Venison Chili Recipe (2024)

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Who doesn’t love chili? And what hunter doesn’t love venison chili? This is my version of this classic dish. Chili has endless variations: Beans or no beans? Ground meat or chunks? Or no meat at all? Tomato products or no tomato products? Add coffee? Chocolate? Cinnamon?

In fact, so far as I can tell, the only things that really must be in chili to make it chili are red peppers of some sort, cumin, and onions.

My version hinges on ground venison, but I’ve made it with all kinds of meats, even ground turkey. You can use any meat here. If you are a vegetarian, use lots of different dried mushrooms instead of meat.

What makes my chili unique is the huge 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. My advice is to use at least 4 kinds of chiles, and not all of them should be super hot. I like a mix of ancho, chipotle, guajillo, chile negro, chile mulato, cascabel, New Mexican 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.

[recipe_name]Venison Chili[/recipe_name]

[summary]This is my version of this classic dish. It doesinvolve several items you don’t normally see in chili, like molasses and coffee, but I’ve been modifying this recipe over the years to the point where this is what I like. Serve this over rice or polenta, garnished with cilantro and maybe some Mexican queso seco, jack cheeseor American cheddar.

If you want to go full Mexican here instead of Tex-Mex or Southwest, try my recipe for chile colorado, which is a lot like chili, but is more authentically Mexican.[/summary]

[yield]Serves 8 to 10.[/yield]

Prep Time:[preptime time=1H] 1 hour[/preptime]

Cook Time:[cooktime time=3H] 3 hours[/cooktime]

• [ingredient][amount]1 pound[/amount] [item]pinto beans[/item] or [item]kidney beans[/item] [/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]4[/amount] each, dried [item]ancho[/item], guajillo, pasilla, cascabel, mirasol or mulato chiles[/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]1/2 pound[/amount] [item]bacon[/item][/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]1[/amount] large [item]onion[/item], diced[/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]6 to 8 cloves[/amount] [item]garlic[/item], chopped[/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]1[/amount] [item]habanero[/item], fresh, if they’re in season[/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]2 pounds[/amount] [item]ground venison[/item] or [item]groundbeef[/item][/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]1 pound[/amount] [item]sausage[/item], taken out of skin and broken up (venison or pork is fine)[/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]2 tablespoons[/amount] [item]paprika[/item][/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]2 tablespoons[/amount][item]cumin[/item][/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]1 tablespoon[/amount] [item]ground coriander[/item][/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]2 tablespoons[/amount] [item]tomato paste[/item][/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]1 cup[/amount] of weak [item]coffee[/item][/ingredient]
• [ingredient][amount]3 tablespoons[/amount] [item]molasses[/item][/ingredient]
• Beef or venison broth (have a quart ready)
• At least 2 tablespoons salt
• Cilantro and shredded cheese to garnish

[instructions]

1. 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.Break up and seed the chiles and cover with boiling water. Let standfor an hour or so. Grind to a thick puree, adding about 1 cup of the soaking water and the coffee.
2. Chop bacon and fry over medium heat in a Dutch oven or other large, lidded, oven-proofpot. Oncethe baconis crispy, remove it and set aside.Add the meat 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.
3. Once all the meat is ready, add the onion to the pot and cook for 4 minutes, stirring often. Return half the bacon to the pot. Add garlic, stir and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans,paprika, cumin, coriander and salt one at a time, stirring to combine each time.
4. Add chile puree and tomato pasteand stir to combine well. Add themolasses 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 gentlyfor 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.
5. Once the beans are tender, if you have the habanero, now’sthe time to add it.Serve with rice or cornbread, and top with cilantro, cheeseand some of the crispy bacon pieces.

[/instructions]

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