Spilling the beans: Try this slightly tingly chicken chili but use the right size pot

What can I say about chili that hasn’t already been said? It’s warm, it’s comforting and all those fiber-filled beans make it relatively healthy. You can eat a big bowl topped with sour cream, cheese and olives or you can ladle your chili over a hot dog, although I personally like to keep my chili and my hot dogs far apart. You could also indulge in chili cheese fries, the American poutine (a Canadian dish wherein fries are covered in gravy and squeaky cheese curds; don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it). As for me, I’ll take my fries plain with extra mustard, like a normal person.

Chili is as easy as throwing everything in a slow cooker and going to work for the day, then coming home to the tantalizing aroma of onions, peppers and spices. Chili is as individual and idiosyncratic as the person who makes it and may depend entirely on the person’s mood and whatever’s in the pantry. So here is my spur-of-the-moment recipe for ever-so-slightly-spicy chicken chili. It won’t make smoke come out of your ears but it will make your tongue tingle.

You can follow it to the letter or you can do what I’d do and make a dozen changes according to your whims and tastes. Use different beans, replace the chicken with beef or pork, add corn and olives, and top it with Fritos and extra onions. If I had my druthers, I’d always make chili with corn but my husband absolutely despises corn kernels even though he loves corn chips and popcorn. He is a man of many entertaining contradictions who, sadly, isn’t amused when I helpfully point them out.

Here is one very important thing I learned about chili this time around: Do not put more chili ingredients in your slow cooker than your slow cooker can comfortably contain. It’s something brainy about how heat causes molecules to vibrate and therefore take up more space. I filled my slow cooker right to the brim and naturally, when I turned the slow cooker on high and it came to a boil, the chili bubbled right out from underneath the lid and all over my kitchen counter. The thing is, I figured it would boil over, yet I overfilled it anyway. That’s my personality in a nutshell — deliberately ignoring the laws of physics at my own peril.

This disaster did have one advantage, however: It siphoned off some of the liquid from what proved to be a very liquidinous (not a real word, but still fun to say) chili. However, even after several more hours of simmering, the chili was still on the soupy side, so I removed two or three ladlefuls of liquid and enjoyed a bonus bowl of spicy broth. My advice to you, if you want a thicker chili, would be to drain the beans and tomatoes before adding them, as much as I hate to waste flavorful juices. You could also omit the green enchilada sauce. It will lessen that wonderful tomatillo flavor but, if you like a milder chili, it will reduce the overall spice level to a nice, even blandness, just like my husband likes it. (To increase the spice, use a spicier enchilada sauce and hot as opposed to mild Hatch chiles.)

I used a few secret flavor enhancers for this chili, which you’re welcome to leave out if you think they’re too weird: molasses, which adds a caramelly flavor; soy sauce, which adds a bit of salty umami flavor; and hoisin sauce, a sweet-salty Chinese sauce that adds — well, I can’t really say precisely what it adds, but I know it’s tasty. Foodies might call it “depth of flavor,” but you can just call it fermented soybean paste with vinegar and garlic. What’s not to love?

Opinions vary on how long one should cook chili in a slow cooker. But the internet, the ultimate arbiter of disputes, says that chili should be cooked for eight hours on low or four hours on high. I usually cook it for two or three hours on high and then turn it to low so that it can simmer and stay warm until I’m ready to eat it. I stir it occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick to the pot. But even on days when I can’t monitor the pot, the worst that will happen is some of the chili will form a glue-like adhesion to the bottom of the pot that’s challenging to scrub off. It’s a small price to pay for a hot dinner that’s ready when I walk in the door, tired from a long day of sitting quietly at my desk, sipping tea and thinking of clever quips to conclude my column.

Slightly Tingly Chicken Chili

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 15.5-ounce can pinto beans

1 15.5-ounce can black beans

1 14.5-ounce can diced, fire-roasted tomatoes

1 4-ounce can mild Hatch chiles

1 10-ounce can mild green chili enchilada sauce

1 medium onion

1 bell pepper, any color

2 small cubes chicken bouillon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon salt or more salt to taste

1-2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish

1 tablespoon molasses

1-2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a two-quart slow cooker. Cook on high for four hours or on low for eight hours, stirring occasionally. (Draining cans of beans and tomatoes is optional but will make thicker chili.)

An hour or so before serving, break chicken up with a fork to allow it to absorb the chili flavor.

Serve with an array of toppings: sour cream, cotija or queso fresco, fresh cilantro, roasted corn, olives or lime slices.