The first time I tried Medifast Chili, I really regretted ordering it and I swore I would never make it again. The beans were hard and the texture was kind of foamy and disgusting. I thought it was a travesty to even call it chili. Somehow I ended up with two boxes of the stuff and they have been quietly collecting dust. However, as I’ve recently mentioned, I’ve run into some difficult times financially and decided I was going to power through all the food I didn’t like before I ordered more stuff.
The chili sat in the back of the corner, just waiting. I even put a call out on Twitter for some tips, but unlike the great Scrambled Eggs tips, I got nothing. So I decided to do what any good chili cook does – experiment. I tried out a lot of things from adding ingredients to varying the amount of water and I think I’ve come up with something that makes the Medifast Chili very edible… to my Texas tastebuds, anyway!
Here are my Medifast Chili tips! (Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, I’m limited to a camera phone for the time being.)
1. Add more than 4-oz. of water.
I know this is what the packet calls for. But my chili was coming out dry and foamy. I now add 5-6 oz. Experiment with it because only you know how thick you like your chili. With 6-oz. it comes out a little soupy.
2. Let the chili soak.
This is something I recommend for almost all the Medifast meals, but it’s super-important for the chili. I let it soak for as long as I can. Sometimes I mix the chili when I am preparing an earlier meal so it sits for 2-3 hours. This is not super-convenient, but I just cover it with a plate and let it wait.
3. Add chili powder.
After the initial 2 1/2 minutes of microwaving, I add chili powder. Quite a bit of it. Adjust this to your own tastebuds. Then heat it for an additional minute.
4. Add Salsa.
When the chili is fully cooked, I add a big spoonful of extra chunky salsa. You’ll have to steal this from your Lean and Green meal or a snack. Read the nutritional information on your salsa and decide how much you can steal from somewhere else. It’s really worth it. Mix this into the chili.
5. Add tobasco sauce.
You’ve probably noticed by now that I love spicy foods. I count the tabasco as a condiment and pound it on. Sometimes I go a little overboard, but it does make the chili really good.
6. Option – Cook it on the stove.
This is really the best-tasting option. I still end up adding the chili powder and other spicy ingredients.
These tips will help you turn your Medifast Chili into a nice juicy bowl of something that actually kind of resembles chili.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I LOVE this website!! May God bless you for doing this for all of us on the Medifast plan. I just order chili so I can't wait till it gets here so I can try this recipe. Thank you~ Thank you and keep all your awesome MF recipes and tips coming!!!
Hi Jyl! Thanks for the comment and I'm glad you're enjoying the site. I don't really have a master plan, it's just something I work on and hopefully improve over time. I'm glad that it can be helpful to people. Let us know what you think about the chili!
I didn't get any chili in my 1st order and was thinking about ordering some in my second order. I have had people say in the chat room they didn't like the chili. I'm going to order it and use the recipe Jyl has sent to you. Thanks Jyl
My husband adds a veggie burger like from MorningStar or another version. They have many flavors like Chipotle Black Bean which makes the chili really good as well.
I actually don't care for most of the soups the way they are packaged but I've found a way to make them better. I take a wire seive strainer and separate the powder from the other dry ingredients. I discard the dry bits and mix the powder with water then microwave. After heating, I add seasonings and bullion. I also sautee in pam some vegetagles early in the week and keep in the refrigerator to add to my soup (mushrooms, green onions, celery, zucchini and yellow pepper.) I add 1/2 cup of the vegetables to my soup and count that as one of my meals and one green serving from lean and green meal. The soup is much better without the dry bits that never really hydrate and stay way too chewy for my taste.TSFL
I’ve found almost every MediFast soup is made better if you use bouillon instead of water. For the chili, I recommend beef. The small bit of fat in the bouillon also reduces the foaming. Since switching to bouillon I haven’t had a single foam-over event. =-)
The pre-mix and let sit is also important. The stuff just doesn’t get rehydrated fully without it.
MediFast is an easy way to focus and stick to a simple program and lose a lot of weight. But fact is, eat 800 calories of ANYTHING spread out evenly over the course of the day (many small meals) and you’ll lose weight. So while I’ll add a thing or two, if it comes down to deconstructing and cooking ANYWAY… why spend $300 a month for MediFast?
Thanks, I’m glad I found this site early in my Medifast diet. My chili was so much better today using some of these tips.
MF chili is one of my FAVORITE meals!. Try this….I add 1/2 cup boiling water to the package contents (I boil it in an electric tea kettle, easy). Let it sit for at least a couple hours, even overnight. Nuke for a couple of minutes, until hot and thickened. Add a tablespoon or two of salsa and 1/4 lowfat shredded cheese. Delish. Remeber to count the salsa and subtract the cheese from your daily lean portions.
Thank God for this website!! I was about to send back the chili when I found your site! Now the chili is awesome thanks to you!! Going to see if I can add a little fat free cheese next time. But, hats off to you for making this amazing!!
Thank goodness for this website. I just tried the chili for the first time and it is disgusting! I am going to try some of these ideas for next time but I brought it to work with me so I was stuck.
I just fixed my first chili – I only heated for 2 min in my microwave and it got really thick – I let it sit and added probably 1/4 c of water and a teaspoon of salsa and a pinch of minced onion. put in the microwave for another minute and then it still needed something – I actually won a chili cookoff once, so this isn’t what I think of as chili, but when I added a couple drops of ketchup it did help…..not to figure out what all extras I used
Your recipes and this website has been my savior. I was about to quit because the food wasnt spicy enough and I missed getting in the kitchen. Thank you soooooo.. much.
Lin
I use my mason jars, every morning I mix 2 soups and take them to work with me and put the in the fridge, I can heat them in the glass jar, then put the lid back on and carry the dirty jar home to clean, very convient and easy, they hydriate well and then I also add spices and or bullion cubes depending on which soups, I love to add franks hot sauce to most all soups
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