This healthier Confetti Chili recipe is more than just a pretty bowl of chili. It’s filling and delicious, and best of all… it’s lower in calories too!
One of the reasons that people ultimately fail when beginning a healthy-eating lifestyle is that they choose foods to eat that don’t give them a feeling of being full. And let’s face it… when you feel like you’re starving, you’re going to blow it. I try to choose foods that are high in fiber most of the time, and it really makes a big difference. Snack on a slice of whole-grain bread that has 5 grams of fiber in it and a cup of tea, and it’s amazing how satiating that can be!
Especially at dinnertime, I want my meal to be appealing. I don’t want to feel like I’m eating ‘diet’ food, and I’d like to feel full. If dinner hasn’t filled me up, I’m likely to be searching for something sweet later on in the evening that I otherwise wouldn’t be so tempted to eat. This Confetti Chili is a good choice for a satisfying, colorful and filling meal that is also a good one for the family.
Ingredients needed:
- olive oil
- onion
- red bell pepper
- carrot
- ground cumin, ground coriander and dried oregano
- lean ground beef
- canned crushed tomatoes
- water
- canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
- canned black beans
- canned kidney beans
- frozen corn
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
How to make Confetti Chili:
The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.
Sauté your colorful veggies- onion, bell pepper, and carrots in a little olive oil. Add the secret spices that make this chili so good (ground cumin, ground coriander and dried oregano). There is no chili powder in this chili!
Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Here’s the best part: this chili is filling, and you will definitely feel full after eating it. The serving size is 1 1/4 cup, and for that you’ll be eating 275 calories. And, if you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card at the end of this post.
My family really likes this one a lot. It’s a nice change to make a chili that doesn’t have the usual chili powder addition. My guys don’t really like to eat chili so much on its own, but if I give them a handful of Dorito scoop chips, they’re all over it. Stay away from the chips yourself, add a side salad, and you’ve got yourself a satisfying, low fat dinner. Enjoy!
The Best Confetti Recipes:
Confetti Chili
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced (1 cup)
- 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced (1 cup)
- 1 medium carrot, diced (½ cup)- no need to peel
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean or higher)
- One 28-ounce can no-salt added crushed tomatoes, with their juices
- 2 cups water
- 1 whole canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce (seeded and minced), + 2 teaspoons of the sauce
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- One 15.5-ounce can black beans (drained and rinsed)
- One 15.5-ounce can kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1½ cups frozen corn kernels
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and carrot; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the cumin and coriander and cook, stirring for 1 minute.
- Add the ground beef; raise the heat to high and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the meat is no longer pink. Stir in the tomatoes, water, chipotle + adobo sauce, and oregano; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, partially covered, stirring from time to time, for 30 minutes.
- Stir in the beans and continue cooking, partially covered, 20 minutes longer, until the chili is nicely thickened.
- Stir in the corn and cook until heated through. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Notes
- If you are preparing this recipe as GLUTEN FREE, make sure you purchase a brand of chipotles in adobo sauce that are GF. The La Costena brand is noted as gluten-free.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can you do this in an Instant Pot or would the beans get mushy?
Not sure- I don’t know much about converting recipes to IP!