Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This game day chili is packed with flavor and can be scaled to serve a big crowd while you cheer on your team! Let it simmer on the stove or transfer it to a slow cooker for easy entertaining.
Happy Veteran’s Day! Let’s get ready to dive into a weekend of football watching with this One-Pot Game Day Chili. I’ve made this recipe a couple of times now and I think I’m in love! I had to test it out once for myself before serving it up to my neighbors for Sunday Night Football a few weeks back (go Steelers!). It really is the perfect game day chili – hearty, a little spicy, and packed with flavor. You can even stretch the 2 lbs of ground beef for a double batch to help feed a crowd (I’ve tried both ways and loved both!). Just double all the other ingredients except the ground beef, and use 2 full packets of chili seasoning instead of 1 1/2.
Oh, and don’t forget that you can make this all in one pot! Because who has time to wash a bunch of dishes when you’d rather be rooting for your team? If you’re watching inside, you can just leave the whole pot on low heat on the stove – just be sure to stir occasionally. Otherwise you could transfer it to a slow cooker to take it outside or to make it mobile.
As for the beer in this recipe (because obviously there’s beer in game day chili), I used a Vienna Lager from Devil’s Backbone Brewery here in Virginia. I thought it was perfect, but lagers, ales, or even stouts would work well here. Just avoid any light beers (not enough flavor) or flavored beers (something coffee flavored will throw things off, for example). Otherwise, go wild!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Here are the key ingredients you’ll need to make this One-Pot Game Day Chili recipe:
- Ground beef – I’ve also made this chili with ground turkey, ground chicken, and ground pork – all are great options and you can even mix and match.
- Beans – I used a combo of kidney beans and pinto beans, but you can use whatever combo of beans you like! Black beans would be a great option.
- Crushed tomatoes – This is a tomato based chili and crushed tomatoes do a lot of work in building the body of the soup. I don’t really recommend any substitutes here.
- Rotel – This is the combo of tomatoes and green chili peppers in a can that does some of the work of building flavor for you.
- Beer – The alcohol will cook out as this chili simmers, but you can also use beef stock if you prefer to skip the beer. If you do use beer, lagers, ales, or even stouts would work well here. Just avoid light beers or fun-flavored beers like coffee pumpkin peanut butter whatever. Save that for drinking 😉
- Chili seasoning – I opted for the pre-packaged stuff for convenience but you could always make your own if you prefer.
- Onion – I recommend a sweet onion to help balance the spice a bit, but a yellow onion or white onion would work fine.
- Jalapeño pepper – This is optional depending on your spice preferences. This chili has a kick of spice – let’s call it an upper level medium – but it’s not super spicy.
- Chipotles in adobo – Here’s where you really build some spice! Adjust this to your own preferences or skip them altogether if you prefer.
chili bowl
Topping Ideas
What are your favorite chili toppings? I love the crunch of a corn chip along with creamy, melty cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Here are some other ideas:
- Corn chips (Fritos)
- Shredded cheese
- Green onions
- Sour cream
- Guacamole
- Regular diced onions
- Extra chopped peppers
If you’re serving this chili at a party, I recommend buying a cold mat to set up all your cold toppings. You can put a kitchen towel over top of the mat, then arrange the toppings bowl on a sheet pan on top of that. You can even find football themed ones for game day!
Shop for This Recipe
Here are some goodies I used to help make this recipe a success. The Souper Cubes are great for freezing perfectly portioned leftovers! And for meal prep, I love my OXO bowls – they’re totally leakproof!
One-Pot Game Day Chili
Ingredients
- 2 lbs 93/7 ground beef
- 28 oz low sodium crushed tomatoes
- 15 oz low sodium kidney beans, drained
- 15 oz low sodium pinto beans, drained
- 12 oz Vienna Lager beer, (lagers, ales, or even stouts will work well here)
- 10 oz Rotel Mild Tomatoes and Green Chiles
- 1.5 packets McCormick Mild Reduced Sodium Chili Seasoning, (53 grams)
- 1 medium sweet onion, chopped, (110 grams)
- 1 medium jalapeño, seeds removed and diced, (14 grams)
- 4 chipotles in adobo, chopped, (60 grams)
- 5 cloves garlic, (20 grams)
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot like this, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Once oil is shimmery and hot, add ground beef. Season with 1 chili seasoning packet and cook, breaking apart with a spoon as beef cooks. Once beef is cooked through, drain excess fat and return pot to heat.
- Add beer to deglaze pot, then add all remaining ingredients. Stir to combine, then lower heat to a simmer for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until onions are tender. Stir chili occasionally as it simmers and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Depending on your game day setup, you can leave the chili on the stovetop on low heat to keep it warm, or you can transfer it to a slow cooker to take it outside. You can even do the simmering in the slow cooker or do everything in an Instant Pot using the sauté function for cooking the beef.
- If desired, serve chili with sour cream, green onions, corn chips, and cheddar cheese.
Tips & Tricks
Nutrition Information
