This beef and Italian sausage chili is a wonderfully tasty chili. The Italian sausage really adds a lot to the flavor. It isn’t spicy. But it can be if you add a lot of hot sauce or use hot Italian sausage). The broth is flat-out crazy delicious. That’s what distinguishes a good chili from a great chili. This is great chili.

This recipe actually changed my view of beef-only chili. Now, I almost always add Italian sausage to my chili. I found this recipe in Marje Lambert’s great cookbook, The Real Chili Cookbook. I did make a few minor changes for our tastes. Also try my version 2.0 of beef and Italian sausage chili.
Beef and Italian Sausage Chili
Fantastic take on traditional beef chili.
Servings 8
Calories 329kcal
Ingredients
- ½ pound Italian pork sausage
- 2 pounds beef chuck cut into bite-sized cubes
- 1 medium white onion chopped
- 1 medium green pepper chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 14 1/2 ounce beef broth
- 8 ounce tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- hot sauce to taste
Instructions
- Crumble the sausage into a Dutch oven and cook over medium-high heat until cooked.
- Add the beef and cook until browned. Spoon off excess fat.
- Add onion, bell pepper and garlic and cook another 4 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook until beef is tender, about 3 1/2 hours. Add water (or more broth) if the chili gets too thin.
- Season with salt if needed. Serve hot.
Nutrition
Calories: 329kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 100mg | Sodium: 485mg | Potassium: 652mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 802IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 4mg
Nutritional values are approximate.