Common mistakes when making chili are not browning the meat properly, using store bought spice packets or bland spices and dumping the beans in at the very beginning of making the chili.
Also failing to simmer the pot of chili long enough for the flavors to properly meld together is also another common mistake when making chili.
For the meats and vegetable prep for the chili, some common mistakes when making the chili include steaming instead of searing, skipping the aromatics and adding beans too early.
If you stir the ground meat continuously, the ground meat will boil in it's own juices and turn gray.
Instead let the meat sit in a hot pot for a few minutes undisturbed to build a deep, flavorful crust, through the Maillard reaction before you break it up.
And don't throw your aromatics like your raw onions and garlic straight into the liquid of the chili.
Instead Saute the aromatics like raw onions and garlic first in some oil or even rendered bacon fat until they are translucent to coax out the sweetness of the aromatics first.
Also canned beans are fully cooked already and if you use canned beans and add them too early at the start of a 2 hour simmer of your chili, they will dissolve into mush.
Instead add the canned beans in the last 20 to 30 minutes of cooking the chili, just to heat the canned beans through and absorb the flavor.
For the seasoning and flavor, it's best to build layers of flavor to your chili by adding in fresh individual spices such as garlic, smoked paprika, coriander, cumin and even different chili powders like chipotle or ancho.
Also not blooming the spices and using water as your liquid base for your chili are also common mistakes when making chili.
When making chili you should toast the ground spices in the oil/fat or with your vegetables for 30 seconds to a minute before you add the liquids.
Doing this and blooming the spices unlocks the fat soluble flavors in the spices.
And water dilutes the chili, so instead you should use beef or chicken stock or add dark beer if you prefer to add depth and complexity.
When people make chili, the cooking technique is also commonly done wrong.
Making perfect chili, requires low and slow cooking and if you only simmer the chili for 30 minutes, the flavor of the chili will remain disjointed and the spices won't have time to mature properly.
So allow it to go for at least an hour or even several hours on low heat.
And if the chili is too watery, the water needs to evaporate and thicken the chili.
So you should cook the chili uncovered or partially covered so the liquid can reduce and the chili reaches the right hearty consistency.