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.
Award 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).
Want To Save this Recipe?
Share your email and we'll send it straight to your inbox!
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
Want To Save this Recipe?
Share your email and we'll send it straight to your inbox!
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!
Lovelyn
This Recipe is FIRE! Always making this chili when the time goes back and gets "Chili outside." I am fwding this recipe to all my friends who love the taste when I make it. Thanks for sharing this Yummy recipe!
Max
I will follow Eddie into battle. This recipe made my catholic grandmother say “oh, ****” on the first bite. I am not competing, but feel like I won something anyway.
Used a 4-qt pot for everything before the tomato step then separated a quarter of the recipe into a 1.5-qt sauce pan to avoid buying cookware. Used ¾ cayenne and wrapped peppers in aluminum foil to save juices for extra heat. ½ kidney beans and 4 extra ounces juicy-hazy IPA for my personal taste.
Eddie
Hey Max - I want to meet that Catholic grandmother of yours, she sounds like a hoot! (I hope she went on to eat more). Thanks for coming back to leave a comment and a rating - I really appreciate it.
Eddie
Hi Lovelyn (what a beautiful name btw) - I see what you did with the "chili" thing. Thanks for leaving a comment and for forwarding this recipe to your friends!
Erin
Eddie, this chili recipe is great! And it makes enough to get us through football season.
Eddie
Haha - it is a sizable output. The good news is that it freezes well. Thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment and a rating!
2nd Place Matty
This is excellent chili and is, in fact award-winning! Really delicious, meaty good stuff!
Eddie
Haha - thanks for that Matt. Your chili this weekend was also delicious and it did also win an award in the end.
Ayana
Wow I this recipe is AMAZINNGGGGG. I opted to add three different beans. Red, kidney and black beans. Thank you so much this is going down as a favorite. And might I add this was my FIRST time making chili.
Eddie
Hi Ayana - thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment. I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
John M
This recipe took 1st place in a neighborhood chili cookoff last night out of 5 entries. I pretty much followed the recipe but substituted a few things. My changes were ground pork 85/15 and using sweet longganisa (casings removed) instead of the Italian sausage. I loved the aroma of the spices when you add it all together. The little bit of heat and depth of flavor really comes through. Thank you for sharing this recipe, we will make it again.
Eddie
Hey John - thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment, a star rating, and most importantly to register your cook-off triumph! So glad this recipe helped you win.
Susie
Your chili sounds amazing. Can I replace the liquid from the can’s of beans with something else?
Eddie
To Susie's question below, I would probably measure out how much liquid there is from the bean cans after you strain it out and then replace with extra chicken stock.
Jenokie
Making for first time this weekend! Can’t wait! I love a good bowl of chili and always looking to try new. Unfortunately I can’t take the spice like I used to. Can you sub smoked paprika?
Eddie
Hi Jenokie,
If you can't take spice the first thing I would do is eliminate the cayenne pepper. I think you could swap out two tablespoons of the chilli powder for one tablespoon of smoked paprika and one of sweet paprika, then I might suggest a tablespoon of mild chilli powder (try ancho). That would give you good flavor without much spice. Hopefully that helps!
Daddy Kev
I used this recipe for a Cookoff and took first place by a landslide last month and today Oct 31st I’m using it again for a Halloween party I’m confident that everyone will be satisfied with this recipe so go ahead and make your chili today . Being from south louisiana cookoff’s are pretty much weekly and crawling with great cooks so I’m very satisfied with this recipe cause Daddy said so!! LOL
Eddie
Hey Daddy Kev,
Wow, and by a landslide! Congrats on your victory. Good to know you've got something in your arsenal you can trot out when you need to. Thanks for coming back to leave a comment.
Mike
Do you stir while in simmers for 2 hours? …probably a stupid question
Eddie
Hi Mike - that is not a stupid question at all. In fact, I am going to update the recipe to mention that you should stir the chili occasionally. Thanks for asking!
Vince S
Subbed the 2lbs of ground with ground beef (1lb) ground venison (1/2lb) and alligator (1/2lb) as well as subbed some unavailable peppers but won 1st place at a Tampa chili cookoff.
Blistered some shishito peppers in place of anaheims.
Awesome recipe.
Daddy Kev
I used this recipe for a Cookoff and took first place by a landslide last month and today Oct 31st I’m using it again for a Halloween party I’m confident that everyone will be satisfied with this recipe so go ahead and make your chili today . Being from south louisiana cookoff’s are pretty much weekly and crawling with great cooks so I’m very satisfied with this recipe cause Daddy said so!! LOL
Eddie
Hey Vince,
Congrats on your victory. You are actually not the first to suggest subbing in venison for ground beef. I might have to give that a try. And blistered shishitos? That's just pure genius! Thanks for the comment and the star rating.
David G
The best chili I have ever made, by far. Taste is so complex; layer upon layer of flavor. The go-to chili, hands down. I did few tweaks: I used mild Italian turkey sausage; chicken and beef stock 1/2 cup each; cut the cayenne to 1 tsp; and used homemade chili powder plus 2 others from Pendery's.
i'm wondering though, why not simplify the Anaheim/pablano prep? Either seed first then roast in large pieces, or just rough chop and lightly pulse in a processor? I use the processor method for my white turkey chili and the flavors are great. Thanks, Eddie, for sharing this.
Eddie
Hi David - first of all thanks for the comment and the five star rating, I am glad this recipe is working for you. As for your question, when you roast the chilies whole, you char the skin on the outside but leave the inside tender and flavorful; essentially they are steamed from within. Then the skin is relatively easy to peel off in a few pieces. I have always seen peppers roasted this way (whole) and so it never occurred to me to do it differently. That said, if you have a process that works for you in a different chili, there is no reason it wouldn't work with this one.
Kelsey
Thank you so much. I used this recipe for a chili cook off today and I won first place! Every one said it was the best chili they had ever eaten. I promised myself if I won, like so many others in these comments, I would have to tell you as well so thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Eddie
Kelsey - thank you so much for coming back here to let me know about your victory. There is just something special about taking the blue ribbon, no? You totally made my day!
Justin Becker
I have been making this chili once a year for a few years now. Only once a year because it takes me half a day. I really like your adjustments from Fiery's recipe. I have a hard time eating other chili's now at my work and church chili cookoff's because this is seriously the best chili recipe ever. It has a very deep flavor and perfect consistency. I love the combination of meats. The beef and sausage ensure some meat in every bite. The extremely tender chuck gives it a high quality feel without feeling like a stew. I absolutely love the variety of chili's and the roasting of them. Adds a richness of flavor and it is chili after all. I also love the heat. It is the perfect amount. Most chili's I have had fall into two category's: none and too much. Too much isn't necessarily that I can't handle it (but sometimes) but it's overpowering and in search of the hottest chili they compromised on or burried the flavor or in the worst case they used hot sauce and the chili now just tastes vinegary. But this chili has a natural heat that lets you know it's there, but allows you to keep eating and keep exploring to variety of flavors that are all going on.
I wanted to share to adjustments that I myself made to this recipe. First, and more minorly is to use dry beans. I think cooked, dry beans have so much more flavor than canned. I use 2 cups each. Soak them and simmer them for 75-90 minutes before its time to put them in. The other thing I add is that I smoke the onion before it goes in. I quarter the onion and then smoke it for 60-90 minutes at about 225F with Hickory chips. It adds a great smell to the chili that always pulls people toward mine. The smell of the smoke is more powerful than the taste though. It is definitely noticeable but subtle enough to not overpower all of the other things going on here. The natural smoke is also noticeable above use liquid smoke. If you like smoked meat, try this. I love it!
Thanks for sharing your recipe because I love it!
Keith
Hey Eddie, when adding the chili powder you say 3 tablespoons. Does that mean 3 of each of the chili powders?
Eddie
Hi Keith - there should be 3 tablespoons of chili powder in total, so if you are using three different types that would be one tablespoon for each.
Eddie
Justin - thank you so much for your comments here. I am making this chili recipe this week and I intend to try out some of your modifications. Smoking the onion, what?? How could that not add a cool flavor.
Angela Anderson
Hello Eddie! My first time entering in a cook-off and I knew I had to bring my A game. Today I came in 1st place for my Mexican Cornbread and 2nd for my chili using your recipe.
I am cracking up because I saw where someone said they should have placed first and they think it was rigged lol. I'm not sure that our cook-off was rigged but I do know one of the judges who was a police officer kept telling my husband that my chili really should have been first. Well I'm excited for the 2 wins and honestly I loved this recipe. I did not get to taste the winners chili but his was white chicken chili. So in my heart I feel there really was no comparison because those are two different things. I'm excited and I love this chili so much. If I enter the cook-off next year I will probably use the same recipe. Everyone loved it!
Eddie
Hi Angela - first of all thanks for coming back to let me know about your strong finish. Wow -first prize for the cornbread and second for the chili! Congratulations. I can empathize having placed second myself to a white chicken chili before (and worse still to a vegetarian chili!). I see you taking it all next year though.
Brittany S
Wow! This is darn delicious!! I did Ramp up the spices quite a bit, and am super stoked to enter this tomorrow!
Eddie
Hi Brittany - thanks for the comment and the five star rating. Glad you were pleased with the results, I hope you took first prize!
Tanya
Hi. I made this last year and entered it into a chili cook off near our house and won first place. I am entering it again this year, to hopefully defend my title!!! Thank you for the recipe. I have added a few of my own twists and variations and everyone loves it!!! I’ll let you know if (when) I win again!!!
Stephanie Kull
I have been following your recipe for my chili for years now!! People rave about it and beg me to bring it to golf tournament and winter events!! Thank you for sharing and of course it’s renamed Stephanie’s Famous Chili ????
Eddie
Stephanie - thanks for taking the time to let me know about the success you have had over the years making "Stephanie's Famous Chili"? (Your secret is safe with me.)
Rebecca
Loved this recipe, but took me awhile to scrub my pot clean. Could I make this in a slow cooker? Would I need to make any changes?
Eddie
Hi Rebecca - thanks for the comment and the five starts. I am glad you loved the recipe. Sorry to hear about the hassle of cleaning your pot. I don't generally have this issue as I use a Dutch oven, but if I am ever concerned about this happening, I tend to use a spatula along the bottom of the pot from time to time before adhesion can occur. As for using a slow cooker, that is totally feasible. I would still recommend sauteing the meat and vegetables before combining them into the pot. I am not an expert on times with slow cookers and it will of course be dependent on your heat setting, so I would check every hour for the tenderness of the meat and the overall flavor. I am imagining 4-6 hours but it could be longer on a lower setting.
Elwyn Williams
No one in my family drinks beer, though we are very fond of margaritas, which would probably go great with this chile. Is there an acceptable substitute for the beer, leave it out, try another recipe . . . ? If it's an integral part of the flavour, I'll see if my local grocery store sells beer by the can. Thanks for the information!
Eddie
Hi Elwyn - you will not actually taste any flavor that is recognizably beer if you use beer in this recipe, but if it is just to hard to know it is in there you can replace it with low sodium chicken stock. Leaving it out completely without a substitute will leave you short of liquid. Enjoy!
Justin Becker
Nobody in my family drinks (and we have yeast and gluten allergies) so I just use beef stock. Some may say it's missing something but I don't know what beer tastes like anyway and this is still by far my favorite chili I have made.
Brian F
You might consider simmering a SMALL amount of hops (1-2 buds/flowers) in some broth for a few minutes and then let it cool with the hops in it, strain the hops from the liquid before adding. Hops or hop pellets are available at any brewing store or Amazon. Hops are what adds the complex bitterness to beers, especially IPA beers. The other primary flavor in beer is the malt, you could probably sub a table spoon of malt (check the ice cream section of your grocery, malt powder is what makes a milkshake a malted milk shake) or brown sugar or skip it entirely.