Venison chili and fall were made for each other. Maybe you have a tradition of making a fresh pot of it as soon as temps drop, or you save for the night following your first sit in a deer stand. Regardless of when and how often you whip up a batch, this recipe will either improve on your own personal recipe, or replace it.
Everyone loves their own chili and thinks it’s the best. And everyone is right, funnily enough. Still, if you want to try something new, you can make this recipe in its entirety, or simply pilfer a couple methods to boost the flavor of your own perfection. I do feel the roasted poblanos is a gamechanger. Tip: leave a bit of the seeds and pulp with the peppers when dicing (after roasting, sweating, and peeling) if you want a bit more spice in your chili.
Also, if you don’t add a bit of chicken stock to your chili, you should. Big bonus points if you make your own chicken stock, which will always be worlds above anything store-bought.
Ingredients (makes 4-6 servings):
1-1/2 pounds diced or ground venison
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 teaspoons freshly minced garlic
6 medium poblano peppers
One 15-oz can of black beans
One 15-oz can of pinto beans
One 15-oz can of kidney beans
2 cups Spicy Hot V8 vegetable juice (mixed use)
1-1/2 cups of chicken stock
1 1.75-oz McCormick chili spice packet
Kosher salt & black pepper, divided use
Vegetable or sunflower cooking oil
Cooking oil spray
Optional toppings:
2 avocados, sliced
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Oyster crackers
Freshly minced cilantro or diced chives or both
Instructions:
1. Cut away any silver skin and fascia from venison while still partially frozen and grind. If using pre-ground, you can skip this step.
2. Mix seasoning into ground venison 2-3 hours ahead of cooking and let sit in the fridge.
3. To roast peppers, pre-heat oven to 400 F. Lightly oil peppers and roast for 10 minutes then flip. Roast for another 5 to 10 minutes, until slightly charred and skin is loose. Remove and place in a nonreactive bowl and cover and place in fridge for 1 hour for peppers to sweat. When sweated, remove and peel off skin, remove seeds and stems. Dice peppers into approximate 1-inch-by-1-inch squares. Set aside in fridge until ready to add to chili.
4. Heat a large pot or Dutch oven on medium-high and add a very thin layer of sunflower oil. Add diced onion and sear until slightly brown and soft. Lightly salt and pepper. Move onions to outer edge of pot.
5. Add ground venison to the middle and flip was underside is seared. Adequately sear other side then mash in freshly minced garlic. Stir for a couple minutes then stir in onions.
6. Add all beans to a colander and thoroughly rinse and drain then stir into chili pot. Add diced poblano peppers. Turn heat to medium-low.
7. Add V8 Spicy Hot vegetable juice and chicken stock. Allow to simmer for 1 hour.
8. Turn heat to low or off after simmering. Serve with favorite garnishes.
Enjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.