This is our Texas-style bold, beefy and spicy chili. Nothing more than meat, tomato sauce and a metric buttload of spices.
We love a big bowl of hot, spicy chili, especially on a cold day. This recipe has won some backyard contests. The flavors are complex. It’s spicy, but not nuclear spicy and really brings out the beefiness of the meat.
Notice there are no beans? We’re not going to get into a religious war over whether you can add beans or not, but the purists out there will insist beans don’t belong in chili. We feel beans only contribute to adding bulk / filler and arguably dilutes the flavor of the chili, so we leave them out. If you want to add beans, you do you.
Method: Building and layering flavors
Three different mixtures of spices are added during the process to layer the spices into the meat, creating that complex flavor. The dumps will include two kinds of chili powder – light and dark. Do yourself a favor and always make your own rubs and spice mixes – It’s worth the extra effort. These chili powders will be way better than that safe, unified, neutral-tasting store-bought crap that doesn’t qualify as either light nor dark.
Pro Tips:
- Most, if not all of the spices can be found inexpensively at a Mexican market near you.
- Make your own light and dark chili powders. It’s easy and worth the extra 2 minutes of your life.
- Mise en place – Measure out your spice dumps and cut your meat up before starting cooking for a frustration-free cooking session.
- Rinse beef after greying it. Trust me on this. Too much fat = greasy chili.
- Don’t take the lid off too often, or you’ll lose flavor.
- Watch the heat. Chili needs to very gently simmer with the lid on, but it can burn if your flame is too hot.
Chili
Equipment
- Dutch oven or pot with tight-fitting lid
- Colander
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
- 2 lb. tri-tip steak cut into 1/2″ cubes
- 1 lb. 80/20 ground beef
- 2 8 oz. cans “El Pato” tomato sauce
- 2 C beef broth
- kosher salt
- EVOO
Spices You Will Need:
- paprika
- ground cumin
- dried oregano
- cayenne
- ancho chili powder
- pasilla chili powder
- guajillo chili powder
- hatch chili powder
- ground black pepper
- ground white pepper
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- beef bullion
- chicken bullion
To Make the Light Chili Powder
- 3 T paprika
- 1 T ground cumin
- 2 T dried oregano
- 1/2 t cayenne
To Make the Dark Chili Powder
- 2 T ancho chili powder
- 1/2 t pasilla chili powder
- 1/2 t guajillo chili powder
- 1 t paprika
- 1 t dried oregano
- 1 t ground black pepper
- 1/2 t garlic powder
- 1/2 t onion powder
- 1/4 t ground cumin
To Make Spice Dump #1
- 1 T onion powder
- 2 t garlic powder
- 2 t beef bullion
- 1 t chicken bullion
- 1 T paprika
- 1 T dark chili powder
- 1/2 t cayenne
- 1/4 t black pepper
To Make Spice Dump #2
- 1 T hatch chili powder
- 2 T dark chili powder
- 2 T light chili powder
- 1 t cumin
- 1/4 t white pepper
To Make Spice Dump #3
- 1 t onion powder
- 1 t garlic powder
- 1/4 t cayenne
- 3/4 t light chili powder
- 1 T cumin
Instructions
Before You Start Cooking
- Make light and dark chili powders
- Make spice dumps
Make Chili
- Season Tri-tip cubes and ground beef well with kosher salt and grey in the dutch oven with a little olive oil over medium heat for a minute or two, then drain in a colander. Rinse most of the fat off under the faucet (trust us).
- Drain almost all of the fat from the dutch oven, too.
- Add the rinsed meat back in the dutch oven, add tomato sauce and beef broth and bring to a low boil for 5 mins, then reduce to a low simmer.
- Add Dump #1, stir, cover, cook on low 1 hour
- Add Dump #2, stir, cover, cook 45 mins
- Add Dump #3, stir, cover, cook 15 mins
- Serve with sharp cheddar cheese, diced onions and whatever fixins you like.