Dining and Cooking
American Recipes

Chili Colorado Recipe (Old School Chili!)



Chili Colorado is a traditional Mexican recipe of pork or beef stewed low and slow in a rich red chili sauce, hence the name “colorado”, which means “colored red”, not from the state of Colorado.

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Chili Colorado Ingredients & Recipe

Ingredients

FOR THE SAUCE
6 ancho chili peppers stemmed and seeded
6 guajillo peppers stemmed and seeded
2 pasilla peppers stemmed and seeded
3 chiles de arbol stemmed and seeded
1 tablespoon Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
FOR THE CHILI
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion chopped
2 jalapeno peppers chopped (optional – I like the extra heat and flavor)
4-5 cloves garlic chopped
2.5 pounds beef chuck roast cut into bite-sized chunks
¼ cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups beef stock chicken or vegetable stock are good, too
FOR SERVING: Crumbly white cheese, fresh herbs, spicy chili flakes – Rice and/or warmed tortillas, if desired

Go get cooking!

PRINT THIS RECIPE: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/chili-colorado/

Includes further notes and discussion, along with suggestions for how you can change it up and make it your own:

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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 What is Chili Colorado
0:20 Chili Peppers
0:36 Remove Stems & Seeds
1:16 Toast the Chilies
1:58 Rehydrate Chilies
2:08 Season the Beef
3:23 Chili Sauce
4:56 TIP – Turn Pulp into a Seasoning Blend
5:30 Brown the Beef
6:17 Into the Pot
7:48 Simmer
8:20 Variations & BEANS?!
9:30 Serving
9:59 Taste!
6:16 More Recipes
10:38 More Recipes

I hope you like it! Leave comments below, my friends! I’d love to hear how you enjoy it and make it your own way in the comments below. Please share!

#chilirecipe #chili #beef #beefrecipe #spicyfood

41 Comments

  2. Morten frost Hansen

    For my, a chili needs ancho and scotch bonnet.
    The deep sweet with the dry hot. They are good friends..
    I have it as dry powder, and I use it on my smoked mackerel

  3. Earl Pickle

    Randomly put all those ingredients together for dinner 10 years ago cause thats all we had to eat. Still eat it to this day just never knew i was making chili Colorado. 😂

  7. Mike Elek

    I'm also interested in another chili recipe. Also, excellent production quality on the videos.

  9. Richard Baxendale

    beans are a super food, why wouldn't you add them to your chilli? U.K. here just blew £30 on dried chillies from Amazon, I LOVE smoky chillies!

  10. Shawn Carter

    never add beans or tomatoes to chili Colorado. Chili con carne is one dish, Colorado is another. Don't try to turn one into the other. Beans should never be added to a decent bowl of red…never…stop it…

  12. Marvin Jerew

    I’m a native Arizonan and consider myself a Chili Colorado connoisseur. This looks about as authentic a recipe as you’ll find and I can’t wait to make some. Wish I had a bowl and some fresh flour tortillas right now! 😎🌵

  13. Dan West

    Just found the channel! 100% subscribed and bookmarked the website too for the printed recipes. Can't wait to make this here in CO 😀

  17. Cee Jay

    Hi. I entered a chili cook off contest for the first time this weekend and won using this recipe. I browsed the internet and viewed a bunch of contest winning recipes before selecting yours. I did however make few changes. Firstly, I had never worked with these types of dried chilies before and when I made the sauce I found it to be a bit bitter. I'm not sure of that was natural or perhaps an error in my preparation. Never the less I compensated by adding a 1/4 cup of brown sugar which worked. Secondly, I did not add the 2 jalapeño peppers as it was hot enough for my taste (and the judges too it would appear). I did add 4 green peppers which I am not usually a big fan of but felt that their taste and texture would go well, (which I guess it did). And finally instead of adding fiery tomatoes as suggested I added 2 cans of regular Ro-tel tomatoes instead. I am a real fan of these. Since I felt these changes were significant enough to alter the recipe I gave it my own name as well. As my first name is Conrad, i renamed it to Chile Conrado. Thanks you

  18. Brian C

    I think the beans or no beans thing is silly. I never use them in rustic chilis, but given that the staple food crops of the southwest going back to before Europeans arrived were corn, squash, chilis and beans, I feel like beans are just as authentic as no beans. Its all just a matter of taste (or back then availability).

  21. Vic Souders

    Before I knew chili Colorado was a thing, I would make this basic recipe. But here's my thoughts: chili is a stew. If it were made on a cattle drive they would use what was available and easy to transport for a month or more. Tomatoes… no. Dried beans, absolutely.

  22. Wokka Wokka

    Great recipe. I tried it with the soaking water. It was too bitter. I’m going to start over and try with fresh water instead.

  23. Doug Doty

    I used to make chili this way, years ago on my own. I didn't even know it was called Chili Colorado. My favorite way to make chili, with no beans or tomato, but I do add onion.

  25. Martin Kemper

    This is probably a weird question, but I noticed your kitchen sheers have an ovular hole in them on the back side, but it's not completely covered by the opposite blade. Is this for feeding something through to do fine slicing? Just wondering about them on a flash/function scale, they seem to be solid sheers.

  26. Jeffrey

    Chili Colorado is my go to at any Tex-Mex restaurant I go to. And I judge them harshly on it. 🙂 If the dish is not good, I typically won't go back. If it is good, I will try other things on other visits.

    As far as beans in chili go, it depends on the type really. Thick chunky chili like this, absolutely no beans. If your meat is ground, I am all about adding beans.

  28. cattigereyes1

    Dang that looks tasty! I would add kidney beans and fresh cut tomatoes diced! A little dried garlic and a dash of dried onion. In stead of using the pepper left over water I would use beef or chicken stock for extra flavor. A touch of honey as well.

  31. steev888

    GR8 video Mike. Question, I have found that when using dry chilies to make enchilada sauce, same basic process you used for the chili, it tends to the overly bitter side. I noted your point about not using the soaking water but even then the sauce seems bitter. Thoughts on this? Thanks.

  33. TheGreenMachine

    im a bean hater, but i have had an all bean chili before that someone made during a camp trip. it was AMAZING! beans have their place, if made right they should fit right in.

  34. Viktoriya Stevens

    This turned out sooo good! My husband actually said "damn babe!" Normally I get a "meh" when i cook 😂 he also said "I hope you have enough Tupperware containers cause I'm taking this to the guys on my crew tomorrow" I'm gonna have him look through your recipes and let me know what he wants next ❤

  36. Richard Baxendale

    So I made it without beans it was frikkin' DELICIOUS! served it on tortillas with a little sour cream and green onions my favourite chilli recipe ever!

  37. Lorraine Grazian

    I tried this recipe yesterday and I don’t why it tastes a bit bitter. I used some of the liquid after soaking the chilis. Anyone know why or is this how it’s supposed to be?

  41. Glorbo

    I'm having trouble seeing much difference between this and the texas chili – is it just that there are less spices in the texas chili?

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