Nothing goes better with football than a nice warm bowl of chili! Chili not only tastes great, but is also a wonderful “tailgate” food because you can prepare it hours before the event and not have to fuss with it once your guests start to arrive and miss out on all the pregame festivities. Its easy, warm, and delicious. So why not add it to your Super Bowl Menu! Here’s a great recipe that will leave your guests feeling satisfied and talking about what a perfect host you were for their Super Bowl experience:

Hot Italian Turkey Sausage Chili 

**If you’re not a hot and spicy person, you can alter the recipe to keep it mild

Jennie-O Hot Italian Turkey Sausage (19.5 oz) (They also have regular Turkey Sausage that is not spicy. Both are great because they taste like bratwursts but without all the calories and fat!)

½ White Onion

1/3 cup Black Olives

1 Green Bell Pepper

1 ½ cup Sliced Mushrooms (I always use the freshly sliced mushrooms that you can find in the produce section)

¼ tsp Chili Powder

2 – 15oz cans of Chili Beans (I like to use the spicy version to give it an extra kick. If you like your chili really chunky, you can always add a third can.)

3 cups Tomato Juice

1 cup Water

¾ cup Sugar (I know it’s not the healthiest, but I figure I’m healthy in most choices I make, so whenever I make chili, I always add sugar…it makes the chili!)

Directions:

1. Cut each turkey sausage in half and peel the casing/skin off of each sausage (I find cutting them in half first makes this easier). Then cut each sausage into several slices. Cook in a large skillet over medium-high heat until meat is browned. Drain off excess grease.

2. Add chopped onion to skillet, along with the turkey, and saute over low-medium heat for 3 minutes. Add bell pepper and saute for 2 minutes. Add black olives, mix in, and then sprinkle chili powder over entire mixture and saute for another 2 minutes. Pour mixture from skillet into large crock pot. Add mushrooms to crock pot and stir into mixture.

3. Add both cans of chili beans to crock pot and mix everything together. Add tomato juice and water (if you like your chili very chunky without much liquid, you can cut down on both of these, but I find this combination works perfect because the chili is still chunky but has plenty of juice to dip bread, etc into). Mix everything together.

4. Finally, pour the sugar over the entire contents of the crock pot and mix in.

5. Cook on High for 3-4 hours or Low for 6-7 hours.

Serve with cheddar cheese, sour cream, crackers, etc.

Serves 6-8

Enjoy!