Wicked Good Smoky Beef & Sausage Chili Soup

Is it chili (thick)? Or is it soup (thin)? Beans? No beans? Chili the first day? Soup the second? It’s YOUR call. And you can’t get it wrong. (Well yes you can. But we’ll discuss that later.)

THIS Beef & Sausage Chili Soup, with its complex flavor pairing of ground beef, pork sausage, ancho and chipotle chili, onion, garlic, chocolate, espresso, dark beer, and roasted tomato is a sure-fire winner. And we haven’t even mentioned cornbread yet.

Granted, you may need to dash to the grocery store for a couple of the ingredients. But they aren’t hard to find. Starbucks instant coffee packets for instance. Keep them on hand in your spice cupboard. Such great flavor intensifiers–for both sweet and savory dishes. And smoked paprika? Well how did we ever live without it? Same goes for smoked sea salt.

Then after you have all ingredients on hand, BEFORE you begin the recipe, make Ancho Chipotle Chile Paste.

You’ll toast dried ancho chiles, hydrate in water, deseed, and then blend to a paste with adobo sauce (from canned chipotle chile peppers), cumin, sweet paprika, and water.

This flavorsome paste is so useful that I freeze it in tablespoon size dollops. You’ll have about 1/4 cup left over, so do store it for later. (In above photo, Ancho Chipotle Chile Sauce is on the left and chipotle peppers in sauce is on the right.)

After basic mise-en-place is in place, this chili goes together in minutes.

To get started, brown beef, sausage, and spices in olive oil, and then add onions.

Add smoked paprika and prepared Ancho Chipotle Chile Paste. When onions are well softened, add cocoa powder, instant espresso, and dark beer.

When flavors are well blended, add tomatoes, plus beans or barley (highly recommend barley!) and chicken stock (if using).

Taste, season and–here’s the hard part–cool and then CHILL until TOMORROW.

Okay okay. You aren’t going to do it. But this recipe makes FOUR quarts of soup, so you’ll be thrilled on Day Two when you serve it again. The flavors, which weren’t quite entwined on Day One are happily married by Day Two.

Wicked Good Beef & Sausage Chili Soup

Wicked Good Beef & Sausage Chili Soup

Is it chili (thick) or is it soup (thin)? It’s YOUR call. Have chili the first day and soup the second. Beans, no beans. Either way THIS Beef & Sausage Chili Soup, with its complex flavor pairing of beef, sausage, ancho and chipotle chili, onion, garlic, chocolate, espresso, beer, and tomato is a sure-fire winner, out-of-this-world delicious winner. Makes 4 quarts.

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Course Soup

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Equipment

• 6-7 quart soup pot

Ingredients

  

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound loose Italian sausage
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1/4 cup Ancho Chipotle Chile Paste
• 2 medium-large yellow onions, skinned, trimmed, chopped
• 6 large garlic cloves, skinned, trimmed, minced
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 packet Starbuck’s VIA dark roast instant coffee    
• 1 cup dark beer (or beef stock)
• 2 28-ounce cans fire-roasted, diced tomatoes or half crushed tomatoes, for a slightly thicker soup
• 1 each red, orange, and green bell pepper, stemmed, ribbed, chopped
• regular or smoked sea salt, to taste
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Optional

• 2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans or 2 cups cooked barley (or one 15-ounce can cannellini beans and 1 cup cooked barley)

Toppings

• diced avocado
• diced red onion
• chopped cilantro
• sour cream

Instructions

 

• In a 6-7 quart soup pot, over medium-high heat, heat olive oil and add ground beef and loose sausage. Sauté briskly, stirring as necessary with a wood spatula, to ensure meat is broken up and well browned. (Sausage requires more effort as its fat content acts like “glue” in holding the meat together.)
• When meat is well browned, stir in smoked paprika and prepared Ancho Chipotle Chile Paste.
• Move meat to one side of pan and add a little more olive oil to the open space.
• Add onions, and cook slowly, stirring nearly constantly (or cover with a tight-fitting lid), to soften. Add the garlic about halfway through the cooking process.
• When onions are softened, combine with meat mixture, and add cocoa powder, instant coffee, and dark beer (if using).
• Cook for several minutes to blend flavors and then add tomatoes and bell peppers.
• Simmer slowly for 5-10 minutes and then add cooked beans or cooked barley. Or a half portion of each.
• Taste the chile and add salt and pepper to taste.

To Serve

• Top each serving as desired with prepared avocado, red onion, cilantro, and sour cream.

Keyword chili soup