It's not a particularly complicated recipe, but instead it's about the ingredients (e.g. solid rather than ground beef), and taking the time to do little things that will give huge flavor rewards (e.g. roasting your own chiles and convection browning the sauce). The majority of the cook time is fairly hands-off, and the early investment pays dividends in the simmer.
Remember: Chili is a stew, not a soup. It's ok if it's thick.
- 3 lb chuck roast (top round also acceptable in a pinch)
- 4 or more (preferably more) large green chilies (poblano, anaheim, hatch, etc)
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 whole white onion
- 2 cans red kidney beans
- 1 can black beans
- 1 can stewed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup chili powder (I prefer Spice Islands)
- 1 box or large can of beef broth
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Fresh cracked pepper
- Optional: 1 small can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (you're just gonna use a spoonful of the sauce)
- An enameled dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed, oven-safe soup pot
- Oven (convection if possible)
- Kitchen knife, cutting board
- Optional: smoker and/or blow torch
- Roast your own chiles! It takes the flavor to the next level, and it's practically impossible to ruin them. You have a few options on how to do them. After cutting them in half and removing the seeds, ribs, and stems, you can:
- Lay them on a foil-lined sheet and cook them under the broiler in your oven, skin side up, until >75% of the skin is blackened. Then put them in a large bowl and seal with cling film or a lid so they steam themselves. After about 5-10 minutes, you can easily grab their skins with your fingers and they'll easily peel off.
- Same as above but cook them on skewers over an open flame (burner on a gas stove is totally acceptable)
- Blow torch them until most of the skin has blistered and peeled away.
- Smoke them at high temperature.
- Blow torch them and then smoke them at low temperature.
- Cut your chuck roast into 1-1.5" thick steaks. Blot the surfaces of the steaks dry with a paper towel and dust the outsides of the steaks with kosher salt.
- Dice your onion and mince your garlic. Keep separate.
- Heat the dutch oven over medium-high heat on the stove and add a generous amount of any kind of cooking oil. I tend to use olive or avocado oil.
- One at a time, add the chuck roast steaks into the pot and cook all sides of each steak (don't forget the edges!) until it has a brown crust. Remove steaks to a platter or large plate after cooking each.
- NOTE: You're just trying to get the surface browned. You're not trying to get the meat well done or bring it up to temp. That'll happen in the simmer.
- Once all steaks are browned and resting, add the diced onion to the pot along with a fresh glug of olive oil and a pinch of salt, and reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring regularly until translucent and golden.
- Add in minced garlic. Once it starts to brown, add tomatoes and pour in a splash of the beef broth to deglaze.
- While that is simmering, cut the steaks into bite-sized cubes (roughly 3/4") and add them to the pot. Pour any juices that have accumulated on the plate while the steaks were resting into the pot.
- Begin preheating your oven to 300°F.
- Add the green chiles and the black beans to the pot.
- Add beef broth until the liquid just covers the ingredients.
- Add chili powder and stir until evenly distributed. (If you're using it, now is the time to add a spoonful of the adobo sauce from the can of chipotle peppers to your pot and stir to distribute.)
- Bring the pot back to a simmer then turn off the burner and transfer the pot to the oven without a lid.
- The idea here is that you're browing the chili itself rather than browning every last bit of surface area on the meat. That way, your chili still gets all that wonderful browned flavor, but the meat is fall-apart tender. This also makes simmering your sauce even more hands-off and worry free because you don't have an active burning just hanging out all afternoon in your kitchen.
- Simmer the chili for at least 2 hours. I find the longer the better. Periodically check on your pot (every 30-45 minutes) and stir the browned surface into the chili. If it's getting too thick, add a little more beef broth, or even just some water. Remember, though: Chili is a stew, not a soup. It's ok if it's thick.
- Check back after the first hour and taste the roux/broth/sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- About halfway through simmering, add the first can of kidney beans.
- About a half hour before taking the chili out, add the second can of kidney beans.
After simmering, the chili is ready to serve. I prefer to put a dollop of sour cream in the middle of a serving, and eat it with Fritos Scoops rather than a spoon. 🤤