Everyone says they have the best venison chili, but this really might be it. This recipe is the One Ring of chili, no matter what meat you use. It has won more awards than I ever imagined it would, and if you scroll through the comments you will see reader after reader who has won contests and awards with this recipe.
So yeah, I am pretty proud of my venison chili. It’s been on this site since about 2008, and while I’ve tinkered with it over the past decade-plus, it’s heart has remained the same.
And after all, who doesn’t love chili? And what hunter doesn’t love venison chili? Chili has endless variations: Beans or no beans? Ground meat or chunks? Or no meat at all? Tomato products or no tomato product? Add coffee? Chocolate? Cinnamon?
In fact, so far as I can tell, the only things that really must be in a venison chili recipe to make it a proper chili are chiles of some sort, cumin, and onions. (Yes, there are vegetarian chiles out there.)
My version of venison chili hinges on ground deer meat, but I’ve made it with all kinds of meats, even ground turkey and goose. You can use any meat here. I’ve done it with diced venison or other meat and it’s good, too. Just don’t do large chunks; the texture of the chili will be off.
I find that the chorizo, which is kinda runny, is a perfect start to the chili, as it’s often very fatty. Bacon works great, too.
The Chiles in Venison Chili
What makes my venison chili unique is the amount of dried chiles I use.
I will typically use 12 to 16 dried chiles of all sorts, reconstituted and then pureed with a cup of weak coffee to make the backbone of the dish. Any variety of these chiles works, but remember to use mild ones, at least mostly.
My preference is to use lots of anchos, which are very dark, mild and raisiny, with some guajillos, which are bright red, fruity, and are a bit hotter. None are really hot.
Don’t get all hung up on an exact combination of dried Mexican chiles. My advice is to use at least 3 or 4 kinds of chiles if you can. Other options besides ancho and guajillo would be a mix of chipotle, puya, chile negro, chile mulato, cascabel, New Mexican, red Anaheims and pasilla chiles. As you get to know these chiles — some are smoky, some hot, some sweet — you can adjust the mix to your taste.
On Beans
I like beans in my chili, but you can skip if you feel strongly about it — talkin’ to you, Texans! You can also use canned beans, and if you are, add them towards the end of cooking. Be sure to rinse the canned beans before adding to remove some of the starchy liquid they’re canned in.
What beans? Ideally pinto beans or something like it. Some sort of brown bean fits well with venison chili. I do have a black bean turkey chili recipe, where the black beans are a star of that show, so feel free to use black beans here.
White beans would seem weird, though, at least to me.
Slow Cooker or Instant Pot?
Yep, this will work with either, although in both cases you would want to sauté everything first normally and then set it in the pressure cooker or slow cooker.
Slow cooker venison chili should take about 4 to 5 hours on “high,” and 8 hours or more on “low.” I’ve found that sautéing everything the night before, popping it in the fridge overnight, then putting it all into the slow cooker in the morning before work is the best and easiest course of action.
For the Instant Pot, you’ll want to put everything in after sautéing and set it on High Pressure for 10 minutes, then doing the natural release.
Topping Choices
I am partial to Mexican toppings like radishes and cotija cheese, which is a lot like feta, as well as cilantro and green onions.
But hey, venison chili is an American thing, and so I have to give a nod to shredded cheddar or jack cheese, plus yes, Fritos. I know, I know, but they are every bit as good in chili as tortilla chips.
Jalapenos, pickled or fresh, are a great option, as is minced onion soaked in lime juice. Diced avocado is a nice touch, too.
Sour cream is a natural, especially if you let your venison chili get too picante — and if you didn’t, your favorite hot sauce will then come in handy.
Bottom line: Put whatever makes you happy on top of your venison chili. You do you.
Storing and Preserving Venison Chili
Once made, it will keep for a week in the fridge, and, if you skip the beans, it freezes well. You can still freeze venison chili with beans in it, but the texture suffers a little.
You can also pressure can it in pints for 75 minutes at 10 psi (higher if you live at altitude). Check here for the food safety rules for pressure canned chili.
This venison chili is super Tex-Mex. If you want something a little more Southwest, go for my chile colorado recipe.
Venison Chili
Ingredients
- 1 pound pinto or black beans (optional)
- 12 to 16 combined total of dried ancho, guajillo, pasilla, or mulato chiles
- 1/2 pound Mexican chorizo or chopped bacon
- 2 to 3 pounds venison, ground or diced
- 1 large yellow or white onion, diced
- 6 to 8 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 tablespoons sweet or smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon chipotle powder (optional)
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup black coffee
- 3 tablespoons molasses (optional)
- 1 quart Beef or venison broth
- Salt to taste
- Cilantro and shredded cheese to garnish
Instructions
- Soak beans in water overnight. If you have forgotten this, pour boiling water over them and soak for 4 hours, changing the water after 2 hours.
- Remove the stems and seeds of chiles and tear into pieces. Cover with boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes. Grind to a puree with the consistency of gravy, adding about 1 cup of the soaking water and the coffee to do so.
- Meanwhile, break up the chorizo or chop bacon and fry over medium heat in a Dutch oven or other large, lidded, oven-proof pot. Once the chorizo has browned or the bacon is crispy, remove it and set aside. Add the venison and brown over high heat. You want the highest heat on your most powerful burner here, because the meat will want to steam and stew and not brown. If you are doing a big pot of chili, brown the meat in batches. Stir occasionally as it browns. Salt it as it cooks.
- Once all the meat is ready, add the onion to the pot and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. If you are using chorizo, return it to the pot; if you are using bacon, leave it out for now. Add the garlic, stir and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans, paprika, cumin, coriander, chipotle powder and salt one at a time, stirring to combine each time.
- Add chile puree and tomato paste and stir to combine well. Add the molasses and enough beef broth to cover everything – you want it to be thin like a soup. I typically need at least a pint of broth, sometimes a quart. Stir to combine all this well, bring to a bare simmer and cook gently for 3 hours or so, stirring occasionally. Put the lid halfway over the pot as it cooks. You want it to eventually cook down and be thick.
- Once the beans are tender, you're good to go. If you are using canned beans, now's the time to add them. Return the bacon to the chili if you're using it. Serve the chili with rice or cornbread, and top with cilantro, cheese and maybe some pickled onions.
Video
Notes
Keys to Success
- If you have all day, use dried beans. They're better.
- If you need to leave the house, put the chili in a 325°F oven, covered, instead.
- Literally any meat works here, and if you want to go vegetarian, use chopped mushrooms. I've done it and it's amazing.
- I strongly advise you to stick to the types of chiles I list: anchos, guajillos, pasilla, New Mexican, etc. This prevents you from blowing everyone's heads off with heat. You can always make it hotter later.
- If you make this a lot, try the diced meat option sometimes. It is a very Texas thing and it's really quite good.
Hank…thank you. Awesome! Love the music on your video. Tried to Shazam it but no luck. Can you share if the music is available?
Is there an already made paste you might recommend ? I have all these chilis ground but not dried… I know not the same
Stefanie: Not that I am aware of. But if you have ancho and guajillo, etc. powders, i.e., powders that aren’t too hot, you can add them liberally to the chili. Start with a tablespoon of each and add from there.
I was also without the dried chilies, but had the powders. I used 3 TBS of Ancho and 3 TBS of Pasilla. I added them to the hot water and coffee and let them soak while I measured and prepped the rest of the ingredients. And I was short on time so used your suggestion and tried the pressure cooker for 10 minutes on the #2 setting.
Grateful for the elk my friends shared with me. I chose the chorizo option and…we LOVED this recipe!!! Thank you so much. Happy the time saving options worked so well, but look forward to trying it with the dried chilies and beans another time too.
I made this today without beans. I added 2 tsp. of cinnamon. For the liquid, I also added a half-cup of bourbon, which introduced a nice dimension to the flavor. The molasses is a must.
Delicious but my beans took longer than 3 hours to cook, I’m at 4.5 hours and they are still under.
Andrew: Sorry! Means you had old beans. One way to fix that is to cook the beans separately and add to the chili. It’s the acidity in the chili that slows things way down.
Hi there! I plan on making this amazing sounding chili this weekend. But I have time constraints. If I’m using canned beans does it have to still cook for 3 hours or would closer to 2 suffice? Also, would it be ok to make the dried chili purée ahead of time and store for a few hours? Thx!!
Kim: Yes on the chile paste, and if you are using canned beans, they can go in during the final 30 minutes because they’re already cooked.
Oh I meant the base of the chili… does that need a full three hours minus the beans? I’m reaching probably lol.
Kim: Ah, Technically no, but it’s better the longer it cooks.
Okay here comes 5 star comment number 212. Not that it needs it. Wanna feel like a real badass chef? Make this. Make it for your next chili cookoff and take a picture of the trophy you win and send it to us. Well, Hank. But I wanna see it too.
Awesome! My wife is a picky eater and she loved the chili. I bought your book, Buck, Buck, Moose and followed the recipe from it. I love the book, by the way!
I didn’t think about this until after I made it, but my wife is very sensitive to caffeine and felt jittery after eating a bowl of the chili. It’s a strange reaction, I know. Could you recommend a substitute for the coffee, maybe other than decaf? I know the coffee adds depth to the flavor so I really don’t want to omit it. Is there something else that could add depth of flavor without adding caffeine?
Cason: Why not just use decaf? Another option might be an herbal “coffee” like ground chicory of acorn coffee, but that seems a lot harder than decaf. You could also make a hot chocolate if you can find unsweetened chocolate to make a bitter cup.
Super great base recipe that just won first place in a small chili cook-off this weekend. I did not use any beans as I was also going for a Texas style. Decided to soak most of the chilis in a bottle of tequila overnight that I ended make some fun margaritas with as well. If attempting this, may need to go slightly heavier with the chilis as the strained tequila does steal some of the flavors. I also substituted bourbon-barrel honey for the molasses and added a bit of cacao powder. Thank you for sharing this and happy experimenting!!!
This is almost verbatim a recipe I have developed and tinkered with
over the years, Re: the coffee comment–if you grind them fine enough, there is no reason you can’t add 1 Tbs ground coffee beans instead of 1 C brewed coffee. It’s the way I’ve always done it. Also, I add about 1 oz chopped unsweetened chocolate to the mix. Otherwise, almost identical and always delicious!
Love this chili flavor, but had some challenges with the dried Chiles (never used them before). I boiled a pot of water and dropped the torn up pieces of Chile in it and let it sit for 45 min. Put it in a Ninja with the cup of steep water and coffee, but still ended up with chunks of very tough Chile. What should I do different next time? Thanks in advance for any help to someone trying to learn to use more things.
Brad: Alas, the Ninja is a terrible blender in my experience. You get a finer grind with a cheapo blender from the 1980s. It’s more of a vertical food processor. That said, I’ve had to use one for things like this many times, and the only thing you can do is to push the puree through a sieve using a rubber spatula. That works, but it’s a pain. Still better than hard chile chunks or seeds though.
Spectacular! I made this with Venison & Nilgai. My wife swears it is the best chili she has ever had. Of course being in Texas beans were NOT included. We also used local honey in place of the molasses.
How many ounces is 12 to 16 dried chiles? Do you have to reconstitute them before making the puree? Thanks
James: I’ve never weighed it, sorry. And yes, you reconstitute them so they blend well.
This was the best step by step, deeply flavorful and thought through chili recipe I have ever used. Hank, thank you for that. May I ask for two updates – one, add coffee to the instructions on when to add, I assume it goes in when you add the molasses. And two, in the ingredients list, please add the word ‘prepared’ before coffee. I am not a coffee drinker, and I put in one cup of ground coffee! Now, before you call me an idiot, I am a working mother with four kids and really wanted this chili on the table for the football games yesterday. I was able to salvage the chili and everyone said it was delicious.
Dite: Oh! Sorry about that, sure. I will clarify the coffee.
I found this recipe last year, used ground venison and loved it. Had my processor add some ‘stew meat’ to this year’s harvest and look forward to adding to the chili along with ground.
Thanks for a fantastic recipe.