Traeger Over The Top Chili Food

OVER THE TOP CHILI

Steps:

• Mix the ground beef with the Worcestershire sauce and Montreal Steak Seasoning. You can also use 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder instead.
• Form the meat mixture into a giant meatball, then flatten it down a wee bit but leave it quite thick.
• In a large skillet or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat and sautee the onions, garlic, and bell pepper for 4-5 minutes or until the onions are translucent.
• Add the spices to the sauteed veg and cook for an additional minute or until fragrant.
• Add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, diced chilis, drained and rinsed canned beans, tomato paste, and beef broth to the veggies. Bring this up to a simmer. Season with the salt.
• Fire up your Traeger or pellet smoker to 225-F.
• Put the chili on the bottom rack of your smoker, and position the giant beef flattened meatball on the rack above the chili, placing it directly ABOVE the chili pot so that all the beef drippings go into the chili.
• Cook it at 225-F for about an hour, then turn the heat up to 325-F and cook for an additional 40-60 minutes or until the beef comes to an internal temperature of 165-F. Use your probe or digital meat thermometer to check the temperature.
• Stir the chili every 30-40 minutes, and if it starts to get too thick, add up to 1 cup of beef broth a bit at a time so it doesn't get too runny. Heat the broth first so you don't drop the temperature of the chili.

SMOKED "OVER THE TOP" CHILI

Steps:

• Preheat Kamado to 250 degrees and add 1-2 hickory wood chunks to the coals. Use smoking stone for indirect heat.
• Prepare the meatball by chopping the bacon and kneading it into the ground beef along with ½ of each chili seasoning package. (save the other ½ of each chili packet for the bean mixture).
• Dice all of the different peppers and sauté them in vegetable oil with the garlic for 5 minutes.
• Drain all of the beans and add to a cast iron dutch oven.
• Add Rotel tomatoes to the dutch oven.
• Add sautéed peppers to the dutch oven with the beans.
• Add ½ of each chili seasoning packet to the bean mixture.
• Place the dutch oven directly on the cooking grates of the preheated Kamado.
• Place the meatball directly over the dutch oven on a second cooking grate so the drippings from the meatball drip into the chili mixture as it smokes. If an upper level grate is not available the dutch oven can be placed under the main grate on the smoking stone. If this is the case use a dutch oven with feet to avoid burning the chili mixture.
• Cook at 250 until the internal temp of the meatball reaches 155-160 degrees. The time to reach temperature will vary from cooker to cooker but plan on around 4 hours.
• Remove meatball, crumble, and add to the chili mixture.
• Continue to cook for another hour.
• If needed you can add beef stock to the chili if it is too thick.
• ENJOY!