Lunch / Dinner
Texas-Style Chili
This Texas-Style Chili is loaded with hearty, delicious ingredients. But the richest and deepest flavor comes from dried ancho chiles. Once puréed, they add flavor and body without the grittiness that sometimes comes from using too much dry chili powder. Since the chili simmers in a slow cooker for hours, beef chuck is the perfect cut of meat to use. Other cuts would get overdone, but beef chuck has lots of fat and tough connective tissues that become perfectly tender and mouth-watering when cooked so long.
Ingredients
HEAT:
BROWN:
ADD:
TOP:
Test Kitchen Tip
Be sure to purchase masa harina and not instant masa, which has fats and leaveners already added. It has a long shelf life and is widely available.
Instructions
Heat ancho chiles in 2 cups broth in saucepan over high until boiling. Off heat, let chiles soak until tender, 15 minutes. Purée mixture in a food processor, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve; discard solids.
Brown beef in two batches in 2 Tbsp. oil per batch in a skillet over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes per batch. Transfer beef to a 5- to 6-qt. slow cooker. Deglaze skillet with remaining ½ cup broth, scraping up any brown bits, then add to slow cooker.
Add puréed ancho chile mixture, onions, red and green bell peppers, garlic, chipotles, chili powder, cumin, and cinnamon to slow cooker. Top mixture with chopped and crushed tomatoes and hominy.
Cover slow cooker and cook chili until beef is tender on high setting, about 4 hours, or low setting, about 6 hours. Sprinkle in masa harina and stir to combine. Cook chili 30 minutes more, then stir in lime juice.
Top servings with scallions.
Soaking dried chiles in warm or hot broth softens their flesh so they can easily be puréed for the chili.
To thicken the Texas-Style Chili, sprinkle in the masa harina near the end of the cooking time.
Nutritional Facts
Nutritional Facts
Per serving
Calories: 591
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 33g 50%
Saturated Fat 11g 55%
Cholesterol 158mg 52%
Sodium 690mg 28%
Carbs 25g 8%
Fiber 7g 28%
Protein 44g
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.