Over The Top Chili
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This Traeger Over The Top Chili is hands down the best chili I’ve ever had! The meatball you put above the chili turns out smoky and juicy! Plus – with the Traeger – it’s super simple – two hours and you’ll have the best smoked chili you’ve ever tasted!
What You Will ❤️ About Over the Top Chili
The key to this chili is you make a GIANT meatball and cook it OVER THE TOP of your chili so the drippings fall into the chili. Most of the time it’s done on a smoker-style grill like a Traeger or Big Green Egg.
- Smoky Flavor – the delicious smoky flavor from the meatball is heavenly. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a meatball taste this juicy and flavorful!
- Works with any Chili – I’m sharing my favorite chili recipe but you can use this technique with any chili recipe you have!
- Chunky Chili – I love a chunky chili with lots of veggies and beans and this is it!
Over the Top Chili Ingredients
Here’s all the ingredients for the best chili for your pellet grill. First up – your giant meatball!
- ground beef – I used 80/20 because you want some fat in it for it to have some juice for the chili
- You can always use any ground meat whether it’s ground chuck, beef, ground pork, chicken or even turkey! You could also use Italian Sausage or a mix!
- steak seasoning – I used the Texas Roadhouse Steak Seasoning that I made
- Worcestershire sauce – probably my favorite condiment!
After that – you make the chili – now you can use any chili recipe you love – but this is my standard:
- Large Yellow Onion & Green & Red Bell Peppers – diced but not into too small pieces – I like some chunks in my chili!
- Jalapeno Pepper – you can also swap and use a can of green chiles
- Seasonings: no packaged chili seasoning here! Garlic, Chili Powder, Cumin, Salt & Pepper
- fresh cloves garlic are best but garlic powder works
- you can swap cayenne pepper for chili powder or use both!
- Two cans of beans – I usually use Dark Red Kidney Beans & Black Beans. Use what you like – pinto beans, red beans – whatever!
- Do NOT drain the beans
- Crushed & Diced Tomatoes – you can use Rotel if you like extra spice
- Water & Beef Bouillon – I like the Better than Bouillon brand
- You could also use beef stock or beef broth instead of bouillon & water
- FAVORITE TOPPINGS: sour cream, scallions, diced avocado, cheddar cheese, tortilla chips, oyster crackers
How do you make OTT Chili on your Traeger?
This is a pretty quick and easy chili to put together – then – once it’s on the smoker – you let her rip for a couple of hours to absorb that smoky wonderfulness! The layers of flavor a smoker adds are unbeatable and really make the final product heavenly!
- First thing – you’ll start by making your meatball. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, Worcestershire & steak seasoning. Mound into a big ball and refrigerate until ready to put on smoker.
- Start making your chili in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven (or your favorite chili pot) on the stove top. Turn heat on high and add olive oil. Then, cook onion, jalapeno & green bell pepper and garlic for 2-3 minutes until veggies start to soften.
- Add in seasonings and stir to mix that delicious aroma around
- Add the rest of the ingredients – the beans, tomatoes, bouillon and water and bring to a simmer over medium heat on the stove top
- While it’s coming up to a simmer – get your smoker ready and up to temp at 225º
- Place the pot of chili on the grill grate of the smoker and then place a wire rack on top of the pot. Put your giant meat ball on top of the rack!
- Smoke the chili at 225º for at least an hour then crank the heat up to 350º for another hour – stir your chili every now and then
- If you like your chili thicker – leave as-is
- If you like it soupier – add 2-4 cups of water throughout cook process
- Chili is ready when the meatball is at 160º (Check the internal temperature of the meat with your digital thermometer)
- Remove the Dutch oven with the meatball from the smoker. Let the meatball rest for 10 minutes or so.
- When the meatball has cooled a bit – start breaking it apart into bite size small chunks and add to your chili. RESIST THE URGE to just eat the meatball right then and be sure some of it gets into the chili! 😉
- Stir into the chili and top with cilantro, diced red onion and a little shredded cheese
20 Must-Have Traeger Accessories
I absolutely love my Traeger Pellet Grill and you can pretty much use it right out of the box! But over the years I’ve definitely found that there are some Traeger smoker accessories that make everything a lot easier!
Tips, Tricks & FAQs
A good chili powder – try different ones – I have two favorites: Chipotle and Ancho Lime!
Store leftovers in an airtight container (I like these glass storage ones) in the fridge for up to a week. You can freeze up to three months. Reheat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.
There are many flavors of pellets that work in your Traeger pellet grill. I keep it simple and always use the Traeger Signature Blend which is a blend of Maple and Cherry. That said if you’re looking for something specific for beef – the best are Hickory, Mesquite & Pecan.
Store leftovers in an airtight container (I like these glass ones) in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can freeze up to three months. Reheat in the microwave for 2 minutes.
What to serve with Traeger Over The Top Chili?
This Over-the-Top Chili is a great recipe and takes your favorite chili to the next level! Here are my favorite side dishes to serve with chili:
Other easy & delicious recipes for your Traeger
More Chili Recipes
Traeger Over The Top Chili
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef 80/20
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp Texas Roadhouse Steak Seasoning
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 1 green pepper diced
- 1 jalapeno diced
- 2 tbsp garlic minced
- 3 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 2 tsp coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 15 oz can kidney beans with liquid
- 15 oz can black beans with liquid
- 29 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 10 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp Better than Bouillon Beef Base
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, Worcestershire sauce and Steak Seasoning.2 lbs ground beef, 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbsp Texas Roadhouse Steak Seasoning
- Form the meat mixture into a giant meatball and set aside
- Turn Traeger to smoke leaving the lid open – once smoke dissipates – turn temp to 225 and shut lid
- In a Cast Iron Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat and saute onions, garlic, jalapeno and bell pepper for 4-5 minutes or until the onions are translucent.3 tbsp olive oil, 1 onion, 1 green pepper, 2 tbsp garlic, 1 jalapeno
- Add chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to the sauteed veggies and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes3 tbsp chili powder, 1 tbsp cumin, 2 tsp coarse sea salt, 1 tsp black pepper
- Add the beans with liquid, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, 1 cup water and bouillon to the veggies. Heat until chili is simmering15 oz can kidney beans with liquid, 15 oz can black beans with liquid, 29 oz can crushed tomatoes, 10 oz can diced tomatoes, 1 jalapeno, 1 cup water, 1 tbsp Better than Bouillon Beef Base
- Put the chili on the bottom rack grill grate of your smoker. Top the Dutch oven with a baking rack and set the giant meatball on top of the rack above the chili. This will ensure that all the drippings go into the chili.
- Cook it at 225 for an hour, then turn the heat up to 350 and cook for an additional 60 minutes or until the beef comes to an internal temperature of 160. Use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature.
- Remove the meatball and let rest for 5-10 minutes
- Using your hands or meat shredders, break up the ground beef and add to the chili. (snag a couple of bites – it's amazing!)
- Stir together and dig in! Garnish with cilantro, cheese and onions
I just want to tell you this really is the best smoked chili that I’ve ever made! I followed the recipe exactly as it was written and it was awesome!!
I just made it again today and it came out awesome again!
Thank you so much for sharing your talent!
That makes me so happy! Thanks for the comment and glad you like it!
Dittos to the other comment. This is the best chili ever! I made it exactly as the recipe says and after making this recipe 2 times now and wouldnโt change a thing. BTW itโs fun to make too.All I can say is YUM! Thank you, Iโm not going to make chili any other way!
OMG _ that’s so awesome!!! I’m glad you loved it and that you’ve already made it twice! Yahoo!
Can you freeze this chili?
Yes – I always freeze chili! Store leftovers in an airtight container – I like these glass ones – https://amzn.to/3RxXHTw
This was the best chili Iโve ever had!!
Ever!!
I knew it was gonna be good, sometimes you can just tell. But this surpassed all my expectations.
Just try it, you will not be disappointed.
That makes me so happy!!!!
Loved it! but when I looked at the sodium content for one servingโฆYIKES!
Omg the best. I added a roasted pablamo pepper and mixed ground pork and hot Italian sausage in with the meat.
Sorry gotta goโฆ. In the midst of eating this.
Have you tried this using a mixture of ground turkey and ground beef? We don’t really care for ground beef, but not sure ground turkey alone would work.
no – here’s the issue – turkey is a lot drier and doesn’t have the fat that is meant to drip into the chili. it’s also going to cook faster than the beef. could you maybe do ground pork? all the flavor! you could try a mixture – the turkey will absorb the smoke and the beef/pork will provide the fat needed for the flavor