A Traditional Beef Chili 🌶️
Two ways: gluten free & keto ✌🏿
There are numerous ways to tackle chili, starting with the meat. Be it chicken or beef, ground or Texas-style chunks. Heck, you can even make it vegan with just veggies.
So after numerous versions, we give you our two favorites. Because picking a sole winner was truly a mission-impossible.
For the purists, the lone-star beef ⭐
Real chili purists advocate for a chili with little tomato and no beans. The beef is the star of the dish through and through. And it really is outstanding.
Fun fact? It’s naturally keto!
3g net carbs, 17g fat, 15g protein. Though if you’re restricting carbs further, feel free to sub the beer and stock for water and 2 stalks of celery (sautéed along with the onion).
Though we are ga-ga about the touch of beer, so we hope you won’t skip it!
For everyone else, grandma’s chili 👵🏼
This is a friend’s sweet grandma’s recipe, and it’s a real crowd pleaser. We hear no one has ever left the table without going for seconds on this one. True fact.
Triple the onions, double the tomato, pour in some beer. And siiiiiiimmer. For as long as possible. Black or kidney beans optional.
The Browning ?
The one thing both chilis have in common?
Browning each ingredient fully before you add in the next one. It might seem excessive even, but every great slow cooking beef dish has this in common. Be it American chili, Italian ragù, or French bourguignon.
So repeat after us: browning is truly essential.
Seconded only by the longest possible cooking time. We think 3 hours is good enough if you’re in a pickle, but if you can stretch it to 5 or 6 (or even 8!) you’re golden. Just keep adding 1/4 cup stock or water as needed.
The Spices ?️
Forget chili powder mixes, you wan’t to have full control here. Add the ground chilis of your preference, we favor a chile ancho and cayenne mix. But chipotle is killer too.
Go smoked or regular with the paprika, and don’t forget the cumin and oregano.
One last trick ?
Make your chili the day before. Second-day chili is always best, so go ahead and make it the day before. Or at the very least make a double batch, because you seriously will want to try second-day chili.
p.s. homemade ground beef
One last thing, don’t forget the homemade ground beef. That’s right, you ought to be grounding your beef at home.
You will not only be getting the best-tasting beef possible, but also the cleanest.
Ah, and the cornbread. Don’t forget it.
The Lone-Star Beef Chili 🌶️ Ketogenic
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic ran through a press
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 500 g ground beef
- 1-2 pickled chipotle chili seeded and diced + 1 tablespoon of juice
- 1 400 g can diced tomatoes
- 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika
- 3 teaspoons oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2-2 teaspoons chile ancho to taste*
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 120 ml gluten free light or dark amber beer
- 240 ml beef stock
Instructions
- Heat up olive oil in a dutch oven or large pot over medium/high heat. Add garlic and sauté until golden. Add onion, and cook for 12-15 minutes over medium/high heat until fully browned.
- Lower heat to medium, add ground beef, cloves and a large pinch of salt. Cook until fully browned, 6 to 8 minutes, stirring every so often.
- Add in chipotle and mix until just combined. Add tomatoes, all the spices, and salt. Continue to cook over medium heat until simmering, lower the heat to low and continue to cook for 15 minutes stirring every so often.
- Add in beer and lower the heat as low as possible. Continue to cook for 3 to 8 hours. Adding 1/4 cup water at a time, as needed.
- Allow your chili to rest for 10 minutes prior to serving with your favorite toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
Grandma's Traditional Beef Chili 🌶️ Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic ran through a press
- 750 g onions skinned and finely chopped
- 500 g ground beef
- 1-2 pickled chipotle chili seeded and diced + 1 tablespoon of juice
- 1 400 g can diced tomatoes
- 1 400 g can tomato puree
- 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika
- 3 teaspoons oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2-2 teaspoons chile ancho to taste*
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon evaporated cane juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 120 ml gluten free light or dark amber beer
Instructions
- Heat up olive oil in a dutch oven or large pot over medium/high heat. Add garlic and sauté until golden. Add onion, and cook for 12-15 minutes over medium/high heat until fully browned.
- Lower heat to medium, add ground beef, cloves and a large pinch of salt. Cook until fully browned, 6 to 8 minutes, stirring every so often.
- Add in chipotle and mix until just combined. Add both cans of tomatoes and all the spices, sugar and salt. Continue to cook over medium heat until simmering, lower the heat to low and continue to cook for 15 minutes stirring every so often.
- Add in beer and lower the heat as low as possible. Continue to cook for 3 to 8 hours. Adding 1/4 cup water or stock at a time, as needed.
- Allow your chili to rest for 10 minutes prior to serving with your favorite toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi!
I’ve made the Lone Star chili a couple of times now. The first batch I used beer and it was good but I felt like it was just shy of amazing, so in the next batch I doubled the recipe adding a half a pound of bacon (I sweated the bacon in the pan until I had a nice amount of the fat rendered out before browning the onion and garlic) and I substituted whiskey for the beer. When it was time to set it to a slow simmer I transferred everything to my crockpot, set it low and let it go for about 5hrs.
The end result? AMAZING!!! And a new family favorite!
Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
What’s evaporated cane juice? I clicked on the link and it is sending me to cane sugar.
Where can I find pickled chipotle chilis? Is it the same as chipotle in abodo?
Yup in adobo! xo
I can’t find your “cornbread “ recipe?
Would love to try it!
Hi Mia! It was actually a proper (gluten free) cornbread, so not keto! BUT I’m working on an alternative already 😉 xo!
That’s awesome! I can’t wait!
I noticed on the first recipe the instructions do not clarify when the beef stock is added? I added it with the beer.
Thank you Devyn- I’ll look into that. It’s generally added during the simmer as needed xo!
This sounds wonderful! I don’t see any cloves (I mean, other than garlic cloves), on either ingredient list, but I see in both versions, it says to add the cloves in when adding the beef. How many cloves please?
Hi Megan! I apologize, they seem to have slipped away when importing the recipe… 2 cloves (hopefully not too late!). xo Paola
Thank you! No, not too late at all! Your recipe came across my Pinterest feed, and piqued my interest, but I haven’t attempted it yet. Probably won’t be making it until after Thanksgiving, but with ingredients like those, I have no doubt it will be a winner! Thanks again.
So this might just be the BEST chili I ever had (I made the second one- granny’s version). I didn’t have the ancho chile so I just used the pickled chipotle. I’m not sure what it is out of all of it (the beer?!), but it’s really very tasty. there were no leftovers!! so next time i’ll make double!
Blushing here! Awesome you loved it and thanks for reporting back! x
I’m absolutely drooling! My grandma also used to add beer (and coffee i think?) to chill! super yummy!
Chili is SO lovely with coffee as well! Not a fan of all coffee, but even just an espresso with the beer is great!
I know it says it serves 6 but what is the serving size amount? Thank you!
Hi Nicky! It’s approximately 6 to 7 ounces of chili (i.e. a small bowl such as the pictures). Each serving has 3 ounces of beef, which is generally a recommended portion per meal.