Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Texas Chili con Carne
Chunks of beef braised in a pure dried-chile sauce, no beans, no tomato, no apologies. Thickened with masa.
American (Texan) · medium · serves 5
prep 25 min · cook 150 min
~801 cal · 74g protein · 8g carbs · 49g fat · 1g fiber · 2g sugars · 17g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
Texas chili con carne, the "bowl o' red", descends from the chili queens of San Antonio, the women who from the late nineteenth century set up tables in the city's plazas and sold bowls of spiced beef by lantern light to workers and travellers, a scene that made the dish famous.
Texans hold one rule above all others, a matter of near-religious conviction: no beans. Real Texas chili is meat and chile, nothing added to pad it out, and its deep, brick-red body and complex heat come entirely from dried chiles, ancho, guajillo, and others, toasted and ground into the long rather than from tomato or filler. Cumin and other spices round it out.
The beef is cut into chunks or coarsely ground and simmered low and slow until tender and the sauce turns thick and glossy. Bold, meaty, and unapologetically pure, Texas chili is a fiercely defended point of Lone Star pride.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 5
3 lbs beef chuck, large cubes
4 dried ancho
4 guajillo
2 árbol chiles
4 cups beef or vegetable
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
1 tbsp cumin
2 tsp Mexican oregano
2 tbsp harina (to thicken)
Hard to find? fresh masa from a tortilleria - ordinary cornmeal will not do here. Masa harina is nixtamalised corn, treated with alkali, and that is what gives it both its binding power and its flavour
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp
on the side chopped onion and saltines or cornbread, to serve
Instructions
1
Toast the dried chiles in a dry pan until pliable and fragrant, then soak them in hot stock for 20 minutes.
2
Blend the soaked chiles smooth with the onion and garlic into a puree.
3
Sear the beef (or portobellos) hard in batches, so it browns rather than steams.
✎ Chef’s note
Real Texas chili uses cubed or coarse-ground beef, not fine mince. Brown it in batches so each piece sears instead of stewing in its own juices.
4
Return the beef to the pot with the chile puree, cumin, oregano, and remaining stock, and simmer low and partly covered for 2.5 hours (45 minutes for the plant version).
5
Whisk the masa harina with a ladle of the liquid and stir it in for the final 15 minutes, to thicken and perfume the chili.
6
Finish with vinegar and salt, and serve with raw onion on top.
San Antonio chili-queen lineage.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Texas. Texas cooks big, slow-smoked brisket in the barbecue belt and chile-rich Tex-Mex on the border. Beef, chiles, and open-fire cooking define the Lone Star table.
🗺️
United States. Between 1910 and 1970 some six million Black Americans left the South, and the cooking went north with them. The rib tips and hot links smoked in barrel pits on the South Side of Chicago, and the home cooking that acquired the name soul food around 1964, are both products of that migration rather than of the cities they arrived in.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Blender, Whisk.
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Texas Chili con Carne?
Chunks of beef braised in a pure dried-chile sauce, no beans, no tomato, no apologies. Thickened with masa.
Where does Texas Chili con Carne come from?
Texas Chili con Carne is a American (Texan) dish from Texas, United States.
Can Texas Chili con Carne be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Texas Chili con Carne recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Texas Chili con Carne safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Texas Chili con Carne take to make?
About 175 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 150 minutes cooking), serving 5.
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