Chili is one of America’s best comfort foods, but there is only ONE chili that really counts and that is Texas Chili. In fact, Texas Chili is the official dish of Texas! Can I get a yeehaw?
Like Texas barbecue, everyone has their claim on the best Texas Chili. Some spend years perfecting their Texas Chili for the ultimate chili cook-off. With that said, some chilis stay authentic, while others veer off ever so slightly. However, one thing is for certain – “if you know beans about chili, you know chili ain’t got no beans.”
Texas Chili is perfect during the fall and winter seasons, but no one will fault you if you enjoy it during hot summer Texas days too. Serve it with warm cornbread, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and jalapeños – and you will have yourself the perfect Texas comfort dish.
I like to stay true to the traditional ways, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeves. So please enjoy my authentic Texas Chili recipe.
What is a Texas Chili?
There are several types of chilis in the United States, but as you may have gathered, the only chili that matters is Texas Chili. Chili is not only the state dish of Texas but it also originated in Texas in the 1860s. Texas Chili was first introduced to America in San Antonio by the “Chili Queens,” women who served food in San Antonio’s Military Plaza. What they served was called, “chili con carne”.
Over the years, we shortened chili con carne to just “chili”. Moreover, the true translation of chili con carne is “chili with meat”, which is why the main ingredients are meat and chilies.
In Texas, chili is also known as a “Bowl o’ Red” and as I said before, “if you know beans about chili, you know chili ain’t got no beans.” Needless to say, there should NEVER be beans in an authentic bowl of Texas Chili.
Additionally, an authentic Texas Chili should never have tomatoes. The intense flavors come from the dried chilies which are turned into a homemade chili paste.
The other main ingredient is beef and traditionally, it should be chunks of beef chuck – not ground. However, if you do want to stray slightly from the authenticity of a “Bowl o’ Red”, ground chuck beef would suffice.
Just remember, no beans or tomatoes!
Chili at the State Fair of Texas
Chili is typically a dish that is enjoyed in the comfort of your home and is made with recipes passed down through the family. This is why some of the best Texas Chili is from home cooks, not chefs. Moreover, the best chilis are always found at Chili Cook-Offs.
Chili cook-offs are a lot of fun to attend. You can find a chili cook-off throughout the Lone Star State, but the best one to attend is at the State Fair of Texas. Every year on the weekend before Opening Day of the State Fair of Texas, there is a chili cook-off. There are two categories, fun for all with no rules and the more official competition to qualify for the Terlingua’s International Chili Championship.
I know everyone visit’s the State Fair of Texas to try all the fried food and crazy culinary creations, but you still need to enjoy a BIG “Bowl o’ Red” at the State Fair of Texas. So if you miss the State Fair of Texas’ Chili Cook-Off, don’t worry, you can still enjoy the Texas State dish at the Chili Parlor.
This is where I remember one of my favorite bowls of Texas Chili. One day, I will make sure Adam gets his taste because a bowl of Texas Chili at the State Fair of Texas is almost like a rite of passage!
List of Ingredients in Texas Chili
My list of ingredients for Texas Chili stays true to its authenticity while also adding some Texas beer and “Mexican chocolate” – incorporating cocoa powder and ground cinnamon.
The thickness of the chili comes from the masa flour. It acts as a thickening agent and is an important ingredient that is traditionally in a “Bowl o’ Red”.
- Dried ancho chili peppers
- Dried guajillo Chile peppers
- Chili powder
- Paprika
- Ground cumin
- Garlic powder
- Dried oregano
- Masa flour
- Ground cinnamon
- Cocoa powder
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive oil
- Beef chuck roast
- Onion
- Jalapeño
- Shiner Black Lager or Shiner Bock
- Beef Stock
- Apple cider vinegar
- Brown sugar
How to Make Texas Chili
A good chili boils down (no pun intended) to being patient by cooking with a slow simmer, making a homemade chili paste, and flavorful spices.
Homemade Chili Paste
The first step begins with preparing a homemade chili paste. Cut the stems off the dried chilies and remove all of the seeds.
Bring one cup of beef stock to a low boil and add it into a blender. Place the dried chilies into the blender, cover with the lid, and let them soak in the beef stock for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, puree the chilies and beef stock together to create a chili paste. Set aside.
Dry Ingredient Mix
In a bowl, mix together the chili powder, paprika, ground cumin, garlic powder, dried oregano, masa flour, ground cinnamon, cocoa powder, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
Cooking the Texas Chili
Cut the beef chuck roast into 1/2 inch thick cubes. Then dice the onion and jalapeños.
Heat the olive oil in a medium cast-iron Dutch oven, then brown the beef chuck cubes on all sides. If there is not enough room in the Dutch oven, brown the beef chuck cubes in batches.
Remove the browned beef chuck and set aside. Do not remove the brown buts or liquid from the Dutch oven – this has all the flavor.
Using the remaining liquid in the saucepan, sauté the onions till translucent. Then add the diced jalapeños.
Deglaze the Dutch oven by adding the Shiner beer, beef stock, and apple cider vinegar. Using a spatula, scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the bits of flavor incorporated.
Add the beef chuck back into the Dutch oven along with the homemade chili paste, dry ingredient mix, and brown sugar. Mix all of the ingredients together and bring to a boil.
Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat, slightly cover the Dutch oven, and simmer for 2 – 2.5 hours or until the beef chuck is tender. Make sure you stir the chili occasionally.
Serve the Texas Chili with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, sliced jalapeños, and a side of cornbread.
Tips & Tricks
How to work with peppers is my biggest and only tip for this recipe, but it’s a VERY important one.
Working with Peppers
When working the dried chilies, it is important to wear gloves. Otherwise, when you wipe your eyes or even put contact lenses in, you will BURN your eyes! If you do not have gloves, you can still minimize the burn by avoiding the cut surfaces of the pepper (the pepper skin is relatively tame) or try using a paper towel to hold the pepper.
More Texas Recipes
The Best Authentic Texas Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 dried Ancho chilies
- 2 dried Guajillo chilies
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons masa flour
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon salt, plus more for seasoning if needed
- 1 tablespoon black pepper, plus more for seasoning if needed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1/2 in. cubes
- 1 medium white onion
- 2 jalapeños, seeds and membrane removed
- 3 cups beef stock, divided 1 cup and 2 cups
- 1 bottle 12 fl oz Shiner Black Lager or Shiner Bock
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Cut the stems off the dried chilies and remove all of the seeds. Place them in a blender with 1 cup of warm beef stock. Cover the blender and let them soak in the beef stock for 30 minutes.
- While the dried chilies are soaking, cut the beef chuck roast into 1/2 inch cubes and dice the white onion and jalapeños.
- In a bowl, mix together the chili powder, paprika, ground cumin, garlic powder, dried oregano, masa flour, ground cinnamon, cocoa powder, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- After 30 minutes, puree the chilies and beef stock together to create a homemade chili paste. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a medium cast-iron Dutch oven. Brown the beef chuck cubes on all sides. If there is not enough room in the Dutch oven, brown the beef chuck cubes in batches. Do not remove the brown buts or liquid from the Dutch oven – this has all the flavor and will be used for the Texas Chili. Remove the browned beef chuck and set aside.
- Using the remaining liquid in the saucepan, sauté the onions till translucent. Then add the diced jalapeños.
- Deglaze the Dutch oven by adding the Shiner beer, remaining 2 cups of beef stock, and apple cider vinegar. Then scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula to get all the bits of flavor incorporated.
- Add the beef chuck back into the Dutch oven along with the homemade chili paste, dry ingredient mix, and brown sugar. Mix all of the ingredients together and bring to a boil.
- Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat, slightly cover the Dutch oven, and simmer for 2 – 2.5 hours or until the beef chuck is tender. Make sure you stir the Texas Chili occasionally.
- Once the beef chuck is tender, serve the Texas Chili with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, sliced jalapeños, and a side of cornbread.
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41 comments
Adam
This was some of the best chili I have ever ever made. I followed the recipe precisely and it came out perfect. I usually do slow cooker chili, but I will be using this recipe from now on. Thank you!
oursweetadventures
Oh wow, thank you so much! You just made my day. I’m thrilled you loved my chili recipe. I hope you try some more of my other recipes and enjoy them too 🙂
Tim
Just a quick question can chili be made a day in advance and rewarmed?
oursweetadventures
Absolutely!!
Mark
I’m making it tody.
You said to remove seeds from the dried chilies. What about the jalapenos? Should I remove the seeds and membranes from them also? I have ALWAYS heard thats where the REAL heat in jalapenos comes from.
oursweetadventures
Hi! Yes, I remove the seeds and membranes from the jalapeños. The jalapeños are there for flavor. I will edit the recipe to reflect this—thank you. And I hope you enjoy it!
Tony B
Well, I’m rating it before trying it. I can’t find the recipe I had from a Life magazine back in the 80s and made it once back in the day. Haven’t found anything yet that compares to that one. I took a look at NY Times Cooking and was appalled that they listed beans and tomatoes in the recipe. I’m sure this will live up to my Texas Chili expectations. I’m on my way out the door to get the ingredients now. Thanks for sharing your secrets!
TB
oursweetadventures
Hi Tony, I hope you enjoyed my recipe!
James
This is my first attempt at Texas Chili. It is almost done, but I’ve been sampling it for a while… Giving four stars, as I honestly have nothing to compare it to. But relative to throwing ground beef, beans and McCormicks packet together, this is an EASY 5.
The cocoa and cinnamon give it a definite “mole” vibe.
oursweetadventures
Hi James, thank you so much for the review and commenting. And you nailed the “mole” influence! I hope you enjoyed the chili recipe. You should try my other Texas recipes too 🙂
james macdonald
Good Chili easily fit 4.25 lbs of chuck coulda made it 5 but I only had 4.25, i thought it was very good.
oursweetadventures
Hi James, thank you for sharing. I am so happy to hear you enjoyed it. You can never go wrong with more chuck 🙂
Jim
Thank you for this recipe. My wife and I shopped all over today for the ingredients and spent the afternoon cooking and wow! What a great treat it was for dinner. I don’t normally cook, but we had a great time preparing and eatting this treat.
oursweetadventures
Hi Jim, thank you so much for sharing. I love hearing how people enjoy my recipes. The Texas chili is great year-round, but especially in the fall during chili season! I hope you enjoy making it for years to come and try more of my recipes.
Gary S
Once you add beer, Dr Pepper, or even choccolate, adding beans or tomatoes wouldn’t make it any less “authentic” than it already is.
oursweetadventures
Thank you for giving my recipe a try and for sharing your perspective! Food is all about personal preferences and creativity. Everyone has their own take on what makes a dish ‘authentic,’ this is mine.
Cheryl
I love this recipe! I’ve made it for the last four Christmas days using a beef joint and then pulled the beef after slow cooking for about 6-8 hours. A good recipe and easy to get the dried Ancho and Guajillo chilies online. I used Theakstons Old Peculier (their spelling not mine) beer for those in the UK.
oursweetadventures
Aww, thank you so much for sharing. I am delighted to hear you enjoyed my recipe and are able to find the ingredients needed to make it in the U.K.! I hope to travel to the U.K. soon and start recreating English recipes 🙂
Mb
I have not made this recipe but I’m telling as a Texan- awesome!!! This is how we do it in Texas. Good job.
oursweetadventures
Aww thank you! I hope you are able to make it and enjoy 😄
Victoria
Made this with ground beef, fresh chilis, and a habanero. Absolutely amazing! Thank you!
oursweetadventures
I am so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing and I’m glad you enjoyed my recipe.
Danielle
Do you think this would work out of done in a slow cooker? Would low for 8-10 hours work? Any changes?
oursweetadventures
Hi, great idea – YES, you can! I would definitely start low for 8 hrs. Everything you cook in a pan, make sure you add to the slow cooker (steps 6 and 7). You want all that flavor. On step 8, instead of adding everything to a Dutch oven, add it to the slow cooker and start the slow cooking for 8 hrs. I hope you enjoy it!
D.W
What kind of Mexican Chocolate do you recommend?
oursweetadventures
Hi, so authentic Mexican chocolate is like a paste because it’s grainy and made of cocoa nibs, sugar, and cinnamon. So my recipe just calls for cocoa powder and cinnamon powder.
D.W
Is the resulting chile/beefstock thats blended really a paste or a slurry?
oursweetadventures
Hi. Yes, it should be a paste once you blend the stock and chilies together.
Mike Richards
Crazy question. Can I substitute a soft drink (say Dr. Pepper) in place of the beer? I don’t like the taste of beer or any other alcohol.
oursweetadventures
Yeah! I’ve seen lots of people do that! And Texas LOVES Dr. Pepper so I think that would be a great substitute:)
Debbie
I live in Oshawa Ontario Canada
Wondering what would be a good substitute for Shiner Black Lager or Shiner Bock not available.
oursweetadventures
Hi, you can use any black lager beer or your preferred dark beer of choice. Enjoy!
Craig
Making this tomorrow it says 6-8 servings how much is the serving? Reason im asking im making this for a chili event and want to make sure i have enough.
oursweetadventures
Hi Craig,to play it safe I would definitely say the recipe makes enough for 6 people. I cannot say a specific measurement but I based the serving yield off a filling amount of chili in a bowl.
Catherine
Wow, made this for the first time today in the slow cooker, it’s certainly got a mighty kick to it! Could only manage three tablespoons of the sauce over a serving of rice, as I’m not used to that much heat.
Because I’m vegan, I had to adapt it a little bit (I know, a vegan Texan chilli, please don’t yell at me! Ha ha!), swapping the beef stock for veg stock, and using some vegan “meatballs” from one of the UK’s more upmarket supermarkets and it was delicious!
Halved the recipe and I still have plenty leftovers which I’ve separated into small portions for later. Thank you for this. 🙂
oursweetadventures
Aww I am delighted to hear you enjoyed the recipe. And I LOVE that you were able to make it vegan – I think that is awesome!
Sorry it was a lot of heat. I will say, I can’t handle spice, but it’s okay for my taste buds. So I’m stunned it was too hot for you, but we all handle heat differently!
I hope you are able to make more of my recipe and replace the meats for vegan substitutes.
john
There are 3 cups of beef stock in the ingredients list but I only see 1 cup being used in the recipe, did I miss something?
oursweetadventures
Hi John. Yes, one cup of beef stock is used for the chili paste. The remaining two cups is used for the chili along with the beer. Step 7. Sorry if the directions were confusing.
Dan Tice
How much Cinnamon?
oursweetadventures
Oops! Thank you so much for catching that! 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon!
Dan Tice
Thanks for the quick reply!