I’m making chili tomorrow. I do it with typical spices, onions, garlic, peppers, beans, and tomatoes.
While I have never done this before… I am considering throwing together all of the above, and popping it into the fridge overnight. Then cooking the meat in the morning and adding it all to the crockpot.
Will the time in the fridge allow for more flavor development, or would this somehow be a mistake? I prefer doing my chili on low for 6 hours.
I have a number of dishes which are clearly marked: make day in advance.
chili is one of those - actually a two day advance as I start with dried beans.
brown the meat, make the chili, put it all together, simmer 2-3 hours.
chill overnight, reheat 2-3 hours next day.
I don’t think you’re going to get more flavor development really since chili is such a long slow cook anyway . . .but I don’t think you’ll hurt anything either.
I agree with HO above too - chili is always good reheated, so you could cook it the day before then reheat.
Honestly, if you are going to start a day ahead, make the chili itself the day ahead. Then let it cool and hang out in the fridge overnight. The flavors will have more opportunity to develop in this scenario than putting the raw ingredients together to mingle uncooked. Chili, like pretty much all stews, is better in the next day or two.
I get that the finished chili is better the next day or two (or even from frozen), but that is not what I was asking. My question was about doing everything other than the meat ahead of time so I could expedite things the next day.
So I just finished prepping/mixing everything but meat and placed it in the fridge. I’ll see how it turns out tomorrow. Unfortunately my Safeway order substituted SM tomatoes for out of stock Cento’s… hopefully that won’t be an issue.
You should be just fine with this method, but keep in mind your crockpot will need more time to get to the proper temperature due to the cold ingredients. You’ll probably need to add an hour to the cook time to offset this.
FWIW, the recipe I have for Texas Roadhouse chili has seven dried spices, and I premix them in batches. I realize you’re asking about wet ingredients as well. (If the beans are dried, I’m skeptical about throwing everything in a crock pot.)
So tasting my meatless ingredients this morning (after overnight in the fridge) did provide a bit more spicy/smokey flavor. We’ll see if that actually makes a difference in the finished chili… but that is hours away. (c;
BTW… not a fan of the texture of the SM tomatoes (as opposed to the Centos). Seemed less ripe and inconsistent. Doubt it will make a difference in the finished chili, but thought I’d mention it (would def be a no-no for uncooked pizza sauce).
