen? What is their favorite recipe to prepare?