This hearty breakfast chili is sure to wake up your taste buds and is perfect for slathering over eggs and hashbrowns!
Unlike traditional chili, breakfast chili is made with breakfast meats rather than ground beef. Breakfast sausage is loaded with herbs and seasonings already, so it really adds a lot of great flavor to the chili while bacon deepens the flavor with its smoky touch.
This homemade chili has less liquid in it than a traditional chili, making it thicker like a gravy. This allows it to be used as a sauce over your breakfast favorites.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Breakfast sausage - You are looking for bulk breakfast sausage sold in one pound tubes, not breakfast sausage links. Tennessee Pride or Jimmy Deans are both great options or make your own venison breakfast sausage. You can use sausage patties, but they will need to be broken apart.
- Bacon - I recommend regular cut, rather than thick cut bacon for this recipe.
- Onion - A yellow onion or sweet onion is best. You could also add bell peppers if desired.
- Rotel tomatoes - You will need two ten ounce cans of Rotel. However, if you don't like green chilies you can substitute diced tomatoes instead.
- Chili beans - Use your favorite brand of chili beans, along with the sauce in the can. Chili beans also contain the chili seasoning you need for flavoring this dish. If you substitute a regular can of beans you will have to add your own chili powder and seasonings.
- Tomato sauce
How to make it
It is best to make this breakfast chili recipe the night before. Not only does this save you time in the morning, but the flavor of the chili improves overnight as it sits in your refrigerator.
Begin making it by chopping your bacon into small pieces and then adding it to a large soup pot, such as a Dutch oven, with your breakfast sausage and onion. Break apart the sausage into small pieces and cook over medium-high heat until everything is well browned.
Pour in the Rotel tomatoes with liquid, and scrape the bottom of your pot with a wooden spoon to loosen any brown bits. Then add the remaining ingredients.
Stir to combine everything then bring it to a simmer. Let it simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. The chili can be enjoyed immediately if desired, or stored in an airtight container in your refrigerator.
To reheat leftover chili the next morning you can heat individual servings in your microwave, or place the chili back in a pot and bring it back to temperature on the stovetop.
Ways to serve it
Your breakfast chili can be enjoyed just like a regular chili in a bowl with all of your favorite fixin's. Otherwise, try these ideas:
- Serve over a fried egg and hash browns.
- Mix into scrambled eggs.
- Serve over biscuits in place of sawmill gravy.
- Serve as a Frito pie.
- Add it to a breakfast burrito.
- Top your chili with any of your favorite optional garnishes, including tortilla chips, fresh avocado, hot sauce, shredded Cheddar cheese, sour cream, cilantro, or green onion.
- Load it onto hamburger buns and serve it as a Sloppy Joe.
Breakfast Chili
Ingredients
- 16 ounces breakfast sausage
- 4 ounces bacon chopped into small pieces
- ½ onion chopped
- 20 ounces canned Rotel tomatoes (two cans)
- 15 ounces chili beans
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
Instructions
- Add the breakfast sausage, bacon, and chopped onion to a saute pan or large pot and set over medium high heat on the stovetop. Cook until sausage is browned and bacon is crisp. Stirring as needed.
- Add the Rotel tomatoes along with any liquid in the can. Scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loosen any burnt on bits and allow them to incorporate into the chili. Then add the chili beans and tomato sauce.
- Bring the chili to a simmer and let cook for 15 minutes.
- You can serve the chili immediately, but the flavor is best if it melds in the refrigerator overnight.
Notes
Nutritional Information
This recipe was originally published here on July 1, 2022.
sharon
Could this be made with brats?
Fox Valley Foodie
Absolutely!