The Secrets Of Brian Baumgartner’s Famous Chili Have Been Revealed!

Actor Brian Baumgartner will forever be known as the world’s most loveable loser, Kevin Malone, from the hit NBC show The Office, and in recent years he has come to not only accept that, but embrace it. He has been the host of three different podcasts that look back on his old show and offer new insights, first with the Spotify Original An Oral History of the Office, then The Office Deep Dive followed by Off the Beat.

As Kevin, Brian had many memorable moments over the show’s enduring nine-season run but perhaps none stuck in the minds of viewers more than the time that he came to work with a giant pot of his famous chili and accidentally spilled it all over the floor and tried in vain to scoop it back in. It is this aspect of Kevin Malone’s character that Brian has seemingly embraced the most as he began the show as a complete chili neophyte and now is such a fan that he helped judge the 2021 world championship chili cook-off.

Today his new book ‘Seriously Good Chili Cookbook: 177 of the Best Recipes in the World” has launched and in addition to the recipes it features a forward by fellow Office actor Oscar Nunez, as well as facts, figures, and a short history of chili and a cartoon version of Brian offers tips throughout.

Brian has said that one of the reasons that people loved The Office so much was that “it was about ordinary people doing ordinary things and often failing to do those things.” It was so popular that it has created a communal aspect and that’s the big reason Brian has embraced chili – it brings comfort. Chili is usually cooked in a large pot like Kevin had on the show and so it’s often cooked for families or groups and many of those same groups also love the classic sitcom The Office in a nice bit of synergy.

An avid golfer, Kevin says he loves golf for many of the same reasons he likes chili – because he can commit to it for four plus hours and focus on that one thing and it makes all his worries go away for a while. And just like his golf game, Brian is always trying to improve his chili game plus at the end of his creation he gets to share it with people he cares about.

It all started when he decided to try his hand at making a pot of chili with someone else’s recipe and he took a picture of it and posted it online. People responded so positively he thought it would be fun to keep it going. So he kept experimenting with that basic recipe and learned all the nuances and loves all the many ingredients and spices you can use in chili – chicken, white bean, green chili, chili with and without beans, brisket, ground beef, ground turkey, etc.

In embracing chili, Brian was embracing a love he developed organically as he decided that he didn’t want to work on something he didn’t love and he really loved the chili cookoff. “They are all winners!”, he said in describing the cooks. “I love the passion behind it. They way they discuss every little thing about the making of chili reminds me of how the only people interested in your round of golf are other golfers.”

Of course Brian’s own “Seriously Good Chili Recipe” is the first recipe listed, and yes he absolutely is a Bush’s Bean man. “There’s nothing better,” he says proudly.

Brian says this is the most comprehensive book on chili there is and with the backing of the world champions of chili I have little reason to doubt him. This is a tremendously fun book to read as well as eat along to! I don’t know if people getting together and making chili could heal the world, but it’s not a bad place to start.

The book is available now and is filled with mouth watering pictures of all kinds of chili and in-process pictures of how to make them.