Food - Drink
The Best Way To Thicken
Up Chili
By TALIN VARTANIAN
Chili is whipped up by many home cooks who are longing for spicy, smoky, and hearty flavor, and while it's a fairly easy dish to make, some folks run into a problem where it becomes thin and watery. This can be corrected by dumping out the excess liquids or adding masa harina (a common thickening agent), but there's actually another way to thicken up chili.
Experts suggest adding crushed-up corn chips or tortilla chips to thicken your chili mixture back up. This is because the chips will act as a sponge, helping soak up liquids from the meat, tomatoes, and beans, making it a great textural contrast to the softness of the chili mixture — just make sure to use low sodium chips or avoid adding salt into the mix.
You can also try incorporating the crushed-up, salty chips a little bit at a time, checking periodically for flavor. Just make sure to keep the mixture simmering for 10 minutes so the chips have enough time to marry with the other flavors and soak up excess liquids.