Question: My Chili Tastes Bitter What Can I Do

April 25, 2010

Answers

Curt's picture

Salt and sweet. Add a bit of sugar or honey and some Thai Sweet Chili Sauce...if you have it. Smoky ancho chiles will add a different level of flavor for you also.

Chris Paulk's picture

Try adding some pan roasted tomatillos. You can used canned if you can't get fresh, but puree them to make a sauce of them. Then put just a little olive oil in a frying pan, heat till starts to look wavy and pour the pureed tomatillos in all at once. Fry the puree until the tomatillos are sweet. The longer they cook the sweeter they are. Add to your chili in batches until you get rid of the bitterness. Also I find that toasting my dried chili powder in a pan before adding it helps as well.

Helen Pitlick's picture

My mom's secret chili ingredient is molasses, which adds a little sweetness depending on how much you put in.

Paula Lehman's picture

My fiance's uncle always added about a tablespoon of brown sugar to his chili to help with bitterness. Also, sometimes adding too much green pepper can result in bitterness. I would also like to agree Curtis. Adding something smokey ancho or a bit of chipotles in adobo might also help with the bitterness, provided you enjoy that flavor profile.

Earlene Cain's picture

Thanks so much for your suggestion on removing the bitterness from chili. My brother and I made chili from a party and used three green peppers by mistake.
We will try the brown sugar solution because now it is also very spicy at this point.

sasa's picture

Did you burn the garlic? That can leave a bitter flavour.

CECILIA's picture

HOW DO I REMOVE THE BITTER TASTE IN MY PORK CHILE VERDE...?