Meat Church Texas Chilli (Slow Cooker)

Name: How to Make the Best Chili Ever
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 8 h
Total time: 8 h 30 min
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 3 whole red onions, diced; 1 head garlic, diced; 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced, use all the sauce; 0.9 kg lean beef mince (90/10), coarse chilli grind; 450 g hot breakfast sausage; 0.9 kg beef chuck roast, smoked or hard-seared, fat trimmed, cut into chunks; 5 tbsp Meat Church chilli seasoning; 1590 g fire-roasted diced tomatoes, with juice; 794 g tomato sauce (passata); 330 ml bock beer; freshly grated mature cheddar, grated; soured cream; red onion, finely diced; avocado, sliced

Source video by Meat Church BBQ on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

This is Matt Pittman's beanless Texas-style chilli from Meat Church BBQ, scaled for the slow cooker. The recipe leans on a base of red onion, garlic and chipotle in adobo sautéed off in advance, then layers in 3 lb of mixed ground meat plus a chunked smoked chuck roast for an unusually hearty mouthfeel. Fire-roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce and bock beer round out the pot. Cooked low all day, the chuck breaks down through the ground meat and gives a finished bowl that has won, in Matt's words, more cook-offs than he can count.

Slow cooker notes: Source explicitly names the slow cooker as an alternative cook vessel (low all day, or high at least 3 hours in a pinch). Ingredients and quantities are kept as Matt described his preferred build (56 oz diced fire-roasted tomatoes plus a 28 oz can of sauce, rather than the original website spec of two 28 oz crushed and one 28 oz diced). No browning of the ground meat is required for slow cooker use because Matt himself mixes it raw into the pot.

Ingredients

Aromatic base

3 wholered onions, diced
1 headgarlic, diced
1 canchipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced, use all the sauce

Meat

0.9 kglean beef mince (90/10), coarse chilli grind
450 ghot breakfast sausage
0.9 kgbeef chuck roast, smoked or hard-seared, fat trimmed, cut into chunks

Seasoning

5 tbspMeat Church chilli seasoning

Liquid

1590 gfire-roasted diced tomatoes, with juice
794 gtomato sauce (passata)
330 mlbock beer

To serve

freshly grated mature cheddar, grated (add late)
soured cream (add late)
red onion, finely diced (add late)
avocado, sliced (add late)

Method

Dice the red onions, garlic and chipotle peppers in adobo (use the sauce too). Sauté in a cast iron frying pan over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until softened.
~10 min
Prepare the chuck roast. Either smoke it unseasoned at 110C (225F) on a pellet grill for at least 4 to 5 hours, or sear it hard in a hot cast iron frying pan for a couple of minutes a side. Trim off any heavy fat and cut into chunks.
Tip the beef mince and breakfast sausage into the slow cooker. Add the chunked chuck roast and the sautéed onion, garlic and chipotle mixture. Mix together with clean hands.
~5 min
Sprinkle in the 5 tablespoons of Meat Church chilli seasoning and stir through.
~2 min
Pour in the diced tomatoes with their juice, the tomato sauce and as much of the bock beer as will fit. Stir carefully to combine.
~3 min
Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours, or on High for at least 3 hours. The chuck roast should completely break down into the chilli.
~480 min
Stir a few times through the cook if you are around. If a dark film forms on the surface, skim it off and pitch it.
Ladle into bowls and dress with freshly grated cheddar, a dollop of soured cream and a scatter of diced red onion. Avocado optional.
~5 min

Frequently asked

Do I have to add beans?

No. This is Texas-style, so beans are left out. Matt's view is that beans, corn and noodles cover up the flavour of the chillies. The chunked chuck roast gives the heartiness that beans normally would. If you prefer beans, stir a tin or two through near the end of the cook.

Can I skip the smoked chuck roast?

You can swap the smoked chuck for a hard-seared chuck instead. Get a heavy cast iron pan smoking hot, sear the roast for a couple of minutes a side until well browned, then chunk it and add it to the slow cooker. You lose the smoke note but keep the all-important second meat texture.

Is the hot breakfast sausage essential?

No. Matt uses Purnell's hot breakfast sausage because he grew up on it, but he says straight out you do not have to use the hot one. A mild breakfast sausage, or simply more beef mince, works fine. The chilli seasoning carries most of the heat anyway.

Why use bock beer specifically?

Matt traces the recipe back to a German-style chilli and a bock pairs naturally with the smoke and the spice. Any malty dark lager will do the same job. If you would rather not use beer, swap in an equal volume of beef stock.

Does it really taste better the next day?

Yes. As Matt notes in the video, the flavours meld in the fridge overnight. Cook it the night before, cool, refrigerate, then reheat gently the next day. It freezes well too.

Extraction notes (transparency): Chipotle peppers in adobo: Matt says 'a can' without specifying ounces, recorded as 1 can. Bock beer: he pours 'however much will fit' rather than a measured amount, recorded as 1 bottle (around 330 ml) with a note. Hot breakfast sausage flagged optional because Matt explicitly says you do not have to use the hot version.