The Canned Ingredient You Need To Seriously Stop Overlooking For Chili

Chili is one of those foods that has the power to inspire arguments. Beans or no beans? Whammy ingredients like cocoa powder or cinnamon, or heck to the no? Ingredient swaps: do they make chili better, or mess up a pot of otherwise hearty goodness? Every home cook has their opinions. There's one ingredient that you should be using in your chili, however, no matter what the nuances of your secret recipe are. Unbelievably, it comes in a can, but it's going to absolutely slam flavor into your chili pot. Hear us out: you need to be using Rotel tomatoes.

Of course you're already using canned tomatoes for your chili. And, because you're a smart cookie, you're even checking the labels on your canned tomatoes for sugar and sodium content to better assess what impact their ingredients could have on your dish. Chili is, after all, all about a harmonious marriage of flavors. What Rotel has over other canned tomatoes is that it packs in the flavor, thanks to high-quality tomatoes, spicy green chili peppers, and a proprietary blend of spices that gives the product an inimitable zest. Considering that chili has to usually cook for several hours to develop a great taste, Rotel is an invaluable shortcut to delicious flavor that will free up some valuable time to lavish attention on your other ingredients.

There are so many options for canned tomatoes that you really should peruse a guide before taking your chances at the grocery store, but Rotel stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to flavoring chili. First of all, you can choose your level of desired spiciness, because Rotel comes in mild, medium, and hot varieties. Right there, this is an invaluable shortcut for chili cooks, because controlling heat levels in a dish can be tricky. Secondly, you get that great spice blend that's in Rotel tomatoes. Obviously, the exact composition is a secret, but some copycat recipes suggest oregano and either coriander or fresh cilantro.

Considering that building flavor is the main goal when cooking chili, Rotel goes a long way as an ingredient by imbuing your dish with some amazing taste right off the bat. As chili peppers and tomatoes are near-universal ingredients in chili recipes, it's also a safe bet that Rotel tomatoes are going to adapt nicely to your own particular pot of chili.