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Two wooden bowls full of chili with ground beef, tomatoes, and kidney beans
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Old-Fashioned Chili Recipe

This Old-Fashioned Chili recipe is full of flavor and uses basic ingredients like tomato juice, barbeque sauce, ground beef, and kidney beans. If you’re looking for an old-style chili recipe that is robust, a bit spicy, and absolutely delicious, then this recipe is perfect for you.
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Keyword Chili, Old-Fashioned Chili Recipes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 12 servings

Equipment

  • large skillet
  • spatula
  • cutting board
  • knife
  • large pot or Dutch oven

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ pounds ground beef 80/20
  • 2 quarts tomato juice
  • 1/3 cup ground chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
  • 32 ounces kidney beans undrained
  • 32 ounches diced tomatoes undrained
  • 1/2 cup your favorite BBQ sauce
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 4 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup ground paprika

Instructions

  • If you have bacon grease, put a spoonful into your skillet and turn the burner to medium.
  • Add the ground beef, kosher salt, and black pepper to the skillet and cook until it's browned.
  • Add the diced onion to the skillet once the hamburger is done and cook until the onion is soft and translucent. Drain the beef if you want to.
  • Add the cooked ground beef and onion mixture into the pot then add the tomato juice, chili powder, cayenne pepper, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, barbeque sauce, and ground paprika.
  • Simmer on low for one hour.
  • Ladle and serve.

Notes

Cooking the hamburger in the bacon grease really adds a delicious flavor. 
If you have leftovers, you may need to scrape the fat off of the chili when you remove it from the fridge. 
Top with shredded cheese and serve with oyster crackers. or saltine crackers.