Best Ever Chili

I know, I know. I hate it when recipes say things like best ever Chili. Or world’s best Chili. Or Most Incredible Chili. But… Seriously. This was one of the very best things I have EVER COOKED. This is definitely ranking on the top 5 things I have cooked. I was sorta shocked something this delicious and incredible came out of my kitchen! Taking credit for making this chili and sharing the recipe with you – makes me super happy and why I do this blog. 😁

When dinner surprises me – you know it’s special.

This isn’t a weekday thing…

So, unless you have 5+ hours on a weekday – save this recipe for a weekend. With fall upon us and winter and holidays coming quick – consider getting the ingredients together and make a day of it. Fire in the fireplace ? Football on the TV ? Cozy clothes on and Chili on the stove ?

Do all the steps. Yes, All of them.

This recipe has a handful of different steps and I truly believe that it is ALL WORTH IT.

Chile vs. Chili :

Chiles are the name of the peppers – usually NOT eaten raw in a dehydrated form.  Whole pods are rehydrated and cooked or processed into pastes and sauces and used in recipes.

CHILI is a spicy, meaty stew or a finished dish containing “chile peppers.”

Did you know that ? I didn’t. I mean it sorta hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday while preparing the Chili. Call me blonde, whatevs’. But, when I was little, my mom used to make chili fairly frequently. My mom’s chili had ground beef and kidney beans in it and tomato sauce / paste / soup…. and we ate it over rice. It wasn’t until much later in life that I was introduced to the actual chile pepper when I made my own enchilada sauce from dried chiles…. but in any case…. let’s get on with it !

Best Ever Chili requires Dried Chiles :

The base recipe that I used called for dried Ancho peppers OR dried Guajillo chiles. Because I’m fascinated by food / ingredients and love southwestern food, I just happened to have both in my pantry. I also went to the grocery to buy the beef – and came across the dried California peppers. So, of course I used all three. Now that I have some of all three – that will become standard in my recipe – likely adding to the complexity of flavors this chili has.

Dried Ancho Chile Peppers

Dried Ancho Chile Peppers are the dried version of Poblano’s. I love Poblanos – they are ever so slightly / occasionally warm – and considered LOW on the Scoville scale (500-1,500) and I love to have them on hand, in the veg drawer – ready and waiting for some southwest cooking. #VegItUp. Why wouldn’t I also, then, love the dried version? Seems like a no brainer… (On the bottom of the chile picture below)

Dried Guajillo Chile Peppers

Dried Guajillo Chile Peppers are the dried version of Mirasol chiles – which are very commonly used chili in northern Mexican cooking – used in salsa and stews. They are much sweeter than you might expect, and rather than spicy – they can run fruity or tart or tangy and slightly smokey. Are you getting where the flavor of this chili comes from ? On the Scoville scale these peppers come in a little bit hotter in the 2500 – 5000 unit range. However, once they are blended and added to tomatoes etc – the heat is barely noticeable / a lot milder. (Top left in pic below – the darker peppers)

Dried California Chile Peppers

Dried California Chile Peppers are dried Anaheim Chiles – which are a mild to medium hot pepper named for the city of Anaheim in SoCal. These peppers add a smoky, fruity heat to recipes. California peppers are not very spicy and are often combined with other peppers to enhance the flavor. California peppers are low on the Scoville scale, with only 500-2,500 units. (Reddish peppers – top right – in pic below)

As reference, a Jalapeno normally falls between 2,000 and 8,000 on the Scoville scale – depending on where / when it’s grown, amount of sunlight, PH of the dirt etc…

Beer ?

Yes, 12 oz of beer. I don’t typically cook with beer. But for some reason – this recipe called for it and I went with it. I do not drink beer. It doesn’t typically agree with me. Because there are so many other ingredients in the chili – I figured all would be fine. And it was. People who don’t drink had my chili and didn’t notice / didn’t have a problem. Buy one can of beer – or use whatever you have on hand.

Quick and Easy Side :

I know – literally – I know. You just spent 5 hours making chili – but what else are you going to serve ? How about Easy Peasy Cornbread Muffins? That’s what I did. The recipe is here. Will take less than 30 minutes (total) and is the perfect accompaniment with your Chili.

OK …. Ready to Make Chili ???

Best Ever Chili

This Chili is part beef stew, includes beans, but not too many, and has a huge depth of flavor from the dried chiles, ground chiles and fresh chiles. Tomatoes, beef stock and beer round out key ingredients making for quite likely the best chili you have ever made.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Southwestern

Servings 8 Healthy Bowls

Calories 611 kcal

Equipment

• Large Soup or Stock Pot 7-8 Qt. plus
• Food Processor OR Blender

Ingredients

  

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Chile Paste

• 2 Dried Ancho Chiles
• 2 Dried Guajillo Chiles
• 3 Dried California Chiles
• Pepper Soaking Liquid (Water) SAVE IT
• 6 oz Tomato Paste I used *most* of the can
• 4 Cloves Garlic LARGE Cloves or Extra Cloves

Toasted Spices

• ¼ C Chili Powder
• 1½ tsp Smoked Paprika
• 2 tsp Cumin rounded teaspoons !

Cook Ground Beef Mix

• 1 LB Ground Beef
• 1½ tsp Chicago Steak Seasoning or Montreal Steak Seasoning or whatever you have

Sear / Brown Tri-Tip Roast

• 2.6 LB Tri Tip Roast Trimmed then cut into ½" cubes (I took off a bunch of fat – guessing I had ~2.2 lbs or a little more when finished)
• 2 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Pepper

Fresh Vegetables

• 1 Large Jalapeno Stemmed, deseeded and diced
• 1½ Large Onions Diced
• 3-4 Anaheim Peppers Stemmed, deseeded and diced – you could also consider subbing fresh poblano's if you can find them.

Remainder of Chili Ingredients

• 2 tsp Oregano
• 1/2 tsp Dried Pepper Flakes
• 4 C Beef Stock
• 8-12 oz Beer
• 29 oz Diced Tomatoes 2 Cans; Fire Roasted if you have them
• 14½ oz Pinto Beans Drained and Rinsed
• 3 Corn Tortillas, chopped small or 3 Tbl Masa or Corn Flour*

Serving Accoutrements

• Sour Cream
• Shredded Cheese
• Cilantro
• Green Onions
• Crushed Tortilla Chips
• Fresh Avocado

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Instructions

 

Prepare the Chile Paste

• Boil up ~3 C water (Teapot or Micro). Put your dried chile's into a bowl and place boiling water over the chile's and let them steep for 20-25 minutes. RESERVE the LIQUID. You may need to use spoons or another smaller bowl to get the peppers to sink. You can also de-stem / de-seed the peppers before hand.
  
• Clean the chiles (If you haven't already) – and place the chile pods into your blender or food processor.
• Add most of the can of tomato paste to the blender or food processor.
• Smash and remove skin from the garlic and add to the blender or food processor.
  
• Add some of the steeping chile liquid to the blender / food processor to help it process the peppers etc. I used maybe 2/3 C plus more… didn't really measure. You want the peppers to process thoroughly – and adding liquid helps. You should end up with a thick paste. Thinner than tomato paste, but still rather thick and clumpy. Less than 1 C of water ought to be required…
  

Dry Toast Spices

• Combine toasting spices in a small sturdy pan and heat for 3-4 minutes. Gently shake the pan to cook the spices evenly. Toast until the spices are fragrant. Spices are ready when they are fragrant and have a slight change in color.
  
• Take the seasonings off the heat and set aside.

Cook the Ground Beef with Seasoning

• In your dutch oven / soup pot cook the meat with the steak seasoning and then drain out the fat. Take the meat out and set aside.
  

Prepare the Tri Tip and Brown / Sear

• Cut up the tri-tip roast – removing excessive fat from the outside. I cut off a bunch of the fat on the roast prior to chopping into small ½" ish pieces.
  
• Note: I always use a different cutting board for my meat. ONLY cut VEG on my main cutting board.
• Sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper – typically ~1 tsp of salt per LB of meat and half as much pepper. (my rule of thumb). I used my hands to mix up the meat and the S&P.
• Add oil (olive or avacado?) to the soup pot and then sear the meat – I did 3 min per side and stirred the meat / flipped the meat after the first 3 minutes. ~6 minutes per batch of meat. I did 3 batches of the meat – as to not crowd the meat. (If you crowd the meat you get steamed meat – not seared meat.)
• Take the meat out of the pot and set aside.

While Meat is Searing – Chop Fresh Veg

• Clean and chop the peppers / onions while the meat is searing
  

After meat is seared – sweat the veg

• Add some more oil to the pan (ever since Italy and the Nonna's….I use MUCH more olive oil than I did previously. It adds a LOT of flavor) and sweat the veg for 5-10 minutes till soft. This will also deglaze your pan at the same time which is fantastic – b/c as Anne Burrell says, brown food tastes good !
  

Add everything else into the soup pan, stir and cook on medium / medium low for a couple of hours.

• Stir periodically. The stew / soup should bubble slightly. You don't want the heat so high that the soup / stew / chili sticks to the bottom of the pan.
  
• *I didn't add the tortillas till after the chili cooked for a while. I thought it might get thicker on its own. It didn't. Then I added the corn tortillas. Make sure they are 100% CORN or use Masa or Corn Flour. Then you need to low boil the chili to get the corn tortillas to break down and thicken the stew.
  
• Cook a while longer. Prepare any accoutrements and serve to your friends and family.
  

Notes

I have had hundreds (?) of cooking mags piling up under my large family room foot rest / coffee table, for years and years while I was working…  One of my retirement To-Do’s was to go through all the mags and find some yummy recipes and make them. 

I found the base recipe for this chili in the Nov 2018 Taste of Home Magazine that I just read.  Ha. 

I modified it fairly liberally, using what I had, what I wanted, more meat, different beans, more chiles, more broth etc etc.

My friends had the nicest things to say about this chili. It really was THAT good.  Make it! 

“Complex chile flavors without being overpowering or too hot.”

“Beans, but not too many.” 

“Sort of like a stew – with the chunks of Beef.” 

Consider serving with Corn Muffins.

The calories below are for 8 big hearty bowls / very large servings.  You could likely get 10 servings out of the pot…

Nutrition

Calories: 611kcalCarbohydrates: 45gProtein: 52gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 136mgSodium: 1461mgPotassium: 1916mgFiber: 14gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 5452IUVitamin C: 25mgCalcium: 185mgIron: 9mg

Keyword Beef Stock, Canned Tomatoes, Chile Peppers, Chili, Ground Beef, Onion, Peppers, Steak

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!