Nacho Cheesy Chili

Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of oil. Cook the onions for about 2 minutes or until they just begin to soften. Add the ground beef, 1 1/4 teaspoons of kosher salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Cook until brown, then drain.

To the browned meat, add the chili seasoning, cumin, garlic, tomato paste, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the V8 juice, chili beans, can of tomatoes, crushed Doritos, and any of the optional ingredients listed above. Do NOT add the cheeses yet. Stir, cover, and bring to a simmer.

Reduce the heat to maintain a very gentle simmer (around medium-low). Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the cheeses and stir to combine. Allow the cheese to melt for about a minute then stir again. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper as needed. It is highly likely you will need more salt. I add anywhere from 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of additional kosher salt (half that amount for table salt) but I’ll let you decide how much to add. The chili should be rich and thick and the ground beef should be very tender. If it is too thick, add a little water or V8 Juice.

To serve, ladle some chili into a bowl and top with some additional Doritos and freshly grated cheddar cheese.

Notes:

Chili seasoning and chili powder are technically different things. Popular brands of chili seasoning include Williams and McCormick. Chili seasoning contains chili powder as the primary ingredient but also includes things like onion powder, garlic powder, etc. If you can’t find chili seasoning, no biggie. Use chili powder instead.

Why V8 Juice? V8 juice is made up of several pureed veggies including tomatoes, carrots, celery, and more. Plain tomato juice or canned tomato sauce does not have the same depth of flavor.

To make 1/3 cup of finely crushed Doritos, measure out 1 cup of Doritos, breaking each Dorito into a few pieces so they lay properly in the cup. If you have some Doritos left in the bottom of the bag that are already in small pieces, this is a great use for them. Dump the cup of Doritos into a resealable bag and use a rolling pin to finely crush the chips. After they are finely crushed, you’ll have about 1/3 cup.

You really need to use freshly grated cheese in this instead of the stuff that comes pre-shredded. Pre-shredded cheeses contains stabilizers that can sometimes impede melting. For this reason, I highly recommend that you use freshly grated cheese in this recipe.