BY TANNER JOHNSON
Over-the-Top Chili Recipe
There’s nothing like a warm pot of chili once the weather starts to get colder in early fall. You can take it to the next level with the smoky flavor that I love by cooking it on a smoker.
Smoked ground beef mixed into the perfect blend of classic chili ingredients is a great way to embrace the spirit of fall. Enjoy this on a chilly day while your favorite football team is on TV, or when you are entertaining a large crowd and wanting to exert minimal effort, so that you can spend some more quality time with your company.
I saw a lot of different people online from Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook raving about this over-the-top chili, and after trying it myself I now understand the hype. Although it was popular on social media, I struggled to find an actual step-by-step recipe, so I ended up freestyling it and could not be happier with the results. I had fun playing around with some of my favorite seasonings for this recipe, and I hope if you try this at home that you will also enjoy this smoky take on a fall and winter classic.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 onion diced
- 1 jalapeño diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 2 cans of diced tomatoes
- 1 (or 2) can of stewed tomatoes
- 2 cans of Rotel (fire roasted and hot are my favorite)
- 1 can of navy beans (drained)
- 1 can of red kidney beans
- 1/2 can of black beans (drained)
- 2 lbs. of 80/20 ground beef
- Cackalacky®️ Pepper Powder seasoning
- Cumin
- Chili powder
- Cayenne pepper
- Salt and Pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat smoker to 275-300° (lower if you prefer more smoke flavor and have more time) I use a vertical pellet smoker. Any smoker will suffice, you can even do this in the oven, but you’ll miss out on that smoky flavor.
- Sauté onion and peppers in Dutch oven with some olive oil until softened.
- Add the rest of the ingredients into the Dutch oven.
- Season with some pepper powder, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper (and any other seasonings you may like).
- Stir up and simmer on low on the stove while you get your meatball formed and seasoned.
- Form ground beef into a round, dome like shape (flat on the bottom) to sit on the grill grate above the Dutch oven.
- Season beef with pepper powder, chili powder, salt, and pepper.
- Put the Dutch oven into the smoker, then place the ground beef directly above the Dutch oven on the rack above if your smoker allows or place a wire rack or extra grill grate on top of the Dutch oven directly for the meat to sit on.
- Stir chili every 30 minutes or so to make sure it doesn’t reduce too much or burn.
- Let the ground beef cook (on top) until the internal temperature is around 145-150°.
- Take the meat and crumble it up into small pieces, place it into the Dutch oven.
- Stir to blend into the chili.
- Continue smoking for at least another 30 minutes – an hour if you have time. Stirring a couple of more times.
- Pull it out and enjoy some delicious homemade chili! We like to serve it with some shredded cheese, fresh avocado slices, and use Frito scoops instead of a spoon!
For more recipes and demos follow me on Instagram @919backyardbbq
