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Learn how to make real Texas Chili! Hearty and warm bowls of Chili con Carne loaded with spices and made with chunks of beef! This chili recipe will warm you from your fingers to your toes!
It’s chili season!
And Texans love their chili!
Today, I’m bringing you a Texas Chili recipe that’s loaded with all the seasonings, onion, fresh garlic, and jalapeños pepper. Texas-style chili has the most amazing deep and rich flavor. A bowl of this stuff will keep you warm on the chilliest nights. And seeing as how I’ve lived in Texas for most of my life, I like to think that I’m a bit of a Texas chili authority!
Chili con carne just happens to be perfect for football season. Toss it together on Sunday morning. By the afternoon, you’ve got a slow-simmered Texas Chili that’s just waiting to be topped with all your faves and served straight from a large Dutch oven.
Chili is nothing new around here. I’ve shared an instant pot version, a pumpkin chili, one that comes with a cornbread crust, a chili dip, and a vegetarian butternut squash chili. This goes without saying, but clearly, comfort food is my spirit animal.
Most of the recipes I’ve shared in the past start with ground beef, chicken, or turkey. Today’s Texas chili, or chili con carne as it’s called down here, is made with chunks of beef.
I made this for my office chili cookoff and it WON! Thank you for a great recipe. One of the things that a lot of people like about was the tender chunks of meat instead of ground meat.
Does Texas Chili have beans?
If you ask a Texan, they’ll tell you it’s a hard NO. But as someone who can’t get on board with a 99% meat-based chili, I add a can of beans.
Now before I start getting hate mail, please note, you don’t have to do this. I’m just letting you know it’s an option.
Making the chili paste starter
Texas-style chili is thickened in two ways: cornmeal or pieces of corn tortilla. Cornmeal is also called masa harina; it’s just milled a little differently. To make the chili paste starter, we’ll mix all the dry ingredients in the recipe, like cornmeal, chipotle chili powder, ground cumin, coriander, Mexican oregano, smoked paprika, kosher salt, and a few others mixed with a bit of water to form a thick paste. Some people add cinnamon, cocoa powder and a few other ingredients to make this. The paste is where all the Texas chili flavor comes from.
Choosing beef for your chili con carne recipe
Texas chili is all about that meat. You want to use something that’s well-marbled and can withstand a longer cooking time. Chuck roast or meat are both good options.
If you decide to use a beef chuck roast, just be sure to trim as much of the fat as you can. You don’t need that. But know that stew beef can also work here. Just be sure to take your time in selecting the package.
You want the beef chunks to be 1–1½ inch cubes so that all the meat cooks up evenly.
Making Texas Chili
- Sear the meat. Once the paste is ready, I like to take a couple of minutes to sear off the meat in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. The brown bits that are left behind in the pot are because of a Maillard reaction that occurs when you sear the meat. That’s free flavor that only costs about 5 minutes of your time.
- Proceed as usual! Remove the meat, cook the onions, green bell peppers, and scrape down the pot to get all those brown-bit flavors. Then come the garlic; right after that, we’ll add our cooking liquids.
- The liquid part is something to play with! Most Texas chili recipes call for a bottle of beer, beef stock, and some form of tomato. I use all beef broth, a bit of water, and tomato sauce. Diced tomatoes aren’t something you commonly find in Texas chili. You want to use passata or low or no sodium tomato sauce. I’ve even used brewed coffee in my chili recipe after I read about it somewhere. It had the most amazingly smoky, rich flavor.
- Let chili con carne simmer. Let this hang out and simmer on low heat. Give it a stir every half hour or so. Keep an eye on the cooking liquid as well. If you prefer a thicker chili, just let it simmer for a bit uncovered at the end so that some of that liquid evaporates.
Why you’ll love this chili con carne recipe
The tender chunks of beef just melt in your mouth. It’s the perfect recipe to slow cook on a Sunday and enjoy through out the week. The leftovers taste even better as they sit in the fridge or you can tuck half away in the freezer for later.
To serve, I like:
- Fritos: sturdier than tortilla chips so they hold up much better with the chili, plus Frito pies – enough said.
- Dollop of Sour Cream
- Chopped sweet onions
- Cheddar Cheese
- Cilantro
- But you could totally make some Hatch Chili Cornbread too!
Enjoy guys! This one’s a home run or err… I mean a touchdown for us!
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Taco Chili
- Skillet Chili with Jalapeño Cornbread
- Chipotle Butternut Squash Chili
- Hatch Chile Cornbread
- Instant Pot Mexican Chili with Black Beans
Rancher’s Texas Chili Recipe (Chili con Carne)
Equipment
Ingredients
Chili Paste Starter:
- 3 tablespoons ancho chili powder
- 3 tablespoons cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
Texas Chili:
- 3 ½ -4 pounds stew meat or chuck roast cut into 1 – 1¼ inch chunks
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 poblano peppers diced (or bell peppers)
- 1-5 jalapeños minced
- 8-12 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 4 cups beef broth*
- 1 (14 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 (14 ounce) pinto beans rinsed and drained (BUT OPTIONAL!)
Instructions
- PASTE: Combine the ingredients for the paste in a small bowl and slowly stir in 1/2 cup of hot water. Mix and set this aside for now.
- SEAR THE MEAT: Season the meat with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Heat a large chili pot over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pot and add a few pieces of meat at a time. Sear the meat on all sides, about 2-3 minutes and remove it to a plate. Repeat the process until all the meat is seared. You may need a little more oil than what's listed just depends on how well marbled the meat is.
- CHILI: If you need it, add another drizzle of oil to the pan along with the chopped onions and the poblanos. Use a wooden spoon to help scrape any brown bits left behind by the meat and cook for 5 minutes. Then, add the garlic and jalapeños and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add the prepared chili paste to the pot and stir it in so that it coats everything nicely. Allow the paste to cook for 1 minute before adding the brown sugar, Worcestershire, beef broth, tomato sauce, 1 cup water and ½ teaspoon salt. Use the wooden spoon to scrape the bottom so that none of the chili paste is sticking.
- COOK: Add the seared meat and allow the chili to come to a boil before lowering the heat to low and allowing it to cook for 2 ½ – 3 ½ hours. Set aside 1 cup of water and add in a ¼ cup every time you stir the chili if it's thickened. Stir the chili every 30-45 minutes to make sure it's not sticking. You may not need all of the water if you're going bean-free, with beans you generally need a little more. I like to add the beans around the 2-hour mark so that they have a chance to cook for at least half an hour before serving. Serve topped with all your favorite chili toppings!
Notes
- If you decide to use a chuck roast, just be sure to trim as much of the fat as you can. You don’t need that. The natural marbling is more than enough. If you leave on the extra fat, the chili will end up being really oily at the end and you’ll need to skim most of it off.
- You can also replace some of the water/beef broth with a bottle of beer or brewed coffee. It just comes down to preference.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
Amazing recipe… didn’t get all the ingredients… the paste was minus the chipotle chili powder and Mexican oregano… used Petite Sirloin… no poblano peppers or jalapenos (not to sound like a weakling… was in a hurry… will be more prepared next time)… subbed agave syrup for brown sugar… and did add a can of pinto beans… followed all your meat searing times and low and slow cooking… our end result matched up to your photos… and the flavor was amazing… a really good Chili con Carne recipe… thank you!
I made this Ranchers Texas Chili it came out really good. I will make it again with a few tweaks. Thanks for sharing!
Never mind, I found it. 6-10 servings.
How many servings does this recipe make? I’ll be adding the pinto beans.
I made the ranchers Texas chili and it was amazing. Just what I was looking for in homemade chili. Flavor was spot on. It even tasted better the next day when flavors could meld together. I will make this over and over. Thank you for a wonderful recipe. The only thing I changed was the amount of garlic that I used. It was half of what you called out.
Do you let this cook with a lid on or off? It is on the stove now coming to a boil, can’t wait for dinner!
Hi Kelly, I simmered it with the lid off, but if you’re afraid it’ll splatter, you can cover it about halfway. Hope you enjoy the chili!
I’ve been researching chuck roast chili recipes for the Super bowl and yours is the winner, especially after reading the reviews! It has everything I was looking for!
Outstanding!! One of the Best Chili I ever made.
Awesome recipe! I used 3 jalapeño peppers and 2 habanero peppers for some extra heat and it was amazing! Printed the recipe off and added it to the “ will definitely make again “ pile.
Always great!
I made this recipe while visiting my son and his family in Ohio. I followed the recipe to a tee and we cooked it in a large cast iron pot suspended over an open fire. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!
My son requested the recipe stating “When anyone mentions chili around here this is what they’re talking about!”
I’m making it again today for a “tailgate” party tomorrow. Thanks for bringing a little “Texas” back in our lives!
This was delicious!!!
This was soooo good! I followed this pretty much to the letter with the exception of the meat. I instead smoked the chuck! Cut into bite sized pieces, coated in some seasonings and smoked until each piece had a nice bark. I was always a ground beef, beans, tomatoes, peppers onions kinda gal. Which is still good. But this is next level. It won me second place out of 13 in a friends annual chili cook off and I’m sure I can take it to first place next year with a couple of small tweaks. One bit of advice about this one is, you may think that the base is too thin while it’s simmering. Don’t be tempted to fuss with it. It’ll reduce and be that nice, thick consistency after you’ve let it simmer. So good. Great recipe!
I’ve searched a long time for a good chili con carne recipe. I don’t like the german chilis with ground meat, corn and beans. I stumbled over yours and tried it. Now the search is over. Thanks for the great recipe! Of course, I pimp it with some bavarian beer 😉
My kids have an aversion to beans…so we switched to making texas chili. We have tried lots of different recipes, but this is our family favorite!
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the recipe! I’m going to try it but plan to pressure cook the meat first in my Ninja – any advice on the pressure cooking part? I just got the Ninja for Christmas and I have no idea what I’m doing!
Omg, made this today. Had to rehydrate whole ancho, since i couldn’t find the powder, and used 100% chocolate rather than cocoa powder and masa harina instead ofcornmeal, and sadly bell pepper instead of impossible-to-find-in-Britain poblano. Did splash out on a $7 bag of fritos though. And you took me right back to my days in Texas. THANK YOU.
Holy cow!! This has become my favorite chili as well as my go to. Sometimes I add the pinto beans and other times I don’t. I had always used my own recipe and always loved it. However, I was in the mood to try a Texas red so I made this recipe. This is pretty much the only chili I make now. The flavor is phenomenal and my wife and son love it! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So fantastic! This is my new favorite chili recipe. I’ve been homesick for my home state of Texas and this was the comfort I needed. Traditional chili – rich with depths of flavor and amazingly tender chunks of beef. I especially appreciated that I could use ancho and chipotle powders instead of having to roast dried chilis first. Thank you for posting this – I will be making it again for sure!
OMG! BEYOND DELICIOUS!
Quite labor intensive, but so worth it!
Hi Felicia! So glad to hear you enjoyed it. Appreciate you circling back to leave a review 🙂