This chili recipe won me first place in a chili cook off competition. I didn’t take note of the exact ingredient measurements before the cook off so I recreated the recipe a second time making sure I took good notes. Please note this is a lot of chili…if you don’t have a large enough crock pot and chili pot, you may want to reduce in half. The chili base sauce is made large enough to split between two different meat types. The end result has a crock pot serving of shredded beef (you can use venison or a chuck roast) chili and a second pot of ground beef chili. Also, depending on your desired heat level, you may wish to increase the amount of chipotle peppers and/or cayenne pepper. I usually start with a milder base for my family and add more heat for myself. Once the meat and chili base sauce is prepared (it will cook and simmer most of a day), I recommend letting it “cold brew” in the refrigerator for a couple of days before reheating and eating as a meal (or entering a chili cook off). Enjoy!
Meat Base 1:
- 2 – 3 pounds of chuck roast (or venison)
- Beef broth
- Dale’s Steak Seasoning
In a large crock pot, cover the chuck roast (or venison) with 2 cups of beef broth and 12oz of Dale’s Steak Seasoning. Place crock pot on high and let this mixture slow cook for 8-9 hours. When finished, drain off the fluids and shred the meat using a fork. Make sure any fat trimmings are removed. When the meat is fully shredded it will look like beef BBQ. Use half of the chili base sauce and add to the crock pot of shredded meat. Cook on low for at least one hour before serving.
- 2 – 3 pounds of ground beef (80/20)
- Beef broth
- Dale’s Steak Seasoning
About an hour before meat base 1 is ready, start cooking up this mixture. In a large frying pan, add remaining beef broth (approx 1 – 2 cups) and Dale’s Steak Seasoning (about 4oz). Let mixture fry up slowly and drain off all fluids when ready. Mix in the remaining half of the chili base sauce and cook over low heat for about an hour before serving.
Chili Base Ingredients:
- 3 – 28oz cans of petite diced tomatoes
- 2 – 15/16oz cans of yellow corn
- 1 – 40.5oz can dark kidney beans
- 1 – 26.5oz can black beans
- 1 cup (chopped) chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 2 green bell peppers (chopped)
- 1 medium yellow onion (chopped)
- 1 medium red onion (chopped)
- 2 tbsp ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp sea salt
- 1 package McCormick Hot Chili Seasoning Mix (1.25oz)
- 2 cups brown sugar (packed)
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
Mix all sauce base ingredients very well and simmer on low heat for at least 2 hours before adding to the two different meat bases.
