What kind of chili? Just a good ol regular chili, or like a Texas style with no beans?
My family's recipe is:
1 big can of crushed tomatoes (or diced if you like them more chunky), might take 2 cans depending on how much liquid is left after simmering
1 small can of tomato paste
1 can of beans (you can add black, pinto, kidney) make sure to rinse the beans
1 chopped onion
2 pound ground beef
lots of chili powder to taste, salt, pepper, thyme, cumin to taste
I add green pepper, and sometimes celery to mine. You can add whatever you like.
Brown the beef half way, drain any fat, and add onion/veggies and saute with beef until it's cooked. Then throw everything else in the pool basically and simmer it for a few hour. Add seasonings to taste and more crushed tomatoes or water to thin it out of you like.
This recipe isn't too tomatoey since it uses crushed or diced tomatoes and not tomato sauce (which would be disgusting).