How to Prepare Sierra Ranch Chili at Home

Thank you for trying Sierra Ranch Chili! This chili has been a Sierra family favorite for nearly two decades – we hope it will soon be your family’s favorite as well!

The following recipe has been developed to give you a consistent batch of chili using our Competition Spice Dump with common off-the-shelf ingredients and portion sizes, but measures of your meat, onions, and canned ingredients do not need to be perfect for this recipe to work. Particularly if you are adding a little extra, just get the portions as close as you can.

Enjoy!

The following ingredient list will yield a chili batch of approximately 2.5 quarts. Simply double, triple, or quadruple your ingredients to produce a larger batch. 

1 lb         Ground Hickory Smoked Bacon

2 lbs       Ground Beef (85/15 or Leaner)

½ lb        Chopped Yellow Onion

¼ lb        Chopped White Onion

28 oz      Canned Crushed Tomato

7oz          Canned, Diced, and Peeled Green Chiles

1               Sierra Ranch Chili Competition Spice Dump

14.5 oz   Beef Broth

1. In a 4-quart (or larger) pot, render Ground Hickory Smoked Bacon over medium heat. Stir frequently to prevent the bacon from crisping.
2. Once rendered, drain the excess grease from the bacon.
3. Add Ground Beef and Chopped Onions to the pot of rendered bacon. Stir and break up the beef until it is fully cooked and consistent in texture.
4. Stir in Crushed Tomatoes, Green Chiles, and the Sierra Ranch Chili Competition Spice Dump until well combined.
5. Stir in Beef Broth and bring the mixture to a boil.
6. Reduce heat and simmer covered for one hour, stirring regularly and scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze and prevent burning. 
7. Your chili can be eaten after a short simmer (and we have seen many people do this!), but it is best after the vegetables have had an opportunity to cook down fully. Your vegetables are fully cooked down when it becomes hard to tell they are in there. This will thicken the chili and ensure a consistent bite and flavor.

• Use only the purest bacon and canned ingredients possible. Avoid products with excessive salt and preservatives, as they can affect the flavor of your chili.  Your selection of Beef Broth should have a straight-forward and pronounced beef flavor.
• The hickory smoke in your bacon provides a critical flavor dimension. Be sure to use only Hickory bacon that is naturally smoked. 
• Select the leanest bacon available to you. This will result in less grease to drain and more meat in your batch.
• A finer bacon cut will provide a consistent bite and aid in rendering. Run your bacon through a coarse meat grinder or food processor if you have one, or ask your butcher to grind it for you; otherwise, dice it finely.  
• Crushed tomatoes can be substituted for canned diced tomatoes or tomato puree. Using diced tomatoes will increase your simmer time, while using tomato puree will reduce it.
• Cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper (chili flakes), and fresh jalapeno all do a great job of boosting the heat without having a negative effect on the flavor. Be sure to remove the seeds if using jalapeno. 
• Sierra Ranch Chili works well in large batches - we cook up to 12 gallons in a single batch! 
• Substitute the bacon for hickory smoked brisket to take your chili to the next level.
  • Brisket is generally ready for the chili pot after about 1.5 hours of smoking. However, reaching the desired consistency will require approximately two additional hours of simmering time. 
  • We encourage you to select a lean, Choice flat when using brisket, and trim it of all excess fat.
  • Do not add salt, rubs, or other spices to your smoked brisket as they will impact the flavor of your chili. 
  • After it has been smoked, dice your brisket into consistent pieces to help the cooking process and deliver a consistent bite. 
  • While you can substitute both the bacon and ground beef for brisket, we prefer the consistency of ground beef and brisket in our chili, typically at a 50/50 blend.
  • You may need to extend the simmer time and add water to get your brisket to the desired consistency. 
• If you don’t have time to stir your pot of chili or plan a meal to be eaten later, you can combine ingredients in a crock pot at step 4. Note: This will extend your overall cooking time.
• If you let your chili simmer too long, or otherwise cook too much moisture out of your batch, simply stir in some water and bring it back to a simmer. The amount of water you add will depend on your desired consistency and taste. Hint: It won’t require much.
• Sierra Ranch Chili is great with game meat! Simply grind your game meat and use it in place of the ground beef.
• Sierra Ranch Chili freezes very well. You can reheat it from frozen by introducing it to a pot with a little water and simmering it to your desired temperature while stirring over medium or low heat. For this reason, we like to freeze it in individual serving sizes that fit well in a saucepan.