This hearty Dutch Oven Chili is loaded with beef, sausage, and beans and a flavorful blend of spices. Serve it with your favorite toppings for a meal everyone will love!
The perfect chili should be hearty, chunky, and heavily spiced for ultimate flavor. That's exactly what this Dutch oven chili is! Whether you're feeding cowboys or kids, everyone is sure to love it all the same!
Love chili? Try this Creamy White Chicken Chili! For a beefy soup, option try this Bistro French Onion Soup. Looking for a hearty vegetarian option? Then this Tuscan Kale and White Bean Soup is just what you need!
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Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
Ground Beef and Sausage - Using a mixture of ground beef and sausage adds more flavor to the chili. For the sausage, choose mild or hot depending on your preferences.
Kidney Beans - A hearty mixture of light and dark red kidney beans stands up to the other ingredients.
Crushed Tomatoes - Perfect for the sauce base sauce since they are thick and provide some texture.
Fire Roasted Tomatoes - Add a smoky flavor and chunkiness to the chili.
Seasoning Blend - Chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, dried oregano, and red pepper flakes make up the chili spice blend.
Brown Sugar - A small bit of brown sugar helps to balance everything out without making the chili sweet.
Jalapeño - Adds heat to the chili.
Why Make Chili In A Dutch Oven?
Dutch ovens are the ultimate pot for cooking chili. Their thick heavy bottoms and large sizes are perfect for low slow cooking. While this recipe uses a stove top for the heat source, you can also make your Dutch oven chili over a fire if you have that available to you. It's the perfect camping or backyard meal!
Step By Step Instructions
Note: The recipe card below contains a full list of ingredients, their amounts, and instructions.
Step 1:
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Step 2:
Add the ground beef, ground sausage, and diced onion to the hot oil and cook for about 8 minutes or until the meat is cooked through.
Step 3:
Add the minced garlic and jalapeños and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until they have softened.
Step 4:
Add the tomato paste and spices and cook, stirring often, for 1 minute.
Step 5:
Add the crushed tomatoes, fire-roasted tomatoes, water, beans, and brown sugar and stir until well combined.
Step 6:
Bring the chili to a gentle boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Allow it to gently simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for at least 30 minutes.
Serve warm with toppings. Enjoy!
Tips & Tricks
Most of the heat in jalapeños comes from the ribs (the light green parts inside) and the seeds. If you like a lot of heat, dice up the entire jalapeño. If you like less heat, remove the ribs and seeds before chopping up the jalapeño.
Substitutions & Variations
- Kidney beans are a great chili bean. However, pinto, black, Great Northern, and navy beans are also excellent choices.
- This recipe calls for jalapeño peppers since they are a classic mid-level spicy pepper. However, you could also use habanero (extra hot!) or poblano peppers (less heat).
Storage & Reheating
Storage
Keep the chili in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Reheating
Microwave
Reheat the chili in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second increments until warmed through, stirring between each one.
Stove Top
Place the chili in a pot or Dutch oven and heat over medium-low heat until warmed through, stirring occasionally.
Freezing
Chili is excellent for freezing. Place the fully cooled chili in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag before freezing. Use within 6 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sure! You'll still need to cook the ground beef, sausage, onion, garlic, and jalapños on the stove. Then, transfer everything to a crockpot and cook on high for 2 to 4 hours or on low for 6 to 8 hours.
Absolutely! Adding a bit of sugar to savory dishes can help balance flavors similar to how adding salt to sweets helps bring out those flavors. However, you can leave the brown sugar out if you prefer to keep your chili sugar-free.
This recipe calls for simmering the chili for 30 minutes before serving. This ensures that the flavors have had time to come together and everything is cooked through. However, chili does benefit from longer cooking. If you have the time, allow your chili to simmer gently for several hours before serving.
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📖 Recipe
Dutch Oven Chili
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground sausage mild or hot
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 jalapeño ribs and seeds removed, diced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can fire roasted tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 (15-ounce) cans dark red kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 1 (15-ounce) can light red kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
- Add the ground beef, sausage, and onion. Cook, stirring often, until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeño and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the tomato paste, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, salt, garlic powder, oregano, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Cook, stirring often, for 1 minute.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, fire-roasted tomatoes, water, kidney beans, and brown sugar and mix to combine everything.
- Bring the chili to a gentle boil then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
- Serve with your favorite toppings such as shredded cheddar or Colby Jack cheese, sour cream, diced onion, and tortilla or corn chips.
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