Several years ago, some friends and I had to travel to another friend's wedding in Seattle. We all met up in our small Kansas hometown after deciding to drive and make a trip out of it. We gave ourselves 4 days to make it there so we could stop at any attraction along the way. While driving through Wyoming, we saw a billboard that advertised Chugwater as the home of the Wyoming State Chili Cookoff. The sign also mentioned that there were free samples all year long. We stopped in the tiny town, tasted some great free samples, and bought outdated discount merchandise from cookoffs that were years in the past.

Fast forward to now, I saw this on Amazon and had to try it. I was skeptical because nostalgia can be misleading. But, the taste was amazing. Recipe below:

4 Tbsp Chugwater chili seasoning
1 diced orange bell pepper
1 diced red bell pepper
1 minced chunk of garlic
5 dashes of Louisiana hot sauce
2 lbs ground beef
1 box of beef broth
2 tsp onion powder

Brown the ground beef by itself. Separately, saute the bell peppers and garlic in a little avocado oil, then add all ingredients into a pot on the stove and add a little water until the liquid covers the other ingredients. Let simmer for 2 hours. Mmmmmm... delicious. Eat with cheese on top and tortilla chips.

I'm a big chili fan, so when I saw this I took a chance. The spice is a nice mix of a couple different peppers, plus salt and granulated onion/garlic. As a spice to add to soups, omelets, or anything else you can think of, it's dead easy, although I would note that the salt content is pretty high. If you plan to add it on top of something, I wouldn't recommend salting the dish.

The flavor is warm and lasting instead of hot. This isn't the kind of chili mix where you can add more to make it hotter (IMO), because it doesn't really work that way. If you want it hotter, add some cayenne, ground habanero, or anything you have. Also, adding more Chugwater will make it very salty.

Which brings me to the area that I think Chugwater let me down. Adding salt is fine, but I think it would be great if they could come up with a no-salt option so I can use it as a spice instead of adding more salt. A hotter version would be a winner as well.

Overall, I enjoyed this, but ultimately I gave it to my mother because she loves salt, and I don't. The salt made the difference, not the spices.

4/5*

This seasoning was life changing my family begs me to make it

This has a great flavor. You can adjust the heat to your liking.

Use Hot Rotels, hot chili bean, tomato sauce simmered over browned ground chuck. BAM!!