Bison, Bean & Chocolate Chili – Clean & Delicious

Save this recipe?

Enter your name and email, and I’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get delicious new recipes every week.

There was a time in my life when you couldn’t pay me to add chocolate to my chili. Health benefits or not, I could find no good reason to add the extra calories to a perfectly good pot of chili.

After all, less calories meant less fat on my body, right? Well, right up until the part where I was 25 pounds over weight!

It’s been a gradual transition, but nowadays, instead of focusing on what I need to take away from my diet [and life] (aka ~ deprivation) I try and focus on what I can add in (aka ~ nourishment).

And you know what guys? We can extra nourishment to our chili simply by adding in a kiss dark chocolate!

It’s true. Not only do we gain the nourishment from the simple pleasure of eating chocolate but it just so happens to be loaded with antioxidants. As a matter of fact, dark chocolate had eight times the amount of antioxidants as strawberries! Crazy, I know.

But even more than the health benefits that dark chocolate has to offer what I really loved was how the chocolate brought a depth of flavor to the chili. It gives a slow-cooked flavor to a quick-cookin’ chili.

A great tip for all of us time-crunched-flavor-loving-foodies, no?

And if you don’t have any bison on hand, no worries, you could make this chili using ground beef, turkey, or chicken as well. Just promise me that right before you serve it, you’ll top it with a fat dollop of plain Greek yogurt and some fresh scallions!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Ground Bison Chili Recipe

Course: DIET, LUNCH, soup + stew + chili

Cuisine: American, gluten free, nut free

Author: Dani Spies

Prep Time15

Cook Time40

Total Time55

Servings: servings

Calories: 219kcal

Save this recipe?

Enter your name and email, and I’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get delicious new recipes every week.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 onion diced
1 red pepper chopped
Fat pinch of red pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 pound ground bison
1.5 tbsp chili powder
2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 28 ounce cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 15-oz cans of kidney beans rinsed and drained
20 g bitter sweet chocolate I used 2 squares Trader Joes 72% Dark Chocolate

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over a medium-high heat. Add onions along with a pinch of salt. Give the onions a two-minute head start before adding in the red pepper and red pepper flakes. Cook for about five minutes, stirring periodically, until the onions and peppers are tender but not browned.
Stir in the garlic and ground bison, using a wooden spoon or spatula to break up the meat into the onions and peppers. Season with salt and pepper.
Once the bison has browned add in the chili powder, ground cumin, oregano and cayenne pepper. Mix the spices into the meat and veggies before adding in the tomatoes, water, kidney beans, and chocolate. Bring everything up to a boil.
Once you have reached a boil, turn the het down and simmer for about thirty minutes.
Top with plain non-fat yogurt and sliced scallions. Enjoy!

Nutrition