Bobby Flay Splashes This Ingredient Into His Chili For A Next-Level Taste

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay knows his way around a traditional bowl of chili, but you can leave it to him to put a few added touches to a classic. While he's definitely an expert when it comes to chile pepper paste (which he uses to instantly upgrade mayo), there is one aspect of seasoning chili that most people don't think of: adding a touch of sweetness. 

Flay adds a couple tablespoons of maple syrup to his chili recipe (which is featured on Food Network's website, if you're curious) to finish the dish at the end. The slight added bit of sugar helps balance out all the other flavors while accentuating the natural sweetness in the chiles themselves. Flay also uses a dark beer, which he reduces nearly into a syrup prior to incorporating it into the chili. Beer, at its core, contains a fair amount of sugar as well, which also lends some sweetness to his chili recipe.

Maple syrup isn't the only sweetener you can use to upgrade chili. In an interview with Bon Appétit, Bobby Flay also expressed that he likes adding honey as a sweetener for dishes that have chile-heavy profiles to them. He said, "For dishes with big, strong flavors like chiles and garlic, I like to add a little honey, maple syrup, or fruit purée." He likens this practice to balancing out the flavor of mustard with honey as the flavors just naturally compliment each other. Flay has also used honey with ancho chile as a topping for fried chicken before, playing sweet off of savory.

Since so many chili recipes neglect the idea of a sweetener, adding one is certainly another dimension to consider. I'm sure plenty of you have an opinion on whether or not the beans belong in there, too. (If you really want to rile people up, bring Cincinnati-style chili into the conversation.) Next time you're making the cold weather staple, whether its for a chili cook-off or a Super Bowl party, maybe try doing it as Flay does and stir a few tablespoons of a natural sweetener like maple syrup or honey in at the end. It just might be the final touch you were always missing.