The Best Chili You’ll Ever Eat!
Author: Heather Scholten · Posted: Mar 24, 2025 · Updated: May 24, 2025
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy for more info.
The Best Chili You’ll Ever Eat seems like a bold statement, but I promise you this is one meaty and delicious chili recipe. It has beef stew meat, ground beef, Italian sausage, tons of veggies and kidney beans. Don’t forget the cornbread!
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
This is chili goodness in a bowl. This is by far my most used recipe for chili which is why I called it The Best Chili You’ll Ever Eat! Loaded with meaty deliciousness and topped with your favorite chili toppings like cheddar cheese, sour cream, and green onions.
For all of you “Anti-Bean Texans” there’s only 1 can of beans that get added at the end so just omit them and have meaty chili as big as Texas! Hope you like it as much as we all did.
Love this Chili Recipe? Try my recipe for Turkey Chili with Yams & Black Beans, or Chorizo Sweet Potato Chili, or this simple weeknight staple Homemade Hamburger Helper.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ground Beef, beef stew meat & Italian sausage
- Yellow Onion
- Bell Peppers
- Red Wine
- Canned Tomatoes
- Spices
- Brown Sugar
- Water or Stock
- Kidney Beans
- Garnishes
Cook’s Notes
A good friend of mine is a tried and true Texan and when she first saw this recipe, she immediately called me out for the addition of kidney beans. I’ve personally grown up eating chili with beans, but because this recipe is so hearty and loaded with 3 different types of meat, the beans are completely optional.
More Recipes We Love
Leave a Comment & Rate this Recipe
If you make this recipe for The Best Chili You’ll Ever Eat! or other recipes on Farmgirl Gourmet please leave a comment and/or give the recipe a rating. I love hearing what you think of my recipes and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram with your creations! I love seeing what you make also!
The Best Chili Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Large Dutch Oven optional
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 lb stew meat, cut into 2-3 inch cubes
- 1 lb ground italian sausage, casings removed
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 2 cups yellow onions, diced
- 1 large green bell pepper, diced
- 1 large yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 large red bell pepper, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup red wine, such as Chianti, Merlot
- 14.5 oz can stewed tomatoes
- 29 oz canned tomato puree
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 ½ cup water, or stock
- 14 oz can kidney beans, not drained
Garnishes – Optional
- shredded cheddar cheese
- sour cream
- sliced green onions
- baked tortilla strips
- avocado
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot and brown the stew meat on all sides. Remove at set aside. Brown the italian sausage and ground beef. Remove to the same bowl as the stew meat.
- Remove excess oil leaving about 2 tbsp and add the onions and peppers. Saute until tender. Add the garlic and red wine and simmer, reducing by half.
- Return the meat and any juices that have accumulated to the pot and add all remaining ingredients except kidney beans. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer uncovered for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Add the undrained kidney beans and let the chili simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Serve with your favorite chili garnishes and some warm cornbread.
Save this Recipe!
Easily save this recipe to your own recipe collection box. Come back to it anytime you want!
Notes
Recipe Nutrition
* Nutritional information is not guaranteed to be accurate.
Recipe By:
Co-Founder at Spiceology | More About Heather…
Heather is a recipe developer and content creator living in Vancouver, Washington. She started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006, almost 20 years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. Heather is also the co-founder of Spiceology , a unique spice company, which she started in 2013. She shares family friendly recipes for easy everyday meals with a gourmet twist.
I really love this recipe and hope you will too!
Hey, I just wanted you to know I made your chili tonight — though with so many tweaks I can’t even get started, because I have my own deep chili ingredients and techniques that I like — but your recipe shows up when I googled “gourmet ground beef chili” because I wanted to make a quick chili tonight. So much for that, lol, nothing I make is ever quick. I wonder if you meant cumin seeds or ground cumin. I ground it … but I think I’ll add some seeds too. Thanks for your blog, it was fun following your recipe.
This was amazing!!! Would it be possible to use a crock pot as opposed to simmering in a pot for 3 hrs? Any ideas regarding time and temp?
Thanks
I would definitely make it in the crockpot. I’d say do it for 4 hours on low. I haven’t tried it before, so let me know how it turns out.
I’m not seeing where the 1.5 cups of water comes into the recipe….
Nevermind. I see it in the photo descriptions, just not in the actual recipe
Heather – this truly is the best chili I’ve ever tried! Thanks for posting it! It was so easy to follow your directions! It is a new family favorite (pairs perfectly with your cornbread recipe). THANK YOU!!!!!
Definitely going to try this one! Looks like a wonderful, hearty meal to feed all my guys on a winter day! You are amazing!
I’ll try to get the cornbread recipe up later today just for you Monica my friend! 🙂 It’s delish too!
Umm.. Yum. That looks delicious!
OMG this looks amazing! I just may have to make it next weekend! Want to post your cornbread recipe too? Thanks for sharing Heather! You are amazing!