There are a lot of ways you can make chili — you can make a hearty bowl of beer chili, or you can prepare a basic but no-less-satisfying 5-ingredient chili. But in all of these recipes, there's actually one ingredient that's missing, one that could add a whole new depth of flavor to an already savory dish.

All your chili needs is a spoonful or two of pepper jelly. Lifehacker's Claire Lower had accidentally added a quarter cup of ancho chili powder into her chili, and trying to reduce some of the excess heat, she added some Trader Joe’s pepper jelly. Although it didn’t temper the heat fully, the jelly added a sweet tanginess to the mixture and gave it a more “well-rounded” flavor.

A simple hot pepper jelly requires white vinegar, sweet red pepper, seeded habanero peppers, sugar, and liquid fruit pectin. Blend together the vinegar and peppers till a puree, pour it into a dutch oven or cast-iron pot, add sugar and boil the mixture, removing it from heat to strain the mixture and then boiling it again. Add the pectin and optional food coloring drops before canning the jelly.