Award Winning Chili Recipe. Combining Italian Sausage, Ground Pork And Ground Chuck, along with a well balanced lineup of spices, builds an unforgettable layer of flavors. This is simply the best chili recipe winner. Let’s find out why.
Serve this with my recipe for Cornbread with Creamed Corn. It’s a perfect side for this recipe.
What You Can Expect From This Recipe
This is what one would officially refer to as “hauling out the big guns”. I’m sharing my Award Winning Chili Cook Off Recipe.
My Chili Recipe won 2nd place in a large Douglas County Chili Cook-off that took place in Castle Rock, Colorado. The recipe has humble beginnings, as it’s simple base ingredients are from the recipe my Father made when I was growing up in on our farm in Kansas.
I have taken his basic recipe, made it my own by adding ingredients that most certainly weren’t on his radar 50 years ago.
Here’s what I think makes this recipe is a Chili Cook-off Winner:
- Quality Ingredients: Our Executive Chef instructor at Culinary School always told us “Choose Quality Ingredients and then try not to mess them up” So with that advice, You’ll find three different meats in my chili, that were purchased at an upscale local specialty food and meat market. For the beef I purchased a blend of ground chuck and ground brisket. I’ve also added their house made sweet Italian sausage and their ground pork. I believe Italian sausage elevates the flavor, and interestingly enough the first place winner also included it in their recipe.
- Beans: You’ll find Pinto beans, which are customary for chili recipes, and I’ve also added Red Kidney Beans to add a contrast in color and texture.
- A stellar lineup of spices. I’ve probably made this recipe 50 times over the years, and each time tweaking and experimenting with the balance of spices. I use a commercial Chili Powder Seasoning and then added and built flavor around it. The final result is a nice blend, without any one over-powering element. I’m particularly proud of adding smoked paprika.
- Complexity: Brown sugar, Red Wine and tomato paste are MVP’s for building layers of flavor.
- Heat Level: I totally disagree that a shocking spicy heat level will win a Chili Cook-off. You need a spice level that will get your attention, but not so hot that some simply can’t eat it. I use a quality medium spice Chili Powder, and Hatch Chile Peppers.
- A good name doesn’t hurt in a Chili Cook-off Contest, so I titled this one “We’re Not In Kansas Anymore Chili“
Let’s take a look at the specifics.
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Meat
- I like Red Gold brand petite diced tomatoes. Their small size blends well for the texture of the chili.
- Using three different meats in this chili adds depth, complexity and texture to the chili.
- Canned Beans: Pinto and Red Kidney Beans.
Spices and Vegetables
- I like to use Green Bell Pepper for chili as they bring a grassier flavor. Red, orange or yellow bell peppers are too sweet.
- Chile Peppers: Purchase a can of Hatch Green Chile peppers from the Mexican food aisle at the grocery store. I choose mild or medium heat to keep the chile flavor pure.
- Seasonings of interest. Choose your favorite commercial brand of chili powder seasoning. I prefer Mexene Chile Powder Seasoning. Smoked Paprika is my secret weapon.
- Tomato Paste: Tomato paste is an MVP in my kitchen. The long cooking time used to make tomato paste gives it a concentrated sweet rich flavor. Just a dollop can add a subtle burst of robust flavor and body into just about any soup or tomato based pasta sauce. It’s a brilliant little trick.
- Red Wine: Choose a robust red wine. A Cabernet, Merlot or Red Blend will all work well here. No need to spend a lot of money on wine, but purchase a bottle that you’d drink.
Mexican Oregano is preferred for this recipe. It’s peppery, grassy, earthy flavor is a good compliment for Mexican Food. If you don’t have Mexican Oregano, substitute Marjoram. Known for its aroma and delicate flavor, its related to oregano and will bring a sweet undertone to any recipe.
Step by Step Instructions
- Step 1: Cook the ground meat in a large soup pot or 7 quart Dutch oven. Salt and pepper and cook, stirring to break up until pink is just starting to leave the meat. You don’t want to brown the meat, as you want it to stay tender in texture as it cooks in the chili. Drain grease from meat, then return to skillet.
- Step 2: Add chopped onion, chopped bell pepper and cook, stirring until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Step 3: Add chopped Hatch chile peppers and all seasonings. Stir well and simmer for two minutes to blend flavors.
- Step 4: Stir in wine, tomatoes, beef broth, drained beans and water. Add a little more water if you want a thinner chili. Float bay leaves on top.
- Step 5: Cover and simmer over very low heat for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook on low for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaves and it’s ready to serve.
- Step 6: To Serve: When serving at home, sprinkle with some grated cheddar and chopped cilantro, and serve with warm flour tortillas, saltine crackers, or even corn chips.
Toppings For Chili
I like to keep the toppings simple so the flavor of the chili is the star of the show. The toppings I’ve listed above are customary for me when I serve chili at home, however, here are some more ideas.
- Chopped raw sweet, red or green onions.
- Sour Cream.
- Sliced raw Jalapeno peppers or pickled jalapeno peppers.
- Tobasco or your favorite bottle of hot sauce.
- Chopped Avocado
Absolutely yes, and it should be. As with many soups, stews and chili’s, they taste better the next day. Letting the flavors marry overnight is a great idea.
Yes, after the meat and vegetables are cooked, the remainder of the recipe can be completed in a crock pot. Just cook on low for about 4 hours.
Storage
Store any leftovers in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. Reheat any leftovers stove top or in the microwave.
As with most soups, chili freezes very well. Freeze in a freezer safe container for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.
How To Serve Your Chili At A Cook-off
Keep it super simple. Purchase some sample sized serving spoons, and sample sized serving cups. Simply top each small serving with a tortilla chip or better yet a Frito.
I’ve included Amazon links for your convenience. I’m an affiliate member and if you purchase through those links, I receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Award Winning Chili Recipe
I hope you give this award winning chili cook off recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating.
I consider soups, stews and chili’s to be my specialty, so don’t miss my Soup Category. You’ll find lots of great recipes, including the most popular on my site for Hatch Green Chili with Pork.
More Beef Chili Recipes:
- Anthony Bourdain’s New Mexico Style Beef Chili
- Bourbon Beef and Bean Chili
- Cowboy Chili with Kidney Beans
- or make a Burrito with that left over Chili, Chili Burrito Recipe
- Chili cook-offs are fun! If you’re looking to win a prize, take a look at this Denver chili cook-off recipe for Bison Chili. With black beans, this is a popular choice.
The biggest reward any cook can have is hearing from fans.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I always appreciate your feedback and hearing how everything went.
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Award Winning Chili Recipe
Equipment
- 1 7 Quart Dutch Oven or Crock Pot
Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground sirloin or a mix of ground chuck and brisket. Or lean ground beef
- 1 pound Ground pork
- ½ pound Sweet Italian sausage
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large Onion chopped. About 1.5 cups
- 1 Green bell pepper chopped. About 1 cup
- ¼ cup Hatch green chile peppers roasted, peeled, cleaned and chopped. Or 1-4 ounce can chopped from Mexican aisle at grocery store.
- 8 cloves Garlic chopped. About ¼ cup
- 4 Tablespoons Chili powder seasoning I prefer Mexene Chile Powder Seasoning
- 3 Tablespoons Brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons Smoked paprika I use regular smoked paprika rather than hot.
- 4 Tablespoons Tomato paste
- 1 Tablespoon Ground coriander
- 1 Tablespoon Mexican oregano
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1 cup Red Wine Merlot, Cabernet or red blend
- 28 ounce can Chopped tomatoes undrained
- 28 ounce can Pinto beans drained and rinsed
- 14 ounce can Kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 14.5 ounce canned beef broth
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup sharp cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat stovetop. Add the ground meat, salt and pepper and cook, stirring to break up until pink is just starting to leave the meat. You don't want to brown the meat, as you want it to stay tender in texture as it cooks in the chili. Drain grease from meat.
- Return meat to Dutch oven. Add chopped onion, chopped bell pepper and cook, stirring until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add chopped Hatch chile peppers and all seasonings. Stir well and simmer for two minutes to blend flavors.
- Stir in wine, tomatoes, beef broth, drained beans and water. Add a little more water if you want a thinner chili. Float bay leaves on top.
- Cover and simmer over very low heat for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- Uncover and cook on low for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaves.
- Serving suggestions: grated cheese, saltine crackers, flour tortillas, corn chips, fresh chopped onion, thin sliced radishes.
Notes
- For your preferred consistency, add a bit more water if needed, or some masa to thicken.
- Taste and adjust for flavor. You may want to add more salt. Or if you want it a little spicier, add a few shakes of hot sauce or New Mexico Red Chile Powder.
- Don’t overcook the meat. Simply cook until the pink is starting to disappear. That will keep the texture more pleasing.
Nutrition
This recipe was first published March of 2012 and republished January of 2025 adding step by step photos.
Award Winning Chili Recipe … It’s What’s for Dinner.
Why Trust My Recipes? I am a Culinary School Graduate and believe that everyone should try to cook as often as they can. I’ve been cooking for 50 years, and my recipes are tried and true tested and tested and then tested again before published. To read more take a look at my About Page.
I’ve always like you ;).
The Aji Amarillo chile powder sure looks interesting. I’ve been using the paste, but I could see where the powder would add a bit of zip to a lot of dishes.
Your chili sounds great – I haven’t made any in ages. Oh, how I would love a store like that near to me!
Great job and congratulations on the chili! And, this is a blast from the past – I haven’t thought about that shop in years! My sister-in-law and brother must still go there. I remember they had the best dip mixes! Oh my gosh – I forgot all about that. Seems like there was a bacon dressing that was out of this world. I used to live in Littleton, and Englewood and Aurora. Thanks for sharing your award winning recipe!
And I liked you on Facebook!
First of all, thanks for that killer chili recipe! WOW! is all I can say.
I went over to the spice shop and got carried away with the extracts. That’s what I’d love. Saw several there I wanted.
The chili looks and sounds outstanding! I can see how it won with it! And I LOVE Savory Spice … I order stuff from there all the time!! The one thing I have never ordered that I would love to try.. their vanilla bean paste…. oh the things I could make with that!!!!
Whoa. With all those delicious spices…I can definitely see why this is award-winning!
What a beautiful chili!
I like your page on Facebook and I found: Mahlab – I would love to try this in baking a sweet bread or two!
Congratulations! What a creative name for your chili!
Wasabi poder tickles the nasal passages and it is great with sushi..pure, unadulterated wasbi powder is rare to find ..
I liked highlandsranchfoodie too!
Congratulations! What a creative name for your chili! Does Anise essential oil qualify as a spice? When I visited their website, I was intrigued by the thought of using it not just in pastries and desserts but in savory dishes as well. Real pure wasabi powder is also hard to find and it quickly tickles nasal passages!
Oh boy you are on FB and I liked it. The Powdered Honey caught my eye. I think it would be great in barbeque rubs. I did not know it existed till now.
Oh my goodness, I am so jealous of you! A local spice shop!! That is wonderful!
This chili looks fantastic. No wonder you placed in the contest. I love Savory Spice Shop too. I do have to say that I stumped them some time ago with a request for pandan. I didn’t know whether to be sad that they didn’t have it or amazed that I had one up on them. Beautiful photo!
I WOULD LOVE TO TRY THE VANILLA BEAN PASTE, BLACK CUMIN, MEDITARREAN THYME
Love the Savory Spice Shop, too! Their spices are wonderful.
Congratulations on your first place. You never shared this.
The ingredients to the chili sound very tasty, I will safe the recipe to be tried. Thanks!
Hi Lea Ann. I’m not entering the giveaway but wanted to comment on how wonderful your chili recipe looks! I love sirloin in chili and really love chili! Also share your sentiments about Savory Spice shop. I did a post about our local shop sometime ago and am mad for all the different spices they offer. Really an amazing store.
I had difficulty leaving a comment this morning on your Joy the Baker post and wanted to say OF COURSE you can bake! We’ve seen you do it. Glad you’ve gotten on board with this fun endeavor but don’t sell yourself short! You are a wonderful cook.
First – congrats on the contest showing. Second – Thanks for sharing your recipe – It sounds delicious and we’ll have to try it. Third – I visited the spice site again and I can see why you like it, plus I know they are good. I like their spice names and the one that caught my eye was “Red Rocks Hickory Smoke Seasoning” for use in my scrambled eggs of course. Finally I did that facebook thingy.
Done and done! I feel like I have already won because Savory Spice has sent me so many crazy good spices and blends, AND I have your prize winning chili recipe. I love these unusual ingredients like wine and Italian sausage. Yum!
I already “like” you on Facebook – I’ve been liking you forEVER! 🙂
LOL, and now that I’ve left a comment on Savory Spice, I’ll tell you that I am SMITTEN with their shop and the crazy good service and spices! I just got my Harissa blend and made some sauce that I put on a frittata and I tried it on baked chicken, too. LOVE it!
It’s always fun to see what they will throw in as a freebie when I get my orders, too. I’m a total fan of that shop and enjoyed those pictures!
Fine looking chili… And hats off to you supporting a local small business. I just put them on my link page.