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Monday, March 16, 2020

Cast Iron Chili + Cheddar Drop Biscuits


This recipe for Cast Iron Chili is a savory, hearty meal for sharing with friends and family and great for any camping excursion, especially if you're craving something warm and filling! The Cheddar Drop Biscuits are light and fluffy, best enjoyed by dunking right into your steaming bowl of chili goodness!


We were excited to try out our new cast iron set, gifted to us by Piper's parents, Craig and Georgia. After some scrubbing and seasoning, we were ready to try them out over our campfire grill!


For this recipe, we foraged for wood and made our own coals on the campfire grill, but you could also use charcoal or a gas burning grill for outdoor cooking!


Check out the video below to watch us cooking this fun and filling campfire meal, and read on to find the full recipes!


What You'll Need:


1 Large Cast Iron Pan
1 Small Cast Iron Pan
1 Cast Iron Dutch Oven



For the Chili


Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 medium yellow onion
1 bell pepper
2 cans diced tomatoes
4 cans beans

Spices:
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp oregano
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat, then add hamburger and cook until browned. Drain and set aside. In this recipe, we specified 1 pound of ground beef, but we ended up using twice that amount, as you'll see in our video! It made for a really hearty chili, for sure!

Heat a cast iron Dutch oven over medium high heat. Our wood still had some flames while we were cooking, so our chili would get to a good, hot simmer. Heat a drizzle of oil in the Dutch oven, then add the onions and bell peppers and sauté until slightly softened. Then add in the remainder of the ingredients and cover with the lid. Cook for 15 minutes or so (depending on your heat), stirring periodically, until the chili is bubbling and the flavors are melded together nicely. Take the Dutch oven off the flames and get ready to make your cheddar drop biscuits!


For the Biscuits


Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
4 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup milk or nut milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
We used olive oil to coat a small cast iron pan, just about 1 Tbsp will do. Heat the pan over a low-heat campfire or grill until it feels warm when holding your hand an inch or two over the pan. (Don't touch the pan, ouch!) In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter (or pour it in melted) and then add the milk or nut milk, followed by the shredded cheddar cheese. Stir until mixture is combined and very sticky, then drop biscuit-sized dough pieces into the hot pan. Place a cast iron lid over the biscuits and bake over low heat for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on your heat level. Don't place them over high flames, as the bottom of the biscuits will burn. We did this with one batch, and just cut off the blackened part. The next batch was cooked over coals that were dying, and the biscuits turned out perfect! They have a smoky flavor from the firewood, and are a great pairing for the warm and savory chili.


RV Foodie Tips


We like to use organic herbs and spices when we can, along with coarse grain kosher saltorganic black peppercorns, and aluminum-free baking powder. Our RV lifestyle has brought our health into the forefront, and we like to choose the most nutritious and safe foods to put into our bodies. Pantry items should be just as important as the more commonly organic meats, veggies and fruits!

Make it Vegan:
Just leave out the meat from the chili and the use vegan substitutes for the cheese, butter and milk.

Make it Low Carb / Keto:
Leave out the beans from the chili and use almond flour or another flour substitute for the biscuits.


Cooking with cast iron has been a fun adventure, and we can't wait to try out some recipes from some great cookbooks we recently added to our collection, the Lodge Skillet Full Cookbook and the Coleman Outdoor Adventure Cookbook.


We hope you enjoy this recipe from our campground to yours! Please leave a comment to let us know if you tried this recipe, and feel free to let us know your favorite cast iron recipes!

Happy Eating!

Tam & Piper



   
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1 comment

  1. The video made me hungry...should have had some when I had the chance. Spotted my old bus in the background. :-) Hope you're doing well.

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