This chili recipe has been a huge hit since we first shared it. We've been blown away by all the positive feedback and love hearing about your chili cook-off wins!
Hi, this is Lisa's husband Eddie, guest blogging my award winning chili recipe based on popular demand (mostly from my wife).
I'll never forget the first chili cook-off I ever attended. It was an office event and it hadn't even occurred to me to submit my own entry. There were about a dozen chilis to choose from ranging from incredible to inedible (the latter being heat related - it was called "The Five Alarmer" and it passed its time at the cook-off largely undisturbed).
The ultimate winner, whose chili I had voted for, was a young woman just starting her career. I was an executive at the time, which I mention only to emphasize how awkward it was when I asked her if she would share her recipe with me and she just looked at me and shook her head. I suddenly understood the competitiveness involved in these things - there would be another chili cook-off at some point and she wasn't giving away any secrets. Thus began my personal quest to win a chili contest!
Quest for the best chili
I tried a number of different approaches in the following years, including a purist Texas style chili that shunned beans and ground beef in favor of unadorned hunks of stew meat simmered in what I thought was an excellent balance of chiles and spices. “Delicious”, someone told me after I placed third, “but it’s not really chili”.
The award winning chili had beans in it. And I had to admit it was much better than mine, in part because it had three different kinds of meat in it, including sausage.
Determined to come up with an award winning chili recipe, I narrowed my sights to multiple-meat chilis and came upon Guy Fieri’s Dragon Breath chili, which is the recipe I’m adapting here.
The winning chili recipe
This chili contains chuck meat, Italian pork sausage and ground beef plus three different kinds of peppers (poblano, Anaheim and jalapeño) which results in excellent flavor, texture and heat. And my version has a little something extra! Fieri‘s recipe calls for either bacon grease or canola oil to sauté the aromatics. Easy choice I thought, but it’s not as if you can buy bacon grease so I got a 12-oz package of bacon, cut it into small pieces and rendered the fat myself. It produced just about the right amount of fat, but also an interesting byproduct. As I looked at those cooked bits of bacon I thought “who am I kidding? Those are going into my chili!”
Also Lisa advised that I use three different kinds of chili powder to add a depth of flavor to match up against the three (now four actually) kinds of meat and three types of chili pepper. Finally, my taste in beer steered me toward an IPA rather than the lager suggested by the original recipe.
Aside from those differences and the fact that I brown the meat separately instead of in with the sautéed vegetables, the credit goes to Fieri for an amazing recipe, especially his use of spices which generates a level of heat that is just on the edge, which in my view is where a chili should be.
My chili won two cook-offs outright including one against Dean’s award winning white chicken chili.
It also took best meat chili in a third competition (lost to a vegetarian in the all-around that year) and came in a very close second to Dean’s white chicken chili in another cook-off that was heartbreaking for me.
Against a field of roughly 20 chilis and with hundreds of votes tallied, Dean and I were counted up exactly even to tie for the win and the medal was awarded jointly to us. In what has since become known as Chili-gate, I later that day discovered that unlike the previous competition, the cooks were not allowed to vote. I conceded that I had in fact voted and presented sole ownership of the blue ribbon to Dean. I kidded him that my vote was for his chili (it wasn’t).
Here's how to make Eddie's Award Winning Chili:
This chili takes time to prepare and involves numerous ingredients, but it's totally worth it and the basics are straightforward.
Start by roasting, peeling, seeding and chopping the chiles. Keep a close eye on them while they are roasting - things can escalate quickly.
Peel off the skin. Use a small knife to scrape the seeds out. Then dice the flesh.
In the meantime, while the chilies are in the oven, cut up and fry down the bacon to provide the grease to use for sautéing (and the bacon itself!). You then sauté the chiles and vegetables in the bacon fat, remove them and brown the meat in the same pot.
Then add the spices, the tomato sauce and paste, chicken broth and beer and simmer for two hours.
Lisa asked me to advise you that if you want to be a little healthier you can skim the fat off the surface periodically which, in my opinion, for this dish is sort of like saying that if you want to be a little safer when you go cliff diving, wear knee pads. But anyway consider it mentioned.
No skimming was involved when I took first place in the cook-offs. And if you really want a healthy chili option, try this vegetarian chili or this Turkey Chili.
I also want to say that it is great to have a sous chef alongside when you prepare this chili, preferably Lisa.
One final note: for my taste the heat level is perfect, but if you want to tone it down, the best way is by reducing the amount of cayenne pepper.
Some of your questions answered
Over the years, we have gotten lots of questions from our readers, in the comments. Here are the answers to a few of the most frequently asked questions:
If the concern is alcohol, you can use a non-alcoholic beer. There are even non-alcoholic IPAs. If the concern is gluten, you can use a gluten-free beer. Whatever the reason is, if you don't want to use beer at all, you can substitute an equal amount of chicken stock.
We have had this issue and have doubled up on the poblano peppers, with great success!
Yes absolutely. Just make sure you turn the crockpot on high heat for a bit to be sure the chili gets up to temp. Then, once it's hot you can put it on the "warm" setting.
Cut the cayenne in half or eliminate it completely. Cayenne doesn't add much in the way of flavor but it does add a substantial amount of heat. Also, be sure to remove all the seeds and white pith from the jalapeños. For an even milder chili, stick to a mild chili powder, such as ancho or Mexican Guajillo Chili Powder.
Here's my award winning chili recipe. If you make this please come back to leave a comment and let me know what you think.
PrintRecipe
Eddie's Award Winning Chili
- Total Time: 3 hours 45 mins
- Yield: 10-12 servings 1x
Description
A fantastic award winning chili con carne with a robust meaty flavor, the perfect amount of heat, beef, pork, beans, fresh chile peppers, awesome spices, onions, garlic, tomatoes and beer.
Ingredients
- 3 Anaheim chiles, roasted, peeled, chopped
- 3 poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, chopped
- 12 ounces of bacon, cut crosswise into ¼-inch strips and sautéed until almost crisp. Reserve 3 tablespoons of bacon fat.
- 3 tablespoons bacon fat (rendered from the bacon)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (canola, grape seed or your favorite)
- 2 red bell peppers, seeds and ribs removed, diced
- 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds and ribs removed, minced
- 2 yellow onions, peeled and diced
- 1 head garlic, peeled and minced (10-12 garlic cloves, 6 tablespoons minced garlic)
- 1 pound boneless beef chuck, trimmed of fat and gristle, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
- 3 tablespoons chili powder (Try using 3 different chili powders for great depth of flavor - I use ancho, chipotle and Mexican)
- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (Half this amount for less heat)
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
- 2 teaspoons granulated onion
- 2 teaspoons hot paprika (not smoked)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups tomato sauce (passata, not ketchup for those in the UK)
- 8 ounces tomato paste
- 12 ounces of your favorite beer (I use an IPA because I like the hoppy flavor)
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, with juice
- 2 15-ounce cans pinto beans, with juice
- Optional Garnishes:
- 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced or 1 red onion, finely chopped
- Shredded cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack
- Sour cream
Instructions
- To Roast the Chilies, Preheat the oven to broil (500ºF) Set an oven rack at the top, directly under the broiler. Spread the chiles out on a low-sided oven tray and roast for 15-20 minutes, turning peppers with tongs every five minutes, until their skins are about 60-70% blackened on all sides. Put the hot peppers directly into a paper bag. Roll down the top of the bag so they're tightly contained. Let them sit and steam for 15-20 minutes until the skins are loosened and easy to peel off. Peel off skins, remove seeds and membranes, and chop.
- To Sauté Chilis and Aromatics, add the bacon grease and oil to a large heavy pot or Dutch oven (6-quart), over medium-high heat. Add the chopped chiles, red bell peppers, jalapeño peppers and onions. Cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetables just start to become translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Transfer all the sautéed vegetables to a bowl and set aside. No need to wash the pot, you'll use it to brown the meat.
- To Brown the Meats, add the cubed beef chuck to the pot and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned on all sides, about 4 minutes. Add the ground beef and sausage and cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring to break up the sausage and ground beef, until the meat is no longer pink. Return the cooked vegetables to the pot along with the reserved bacon.
- Add Spices: chili powders, cayenne, coriander, cumin, granulated garlic, granulated onion, paprika, salt and black pepper. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Add the Rest of the Ingredients: Add the tomato sauce and paste. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, to combine. Add beer, chicken stock, kidney beans with their liquid and pinto beans with their liquid. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook for 2 hours, uncovered, stirring occasionally.
- To Serve, ladle chili into bowls. Top with garnishes or put garnishes into small bowls for self serve.
Notes
Should you drain and rinse the beans? In my experience draining and rinsing the beans is not required. If you're someone who feels otherwise, by all means drain and rinse - the outcome will still be terrific!
- Prep Time: 1 hour 45 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: simmer
- Cuisine: Tex-Mex
This recipe post was first published on October 23, 2017. It has been updated with new photos to show the cooking steps, a video so you can watch how to make it, and an added FAQ section that answer some of the most frequently asked questions from our followers. We haven't touched the recipe because, by all accounts, it's great just the way it is!
James Alexander Johns
Brit here. Made this for my family. They LOVED it. I couldn't get the chillies because of the lack of ingredients so used fresh Jalapenos but followed every other detail and it was utterly amazing. Thanks for the recipe!
Eddie
Hi James - thanks for coming back to leave a comment. I know the feeling. I lived in London for a couple years from 2017-2019 and was hard pressed to find any of the peppers needed, but I was usually able to find different ones that ultimately worked. So glad your family loved this recipe!
Joyce
I have to say this is the best chili I have ever made! Great mix of flavors and texture. Taking to a chili cookoff will see how we do!❤️❤️
Eddie
Joyce - I am very excited to hear how you do. So glad you like this recipe. Thanks for leaving a comment. I appreciate the feedback.
Jen
I won a chili cookoff with a slightly modified version of your recipe last week! I used ground chuck and breakfast sausage instead of chunks and Italian. I didn’t have as many peppers on hand to roast as the recipe called for, so I used 2 poblanos. I only had 1 jalapeno. And only 1 red bell, so I added a yellow bell. I also don’t like beer (in my food!) so I used all chicken stock in its place. It’s delicious even before simmering for 2 hours!
Eddie
Congratulations Jen! So great to hear you won your cookoff. Thanks for coming back to let me know and for the 5 star rating.
Stephanie
Looking forward to making this recipe for our neighborhood chili cook off this Saturday! I am not a GREAT cook, so excuse me for the dumb questions:
- For beef chuck - do you use a chuck roast?
- I can't find any Anaheim chile peppers close to me in SC, what can I use as a substitute?
-I am not a Lager/IPA kind of girl, any suggestions on exactly which ones I could use?
- The cookoff is at Noon and I plan to prepare this on Friday. If I transfer it to a crock pot should I let it cook on low overnight or cook and simmer 2 hrs then just use crockpot to reheat on Sat morning?
I won the cookoff last year with my own traditional southern crockpot chili so I take this very seriously 🙂 Hoping you can provide some feedback soon. I can't wait to make this!
Eddie
Hi Stephanie,
The only dumb questions are the ones not asked, someone once told me. Anyway:
- yes chuck roast is fine
- if you can't find anaheim, I would double up on the poblanos
- something like Harpoon IPA is usually available, and I have used that before; if you are going
for a lager, use one with a little flavor to it, the Mexican ones are good, like Pacifico or
Corona
- this chili like most is even better the next day; the two sins in a cookoff for me are (1) not
bringing enough (no one will vote for the chili they didn't taste) and not having it piping hot
when it's served. My approach is not to let it cook overnight because I feel I can't control the
outcome. Instead I fully make it the day before, cool it and put it in the fridge. Then the next
day start early to get it back up to temperature and once it is fully hot you can put it on
simmer. Then half an hour before noon, adjust to medium.
Stephanie
This was the best chili I have ever had and probably the best dish I have ever made Bad! BUT Bad news..I lost by 2 votes! To Brunswick Stew???? However, everyone loved mine and it was the only empty pot! Not sure how I Iost but whose bitter? ???? Good news...my husband loves it and wants me to make it again this weekend as we have our first really cold weather coming in. Question, when reheating the next day how can I get it to the more soupy texture it was when I originally made it? It thickened up a lot and he prefers a thinner base. I don't want to mess up the flavors with too much chicken broth. Any suggestions?
Stephanie
Sorry too many typos in my response! I did not make it bad...it was perfect!
Cameron
How much does the 1x recipe yield?
Eddie
Hi Cameron - I believe this recipe makes between 5-6 quarts of chili.
Amanda
What is the level of heat on a scale of 1-10 if following the recipe exactly.
Eddie
Hi Amanda,
That is a great question and I don't have a perfect, quantitative answer to it. There is a Scoville scale for peppers but not one for chili as far as I know and even if there were how could it be measured. I have tasted chilis I literally couldn't have more than a bite of due to their heat, so let's call that a 10. I haven't run into anyone who couldn't eat this chili but some have said it was on the hot side for them and have elected to adjust down by reducing or eliminating the cayenne pepper. I am going to go with a 7 and I am sure some will say that isn't high enough and others will say too high. Please let me know what you think!
Wayne
This was definitely the best chili I have ever had it took some work but the end results were amazing I took my neighbors some and the next day I saw them and they were still talking about how good it was. Can you freeze the leftovers.
Joan
What would you substitute for Anaheim chili? Do you have caloric data?
Lauren Junot
Winner chili recipe in Cajun Country!!
This was the first time I made this chili recipe and I won 1st prize in our neighborhood chili cook off. I modified the recipe since I was out of cayenne Pepper with 4 tablespoons of hot sauce with cayenne in it and used Paprika instead of hot paprika since my local store was out. I also used a red and orange bell pepper since Walmart substituted my pepper order. Thanks for sharing your amazing recipe, it made for the perfect Louisiana Saturday night!
Eddie
Congratulations Laure - It makes me happy to know that your chili took the neighborhood blue ribbon! It sounds like your modifications were good choices.
Per
Hands down the best Chili recipe ever. I made it exactly as this is written, and I don't think I'd change a thing. Watched Guy's video as well for fun, but stick with this. The self roasted peppers and chuck make all the difference.
Taste it first without any sour cream or cheese. Beautiful peppery heat, that gets quenched with the sour cream...oh well... hehe!
Eddie
Hi Per - thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment. The good news is that it's even better the next day so hopefully you made enough for leftovers.
Per Johanson
LOL! I just left another comment as I sit here eating a defrosted 2 month old bowl that tastes possibly even better. Forgot I left a comment already, and then found your response as i scrolled down.
Mike
Hi Eddie! This recipe sounds awesome! I am planning on using deer pan meat in place of ground beef. I’m going to be making a double batch but I notice when I click 2 it just doubles every ingredient. Usually doubling a recipe the amount of spice is not necessarily double. What do you recommend?
Lisa
Hey Mike - I just consulted with Eddie who says that when he doubles the recipe he just makes two pots, side by side, and it works out really well. In other words, if you have a pot big enough for a double batch, you can simply use twice as much of everything and it should work out really well. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
Garrett Messerly
I substituted the Italian sausage with chorizo and smoked the chuck roast prior to cubing it. Otherwise I followed the recipe and I won my first chili cook off !! Great recipe ! The depth of flavor is mind blowing
Eddie
Congratulations Garrett! So glad to hear you won your first chili cook off with this recipe. Smoking the chuck roast prior to cubing it - mmmmmm.
Scott
Sorry, left a comment but forgot to rate.
Scott
This chili rocks! I made it pretty much like you laid it out. Held back 1 tsp of the cayenne; figured I could drop it back in later if needed. Used 2 tbsp. Ancho and 1 tbsp. Guajillo for the chili powders. Used smoked hot paprika as I didn't have anything else. Used a Stout for the beer. Everything tastes awesome just after the 2 hour cook time; can't wait to try it again tomorrow after everything has really melded. Skinning the peppers is intriguing. What is the desired outcome of removing the skin? Thanks for sharing such an amazing recipe!
Devon
Is it a chili pepper or chili powder?
Jemma
What is the tomato sauce please? Puréed tomatoes / ketchup?
TIA
Chris Allard
I posted my comments on October 24th about winning a chili contest with my first attempt at this recipe, but I forgot to rate the recipe! So posting this to add my 5 STARS !
Lisa
Very kind of you to come back to come back to give the recipe 5 stars. Thank you Chris! And Congratulations on your win - so exciting!
Chris Allard
Thank you! And I'm not even much of a kitchen cook. I grill. Period. So this was really cool to do!
Lisa
Wow! This recipe is quite an undertaking even if you are a kitchen cook.
Ben Forbin
This is my 3rd time making it and it's my go to. This deserves 5-stars on it's own merit, but I'd like to offer my tweaks/modifications.
Chili Powder Spices - Definitely agree that a mixture is key. We use Merken/Merquen which is a smoky spice out of Chile. Buddy brought some up about a year ago when he visited and now I insist he load me up because it's perfect for chili.
Meat Mixture - I agree that the chuck is critical. Really a nice balance between that and the ground beef and sausage. We did 1# chuck, 1# sweet sausage, #1 80/20 ground beef, 1# 90/10 ground sirloin.
Beer - I used a stout with peanut butter and chocolate in it. I love IPAs but what makes an IPA great is the fresh hops. The preparation will kill that flavor, so I found a stout with a couple nice adjuncts works better for a deeper flavor. I specifically used Hop Butcher Fat Bear.
Beans - I typically go light on beans, but used all of them as directed. Used stock and beer to wash out the rest of the liquid.
Overall - I can't wait to have this as leftovers for the next couple days and weeks (frozen).
Fixings - we found that sour cream and a really sharp, coarse grated cheddar was best for the base to cut through the acid and heat.
Spice - This was for us and our 2 kids. We omitted a jalapeno and 1TBSP of Cayenne Pepper. I wish I didn't because it needed more spice. Wife and I added Jalapeno hot sauce to account for that.
Timing - The roasted chilis are worth it, but you shouldn't do the bacon until they're almost ready to go. It doesn't take that long to make the bacon and reserve the grease.
Changes I'm trying next tie - Bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce, making 24 hours before serving,
Chris Allard
Winner winner chili dinner! Found your recipe a couple weeks ago as I was looking for one to enter into a contest. I stuck to the original recipe as closely as I could. I did 2x the ingredients to make sure I had enough for the contest, so it took me a LONG time to prep everything by myself, but it was worth it...because I WON! I did use really good ingredients, mostly from the St. Louis Soulard Farmers Market, and the Italian sausage was from Volpi, which is a local shop on The Hill (basically Little Italy of STL). I will absolutely make this again!
Eddie
Congratulations Chris! So great to hear that you took first prize with this recipe, especially down in STL where they know their meat.