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Best chili I’ve ever had!! My mom and husband both agree. Sooo good and super easy to make! 👍🏻
Megan
Why I Love This Chili
Is there any better feeling than walking into your house, when it’s dark (already) at 5pm, and smelling the juicy, spicy, richness of Texas-style chili in the slow cooker?
This chili is rich and hearty, simple and uncluttered. No beans, no veggie chunks – just saucy chunks of juicy, tender beef that shreds apart with the lightest pull of a fork.
My friend Ang made this recipe for us years ago, and we’ve always laughed about this recipe that she used because the 2010 Food Network original that she was working from has a full 3/4 cup of chili powder in it.
We are not doing the 3/4 cup of chili powder thing, but I did using that old, nostalgic-to-me recipe to build this version.
The chili is beef, savory, rich and dark, but it’s also mild enough that my two littles love it, especially when dolloped with sour cream, which is one of their favorite food groups.
Final pro-tip: I’ve made this into a casserole on more than one occasion, topped with cornbread buttermilk biscuits, and I’ll get that recipe onto the internet very soon.
Watch How To Make This Texas-Style Chili
Slow Cooker Texas Style Chili
- Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 5–6 servings 1x
Description
This shredded beef Texas chili is rich and hearty, made with 8 simple ingredients! Just saucy chunks of tender beef that shreds apart with the lightest pull of a fork!
Ingredients
Slow Cooker Texas Style Chili:
- 1–2 tablespoons avocado or vegetable oil
- 2 1/2 to 3 pounds beef chuck roast, fat trimmed, cut into 3-inch cubes
- 2 1/2 teaspoons salt (1 teaspoon per pound of meat, more to taste)
- 1 yellow onion, finely diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- two 4.5-ounce cans green chiles
- one 14-ounce can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
Toppings:
- Green onions
- Sour cream
- Cheddar cheese
- Chips or cornbread
Instructions
- Prep everything: Chop, measure, get everything all set up first.
- Brown the beef: Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Toss the cut beef chunks with salt. Add the beef to the pot and let it cook, undisturbed, for a few minutes on each side until it gets nice and browned. You may need to do this batches depending on the size of your pan. Remove beef chunks and transfer to the slow cooker.
- Saute onions and garlic: Add onions and garlic (and a bit more oil if needed); sauté until golden and softened. This process should lift a lot of yummy browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add spices: Add the brown sugar and spices; sauté for 3-5 minutes until nice and fragrant.
- Add tomatoes and chiles: Add green chiles and crushed tomatoes; simmer for 3-5 minutes until bubbly and delicious.
- Cook low and slow: Pour tomato mixture into the slow cooker over the beef chunks; gently nudge them around so they are surrounded in the sauce. Cook on high for 4-ish hours or low for 8 hours.
- Serve: Shred the beef into big tender chunks (you should be able to do this directly in the slow cooker) and season with more salt to taste. Serve with sour cream, cheddar, green onions, and cornbread.
Notes
Chili Powder: Every chili powder tastes a little different as they all use their own unique blend of spices. I like the Simply Organic chili powder, but have enjoyed this with honestly all of the chili powders I’ve used during testing. I think as long as your chili powder smells good and tastes good to you, it’ll be spot on.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: texas style chili, chili recipe, beef chili recipe, slow cooker chili, slow cooker dinner recipe
Frequently Asked Questions For Texas Chili
Regular beef chili uses ground beef, sometimes beans, and often extra veggies (like this one – so good). But Texas chili is shredded beef chili that’s traditionally made with just beef, chiles, and spices. No beans, no chunks of extra veggies. Traditionally it’s made with no tomatoes – the dried chiles and the spices are what makes the saucy base of it. I am using a can of tomatoes here, plus canned chiles instead of dried ones, so this is more of a Texas-style chili vs. a full blown Texas chili.
Yes, it will work. I’ve done it and cooked on high pressure for about 60-70 minutes. But I much preferred this in the slow cooker. It just thickens differently, tenderizes the meat differently, and just generally works better.
Yes, you could bake this in a pot (ideally a Dutch oven). Add 1 ½ – 2 cups of water or broth, and bake covered at 300 for 4-5 hours.
Here’s a recipe for my favorite vegetarian chili!
Yes! You can freeze this before or after cooking.
Yes. I’ve done it and it’s still delicious! I think for max flavor, the browning is ideal. But if you don’t have time, just toss it in the slow cooker and go!
Could I use a full roast for this or do I have to use smaller pieces?
I took a risk and made this for the first time while hosting a dinner party – it paid off! Everyone loved it and for the recipe. I doubled it and served with jalapeño cornbread. Definitely a new fall/winter staple in my house!
This recipe was easy to follow and not too much effort. I don’t have a slow cooker so simmered the chili on the stove top. The result was a flavorful dish that my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed. I will make this chili again!
Officially added into my winter dinner rotation! This was a much tastier way to utilize a roast than a typical pot roast recipe. 5 stars!
This recipe is one of my favorites! I used my own chili powder blend to cut down the spice, and both of my toddlers had third helping. My husband kept eating spoonfuls while doing the dishes. It was a hit!
This was a bit too spicy for me but I loved the flavor. So I substituted it for the pork in your carnitas tamale pie and it was perfectly delicious!
I’m curious whether there are any tweaks to decrease the spiciness for tiny humans? I loved the belly-warming heat but tiny would not.
This was the bomb diggity! My family loved it.
Love the slow cooker recipes so I can get it going early in the morning then go run some errand’s . Added some little red Piri Piri peppers for a little kick, some cocoa powder , smoked paprika and bacon out of the gate. I must have beans in my chili! Cooked on low for first 5 hours with the chuck in 1” pieces. Then added three cans of Kroger mixed seasoned chili beans and cooked the last hour on high. Walked the dogs and turned to warm and waited for the wife to get home. It was amazing with some warm almond flour biscuits!!! Ty Lindsay
This sounds delicious! Could I make this in a Dutch oven on the stovetop?
Yes, this should work on the stove!
Made this today and it was delicious! Followed the recipe exactly as stated and baked it in the oven. So good!
Thank you for sharing. I can’t wait to try it in the morning . I am topping it with two fried eggs . Boom breakfast is served
I know it goes against the Texas chili standard, but has anyone tried incorporating other elements (like adding in the beans or various veggies) into this? I’m also intrigued by the idea of bacon grease to cook the onions and garlic (like in the Sunday Chili recipe) – but I don’t want to throw the main idea off too far.
I successfully added zucchini, green peppers, black beans and spinach! See my comment from 11/17/23 🙂
This meal was very good, my husband and I loved it and it is so simple. However, next time I think I will just toss it all in the slow cooker because it took too much time to precook everything and browning the meat caused a lot of smoke.
Do you think this would work with a bottom round roast?
I’d say so!
Had a hankering for chili and took a chance on this one! Looked amazing from the pictures but was hesitant to make a chili without beans or chopped up veggies. I thought, it’s going to be flavorless. Boy was I wrong! Loved the chunks of meat and the flavor was phenomenal.
It was nice.
Wowee, this was so flavoursome. Loved the pull part beef and layers of caramelised flavours.
This was a great Sunday night dinner. I’d like to enjoy it next time with soft flour tortillas.
Thank you!
this was so good! made it twice in about a week! feeds a lot of ppl, great alone or with corn bread or even tortilla chips. super hearty and thick.
I just made this last night, and it was so good. I had beef stew meat in my fridge and didn’t know what to do with it, and this recipe came right on time into my inbox. The whole family loved it. We will be making this again.
6th generation Texan here and this chili is so delicious. Thank you for another great recipe!
I made this today and it turned out wonderful; I wouldn’t alter a thing! I used half Penzey’s Hot and half Penzey’s Regular chile powder. I had to add little water while cooking the spices since they were adhering to the pan, but I believe that made it even better!
I did this in the oven, used my Staub Dutch oven, definitely needs the one cup of water, maybe more. End result is amazing! Cooked it at 250° for 4-5 hours.
I did this in the oven, used my Staub Dutch oven, definitely needs the one cup of water, maybe more. End result is amazing! Cooked it at 250° for 4-5 hours.
Best chili I’ve ever had!! My mom and husband both agree. Sooo good and super easy to make! 👍🏻