Dad's Award Winning Secret Ingredient Chili (2024)

Published by Meaghan on March 4, 2019 | last updated on February 26, 2022.

Dad’s award winning secret ingredient chili is a hearty chili full of big flavors and a couple unexpected secret ingredients. This one pot chili takes only 15 minutes of active prep time before simmering away on the stove top to create a satisfying bowl of coziness.

My dad was onto something with his award winning secret ingredient chili. When he made this chili when I was a kid, I could never get enough.

Now that I make it for my kids, they can’t get enough. It’s like no other chili recipe you’ve ever tried before thanks to not one but two secret ingredients.

First up on the secret ingredient list: chocolate. That’s right, Chocolate.

You’d never expect it even though chocolate and heat go pretty well together in things like Mexican hot chocolate.

This chili is not nearly that chocolatey.

In fact, without me telling you, you’d never even know that there was chocolate in this recipe.

It blends it to the background and gives the chili an earthiness that makes it feel so hearty.

Now it’s not a lot of chocolate. Just an ounce of semisweet chocolate.

I do recommend you use semisweet chocolate instead of dark chocolate because that sweetness helps balance out the next secret ingredient.

Secret ingredient number two? Coffee grounds.

Yes, not brewed coffee but actual coffee grounds.

Stay with me here. I

know it sounds a little shocking or scary. But trust me. It’s delicious.

The coffee grounds really add richness and depth of flavor.

I promise you if you add the half tablespoon of sugar your chili will not be bitter or coffee-flavored at all. But don’t skip that sugar.

Without it, you could have a bit of a bitter aftertaste cut through the chili.

If you trust me, and follow this recipe, the secret ingredients just work so well with all the other usual chili suspects.

Aside from coffee and chocolate, we’ve got ground beef, diced tomatoes, two kinds of beans, chili seasonings, onion, garlic powder, and a can of lager.

Some chili recipes just call for any old kind of beer, but I prefer the clean, crisp taste of a lager in this chili.

It balances out the mild heat from the spices and the richness from the chocolate and coffee.

And this chili is a milder chili, since I use Bush’s mild chili starter.

However, if you want to add some heat you could certainly add some jalapeno in or go with the Magic Medium chili starter. But the end result may be too spicy for some tastes then.

Making the chili is fairly easy. The active prep time is only 15 minutes and during that prep you are just browning the beef.

Once the beef is cooked and drained, just add the rest of the ingredients to the pot. Then the chili just does it’s thing on the stove and you just need to stir occasionally.

Just trust me, my Dad knew what he was doing when he made this big pot of award winning secret ingredient chili. You’ll know it too as soon as you smell it cooking.

I know the ingredient combination is surprising but it all works to make the most delicious bowl of chili you have ever tasted.

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