Hearty chunks of tender beef and rich flavorful warm heat from three types of chili peppers. Easy to cook on the stovetop or perfectly sized for a 2-quart crock pot, but easy to adjust for larger amounts to fit your needs.
😊Why you will love this recipe
- Use precut stew meat or trim a chuck roast for the meat.
- Uses three different types of fresh peppers for varying levels of flavor—so good. The heat level is 5-6/10; adjust the Jalapeno to change the heat level.
- No beans-like a Texas chili should be
- Make it on the stovetop or in your crock pot.
- It makes about 5 cups of chili and will fit in a 2-quart crock pot. But scales up easily to double or triple size.
- Perfect for low-carb and keto diets.
👨🍳How to make this recipe in a crock pot
- This recipe makes about 5-6 cups of chili, as written. It fits in a 2-quart crock pot, but bigger is okay. But cooking small volumes in a large crock pot may cook faster. A double recipe will work in a 4-quart crock pot. If you want to use a 3 ½ quart crock pot, hold back some beef broth until the end.
- Browning the beef is not required but will add some nice taste. Do not use ground meat.
- Cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.
👨🍳How to make this recipe on the stovetop
- Start with a Dutch oven or soup pot. Add a few teaspoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
- Initially, brown the beef chunks in the pan, then remove them. Add the onion and peppers to the pot and cook until the onion clears some, then add the crushed garlic for one more minute.
- Add all the ingredients, including the browned meat, stir well, and bring the chili to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to simmer, cover and cook for about 3 hours until the meat is tender.
📋Ingredients
What meat to use for Texas chili?
Texas chili is all about chunks of beef and chili peppers. So no substituting poultry, skipping the beef or using ground beef.
Use 1-inch cubes of trimmed beef. I prefer to cut and trim a beef chuck roast, but you can use store-cut stew beef.
Brown the beef in a skillet before adding it to the crock pot to increase the flavor.
What chili peppers to use in Texas chili?
I suggest fresh jalapenos, Anaheim, and Poblano peppers. These will provide a nice warm heat with an excellent taste profile. Plus, they are commonly available fresh. Dried chiles are not interchangeable with fresh.
This chili is a 5-6/10 spicy, about as high as I go. To adjust the heat, add more Jalapeno for hotter or decrease it for less heat. The other chilis will have less effect.
All the peppers should have stems, seeds, and spines should be removed. The jalapeno should be chopped very small, but the other peppers should be medium-sized, more like the onion.
Tomatoes—Diced tomatoes are in the recipe, but tomato sauce or paste can be used.
Seasoning—The chili peppers provide most of the seasoning. There is some basic chili powder, oregano, and cumin but not much else. You can add other things like paprika, more chili powder, green chilis, and whatever you want.
What Makes Texas Chili Different?
Texas chili can be viewed more as a meat dish than traditional chili. There is no "official" version, so it is open to personal preference.
No beans seem to be the most consistent part of the definition. Some will insist that there should be no tomato products, but most modern recipes include tomatoes.
The purest will use just a paste of chiles with the beef and not much else.
If you have a different definition, please post it. But please don't downrate the recipe due to this.
❓FAQs
Many chili recipes use corn flour (masa harina) or corn starch to thicken the chili. This should not be needed here.
This is a very thick chili, and you should adjust the beef broth up or down to get the thickness you want. You can always add more near the end of cooking.
Sure, it is your chili. I suggest rinsing any beans you want to use them. Kidney beans would be my choice. Since most people expect Texas chili not to have beans, I would add "with beans" to whatever you call it.
Yes, replace the broth with beer if you wish.
Leftovers can be stored refrigerated for four days.
To freeze leftovers, seal airtight, then freeze for up to 4 months. I usually use freezer bags.
Since this chili has some heat, I like to top a bowl of chili with a good spoonful of sour cream and some shredded cheddar cheese.
Slices of pickled jalapenos, lime juice or slices, and cilantro are common garnishes.
I generally add some tortilla chips or Fritos on the side and call it good.
Crock Pot Chilis
Ultra Simple Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
Crock Pot Three Bean Turkey Chili
Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin Chili
Crockpot Southwest Chicken Chili
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
All discussions and the recipe card are four-serving sizes, but the images are a double recipe I usually cook.
Stovetop instructions are in the post and the recipe card.
You need about 1 pound of trimmed beef cut into 1-inch pieces. You can be lazy and use precut stew meat if you want.
If you want, browning the meat before adding it to the crock pot will add more flavor.
Chop one medium yellow or white onion. Also, clean and dice a jalapeno (finely), an Anaheim pepper, and a Poblano pepper.
Combine the chopped onion and peppers with 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 14 oz can diced tomatoes, 1 cup beef broth, 1 tablespoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon oregano, and ¼ teaspoon cumin.
Cook a crock pot for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high. It will fit in a crock pot of 2 quarts or larger.
Serve topped with sour cream and cheese to contrast the heat.
📖 Recipe
Crock Pot Texas Chili
Ingredients
- 1 pound Chuck roast beef - trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes or use stew meat
- 1 jalapeno - diced small
- 1 Anaheim - diced medium
- 1 poblano pepper - chopped medium
- 1 onion - medium chopped
- 2 cloves garlic - crushed or minced
- 14 oz diced tomatoes
- 1 cup beef broth
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoons cumin
Instructions
- You need about 1 pound of trimmed beef cut into 1-inch pieces. You can be lazy and use precut stew meat if you want.
- If you want, browning the meat before adding it to the crock pot will add more flavor.
- Chop one medium yellow or white onion. Also, clean and dice a jalapeno (finely), an Anaheim pepper, and a Poblano pepper.
- Combine the chopped onion and peppers with 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 14 oz can diced tomatoes, 1 cup beef broth, 1 tablespoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon oregano, and ¼ teaspoon cumin.
- Cook a crock pot for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high. It will fit in a crock pot of 2 quarts or larger.
Stovetop Instructions
- Start with a Dutch oven or soup pot. Add a few teaspoons of vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
- Initially, brown the beef chunks in the pan, then remove. Add the onion and peppers to the pot and cook until the onion clears some (about 5 minutes), then add the crushed garlic for one more minute.
- Add all the ingredients, including the browned meat, stir well, and bring the chili to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to simmer, cover and cook for about 3 hours until the meat is tender.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- You can use pre-cut stew meat or a beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes.
- This just fits a 2-quart crock pot, and bigger is fine. A double recipe, which I usually make, fits in a 3 ½ quart crock pot.
- The "heat level" is about 6/10 to me. Adjust the amount of jalapeno for more or less heat.
- The nutrition for a 1 ½ cup serving.
- It will be good refrigerated for 4 days and freeze well for 3-4 months.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Originally Published February 25, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Barbara
I finally found someone who knows, if is Texas chili it has NO beans in it!!! Thank you Dr Dan. Just a suggestion, if you find it a bit to thin or "soupy" as we down here call it, add some marina masa to the pot about 30 minutes before you serve. Be sure to stir well.
thx A true Texas native.
Philip e Dally
Should be a brisket if it's Texan. I'm trying to figure out if I made this in a cast iron pot if I could smoke it for 8 hours. Never smoked soup before...Love your recipes!
Dr Dan
I was lazy and did not brown but don't forget to trim. In my beef stew, I do brown ahead and I believe it did add some taste. So either should be fine.
Julia Roberts
What a great website! And this recipe looks delicious. Found it when I googled stew meat chili as I've got a ton of stew meat in the freezer. Did you brown the meat first? Doesn't look like it. Does it matter?
Julia Roberts
This looks great! Going to make it this weekend. Did you brown the meat first? Doesn't look like it.
Chris
I like the nice mild heat this one brings to the bowl. Spicy but not flaming miserable.