Being a Texas girl, I do not take the subject of chili lightly. I have very specific opinions about what should be in chili and its minimum heat requirements. We have been making chili pretty much since we moved here to Germany but hadn’t really found the “perfect” recipe yet – until last week. I was on AllRecipes (yes, AGAIN) and was searching for a new chili recipe when I came across the Boilermaker Tailgate Chili recipe, which definitely sounded like it had potential. All the reviews raved about it and you can be pretty certain when a recipe has a rating of 5 stars with 541 reviews, it’s going to be pretty darn good.
The one thing I was a bit turned off about was that it contained Italian sausage and I’m just not a big fan of it. So I substituted in sirloin and, WOW, was it some good chili. Do be careful because it can be quite spicy and the longer you let it sit, the hotter it’s likely to get. If you’re sensitive to hot food or plan to serve this to kids, lay off at least one of the hot ingredients. Mackenzie LOVES the beans from this chili but rarely wants to eat any other part of it.
I like to make this as a big batch and then freeze about 6-8 portions for a later date. We usually eat chili 2 nights in a row right after I make it — sometimes even for a lunch in there as well. This chili goes great with diced raw onions, shredded cheddar cheese and Fritos corn chips (which we tried to make ourselves and they weren’t even close to the same). But you can also serve it with fresh bread or spooned over baked potatoes or french fries too. Or if you are looking for a low-carb option, just eat the chili like it is!
To me, this is the best chili recipe because it has lots of big chunks of meat, beans, tomatoes and tons of veggies. Plus I love the way that the coffee rounds out the flavors. If you don’t happen to have any coffee around, don’t omit it but try something like Coca Cola…or use a shot of espresso which is what I did recently from our Nespresso machine. The best way to make sure you always have coffee on hand to cook with is to freeze any leftover coffee you have in ice cube trays. Then you’ve got perfect little portioned shots of coffee to add to recipes. Or you can make iced coffee drinks if you find them gathering too quickly. 😉
| Prep Time | 30 mins |
| Cook Time | 2 hours |
| Servings |
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- 2 pounds ground beef chuck
- 1 pound sirloin cubed
- 3 cans kidney beans drained, 15 ounce
- 1 in can chili beansspicy sauce 15 ounce
- 2 cans diced tomatoes with juice 28 ounce
- 1 can tomato paste 6 ounce
- 1 large yellow onion chopped
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 2 green chili peppers seeded and chopped
- 1 tablespoon bacon bits
- 4 cubes beef bouillon
- 1/2 cup beer
- 1/2 cup coffee or Coca Cola
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce e.g. Tabasco™
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1 small onion chopped finely
- 1 bag corn chips such as Fritos® 10.5 ounce
- 1 package shredded Cheddar cheese 8 ounce
Ingredients
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- Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble the ground chuck and sausage into the hot pan, and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease.
- Pour in the chili beans, spicy chili beans, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the onion, celery, green and red bell peppers, chili peppers, bacon bits, bouillon, beer and coffee/cola. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, cumin, hot pepper sauce, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste. Remove from heat and serve, or refrigerate, and serve the next day.
- To serve, ladle into bowls, and top with chopped onions, corn chips and shredded Cheddar cheese.
