Skip to main content

Spice Up Fall With This Spicy Beef Chorizo Chili Recipe

It’s that time of year again when spicy heat seekers gather to compete, commiserate, and just plain enjoy that perfect fall meal in a bowl—chili. One cooking trend taking the chili world by storm is adding chorizo to achieve a uniquely spicy and super-flavorful batch. The traditional Mexican ground meat is pre-seasoned to perfection with spices commonly found in chili, which means you can scale back on a lot of the other seasonings.

To help us with a delicious chili recipe, we reached out to Patrick Montgomery, owner and founder of The KC Cattle Company. KC Cattle Company specializes in the finest American-born and bred Waygu beef. So, it’s no surprise that Montgomery calls for three types of Waygu beef in this special recipe. “Chorizo is traditionally made from ground pork containing a lot of seasoning and fat. We did the same thing with our ground Wagyu beef.” Says Montgomery. “The best part of Wagyu cattle is the taste and quality of the fat. Because of this, it makes for a superior Chorizo.”

You can use store-bought beef for this recipe, but if you’re really looking to impress, using Wagyu provides a noticeably flavorful and more tender chili. The secret is the fat content of the Wagyu. The fat in Wagyu beef has a lower melting point than other beef, which adds delectable flavor and tenderness. Not only is the fat more flavorful, it’s healthier; it has a higher mono-unsaturated-to-saturated-fat ratio than other beef.

“Heavily seasoned meat with loads of fat are great attributes for quality chili meat. The mistake folks make with Wagyu Chorizo is they drain the fat. It is the best part of Wagyu! Use it for cooking the other meat and veggies in the recipe.” -Patrick Montgomery, Founder of KC Cattle Company.

This recipe calls for beef chorizo, along with kabob meat and ground beef. The ground beef makes for a meatier chili without an overpoweringly spicy chili if you were to use all chorizo. The tender kabob meat gives the chili more texture and depth. Montgomery says you can use stew meat to save a little money, but it will be chewier since it comes from cheaper cuts.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe for a deliciously spicy beef chorizo chili. This recipe gives you the opportunity to fire up your pellet grill or smoker to add a little smoky flavor to the spice. However, it’s perfectly fine to finish the chili in the oven.

Related Reading

Spicy Beef Chorizo Chili

Two bowls of beef chorizo chili.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

(Courtesy of Patrick Montgomery)

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp chili pepper
  • Sea salt – to taste
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 lb wagyu chorizo
  • 1 lb wagyu ground beef
  • 1 lb wagyu kabob meat or stew meat (see note for which to choose)
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 1 yellow bell pepper
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 white onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 3 jalapenos
  • 1 beer (something with good flavor)
  • 1 – 32 oz container of beef broth
  • 2 – 16 oz cans of pinto beans
  • 1 – 6 oz can of tomato paste
  • 1 – 32 oz can of diced tomatoes – Regular
  • 1 bunch of cilantro
  • 1 avocado
  • Sour cream
  • Tortilla chips

Method

  1. Heat Dutch oven on the stove to medium-high heat. Preheat pellet smoker to 300 degrees F. Pull chorizo, ground beef, and kabob meat to allow to come to room temp.
  2. Dice green pepper, yellow pepper, red pepper, onion, and jalapeño (seeded or un-seeded depending on how spicy you want it) into large pieces.
  3. After dicing veggies, make sure your kabob meat is cubed into 0.5 x 0.5-inch pieces.
  4. Once the Dutch oven is hot, add butter. The butter should sizzle and melt very quickly (if using a cast iron, the cast iron should be smoking). Now, add your kabob meat to sear it. About 1 minute per side.
  5. Reduce heat to medium-low and add your chorizo and ground beef. Mix the ground meat together. Allow all meat to cook in fat (DO NOT DRAIN!). Once ground meat is browned, remove ground beef, chorizo, and kabob meat. Leave the fat in the pot!
  6. Now add your peppers, onion, and garlic to the fat. Mix up your veggies in the residual fat left behind from meat. Allow to cook down for 5 – 6 minutes. While veggies are cooking, remove the lids from cans where needed.
  7. Add cumin, chili pepper, and salt (I used about one tbsp for each). You don’t need a ton because the Chorizo is already heavily seasoned. Mix seasoning with veggies.
  8. Now add broth, beer, beans, and meat.
  9. Transfer to your smoker (uncovered). Allow to cook on the smoker for 30 minutes to 1.5 hours.
  10. Serve chili immediately with avocado, cilantro, sour cream, and tortilla chips as garnishes.

Editors' Recommendations

Steven Johnson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven Johnson is a chef-turned-content strategist. He now helps companies attract and retain more customers through content…
7 of the best spirits for spiked apple cider
Add a twist to your apple cider with one of these spirits
Glass mug with spiked apple cider

There's nothing better than a wintery and blustery day. Just kidding; there is, actually. It's called spiked apple cider and booze. You know the kind where you take spices and apple cider, then heat it, and after it gets to a nice hot temperature mix in your favorite spirits? Sit in your favorite chair and just sip the cold away.

Speaking of cold, you can definitely make your own concoction to ease the symptoms of the common cold -- it's called a hot toddy. Sick or not, it's delicious and may keep that cold at bay. In the meantime, we put together a list of some of the best spirits for those cold winter nights. But these aren't just for winter, you can enjoy these drinks year-round, as they can either be made into spiked hot apple cider or cold spiked apple cider cocktails. Consider them the adult's apple juice, and no matter if you decide on a hot or cold cocktail, you're going to enjoy it.

Read more
The best breweries in America: The ultimate bucket list if you love craft beer
Want to combine craft beer and travel? These breweries have great ales and more — worth booking a vacation for
Prairie Artisan Ales Brewery

If you didn’t know it, there are currently more than 9,000 (yes, you read that right) breweries operating in the U.S. That’s a lot of IPAs, pilsners, and barrel-aged stouts. Honestly, it’s way more beer than you or I could ever hope to drink. This also means there are a ton of breweries that, to put it a bit bluntly, aren’t worth your time. There are also a lot of great outfits, brewing award-winning beers. There are also a few that stand above the rest both in terms of quality and atmosphere. These are the bucket list breweries that every beer fan should visit at least once.

The best part? These gems can be found all over the country. There are Chicago breweries, Asheville breweries, and outstanding, can’t-miss breweries from Petaluma to St. Pete. We’re talking names like Tree House Brewery, Russian River Brewing, Brewery Ommegang, and Portland, Maine’s stalwart Allagash Brewing to name a few.

Read more
Apple cider donuts are a fall tradition – this is the only recipe you need
You'll love this tasty, simple apple cider donut recipe
Apple cider donuts with sugar

This time of year, the sweet treats are out to play, and we couldn't be more thrilled. Pair all the deliciously spicy fall flavors with chilly days that make you want to snuggle up with something cozy and sugary, and we're happy campers. Perhaps slightly chubbier ones, but that's what the cable-knit sweaters are for. If you've never made (or even tried!) piping hot, cinnamon-sugary, crisp and spicy, fresh apple cider donuts, what are you even doing with your life? This chilly weather treat is a must for autumn days, and it's about time you learn to make these spicy little love cakes.

Why are apple cider donuts so good?
We all love our local corner donut shops for a quick sugar fix and a cheap cup of coffee. Nothing says "it's going to be a good Saturday morning" more than one of those cheerful pink boxes. Now imagine that instead of your usual maple bar or classic glazed, the donut in your hand is fresh and warm, infused with crisp, autumnal apple cider and fall spices, warm cinnamon and sugar crystals dusting your fingertips. And instead of a fluorescently lit shop in a strip mall with chipped laminate flooring, you're enjoying that donut at a stunningly fragrant, gorgeously picturesque apple orchard, owned and run by kind and jovial local farmers.

Read more