If you want thick Texas chili, then you need to make the Best Texas Roadhouse Chili Recipe. It's fan tested, the best copycat Texas Roadhouse Chil you can make at home, hands down!
This thick Texas-style chili is filled with traditional smoky chili seasonings, a touch of heat, then topped with cheddar cheese. The question is, beans or no beans?
A cool crisp evening calls for a big bowl of chili, and this Texas Roadhouse copycat chili recipe will be perfect for a family dinner or while watching the big game.
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This was inspired by my copycat Wendy's chili on this site, and pairs well with this amazing beer bread recipe. If you like your chile with some heat then be sure and make a jar of my Cowboy Candy. It's the perfect sweet heat to top chili with!
Love chili? 🌶 Try one of these recipes too!
😋 Why you will love this recipe
- This is an authentic copycat recipe of the restaurant Texas Roadhouse. It's sure to become a favorite meal when the weather is cool.
- It's cheaper to make this great chili at home than to take the whole family out to eat.
- This homemade chili recipe is easy to spice up or add your family's favorite beans, or not.
- It's a great recipe to make a double batch and freeze for a quick dinner on a busy night.
🛒 Texas Roadhouse chili ingredients
- Ground beef - 80%/20% - You could also use beef chuck cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
- Garlic - only use fresh diced
- Onion - yellow onion or white onion would be good
- Tomatoes - Do not use fresh but canned tomatoes
- Kidney beans - A true Texas chili does not have beans. They work great in this recipe
- Jalapenos - Use a little or a lot, depending on your taste buds tolerance to spicy food
- Crushed red pepper flakes - These add another layer of heat to your chili
- Masa harina - (secret ingredient) This is just traditional corn tortilla flour. It acts as a thickening agent and gives this chile a thick stew-like consistency.
- Cheddar cheese - optional topping
- Red onions - optional topping
- Pickled Jalapenos - optional topping
See the recipe card for a complete list and quantities.
🔪 Cooking instructions
1. In a dutch oven or large pot on medium heat, cook the beef. Stir often to help break it apart.
2. Place onion and garlic into the pot and cook for two minutes, stirring often.
3. Drain any extra grease from the pan and return to heat. Stir in chili seasoning: chili powder, cumin powder, smoked paprika, black pepper, salt, Italian seasoning blend, and brown sugar. Stir the chili mixture well to coat the hamburger. Turn heat to medium-low and continue cooking for one minute.
4. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, vinegar, chili flakes, and diced jalapenos.
5. Bring to a soft boil over medium heat.
6. In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup of water and the masa harina. Whisk until smooth. Stir in the masa harina mixture and cook for 10 more minutes so the chili will thicken
🔀 Substitutions
- Instead of ground meat, substitute stew meat such as chuck beef cubes that have been cut into 1/2 inch pieces.
- You don't have to use beef base meat. Ground turkey or chicken.
- Try fire-roasted crushed tomatoes instead of plain canned tomatoes
- Change up your beans. Try pinto, navy beans, or black beans.
- Make the chili vegan by skipping the meat and adding a variety of beans.
- Add in diced sweet potatoes and sautéed mushrooms instead of beans.
🌶️ Serving variations
- Top your chili with Cowboy Candy and a side of cornbread.
- Sever over Air Fryer Baked Potatoes and top with cheese.
- Serve over steak fries and top with cheese for a hearty chili cheese fries meal.
- Pour over tortilla chips, add melted cheese and toppings typically found on nachos.
- Make a sourdough bread bowl filled with chili and toppings.
- Serve topped with saltine crackers, onions, a dollop of sour cream, and hot sauce.
- Add macaroni noodles instead of beans for a great chili mac dinner.
💭 Recipe tips
- Always start with quality ingredients such as grass-feed hamburger meat. Also, be sure your seasonings are fresh. They keep in your pantry for 6 months or so but then start to lose some of their flavors.
- To drain the fat off of the hamburger, I like to take the pan off the heat and set it on hot pads, so one side is a good bit higher than the other. After a few minutes, I place a few wadded-up pieces of paper towel in the lower end of the pan to soak up the grease. Discard the paper towel and repeat.
- If your chili is too watery, here are some great tips for how to thicken chili in a slow cooker or Crock-Pot. Here you will find a variety of ideas that use everyday pantry items to thicken the chili.
Why are there beans in this Texas chili?
The restaurant Texas Roadhouse serves their chili with beans. With this in mind, the restaurant was not originated in Texas. Its founder, W. Kent Taylor, started the restaurant in Clarksville, IN. Texas is in the restaurant's name, but the menu was created for a broad clientele.
❓FAQ
Texas chili is thick and hearty, with the flavor focused on the chilis compared to traditional chili. It's more like eating a bowl of thick stew. Also, many recipes do not contain tomato sauce but instead crushed tomatoes.
Traditionally Texas chili does not have beans. However, beans are a great addition to Texas chili.
In this copycat Texas Roadhouse chili recipe, there are 10 carbs in a one-cup serving.
Texas Roadhouse chili has some spice to it. However, when you make this copycat recipe at home, you can spice it up even more or not at all by omitting the jalapenos.
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Recipe
Best Copycat Texas Roadhouse Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Ground beef - 80%/20% - You could also use beef chuck cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons Garlic fresh diced
- 1 cup Onion Diced - yellow onion or white onion would be good
- 2 teaspoons Cumin powder
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon Smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon Black pepper
- 2 teaspoons Salt
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon Brown sugar
- 2 14 oz Tomatoes Canned crushed tomatoes. Do not use fresh but canned tomatoes
- 1 14 oz Kidney beans Canned, rinsed, and drained
- 1 tablespoon Vinegar White
- 1/8 cup Jalapenos Use a little or a lot depending on you your taste buds tolerance to spicy food
- 1/8 teaspoon Crushed red pepper flakes These add another layer of heat to your chili, a little or a lot
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons Masa harina This is just traditional corn tortilla flour. It acts as a thickening agent and gives this chile a thick stew-like consistency.
- 1 cup cheddar cheese optional topping
- 1/4 cup Red onions optional topping, chopped
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Instructions
- In a dutch oven or large pot on medium heat, cooking the beef. Stir often to help break it apart.
- Place onion and garlic into the pot and cook for two minutes, stirring often.
- Drain any extra grease from the pan and return to heat. Stir in chili spices, chili powder, cumin powder, smoked paprika, black pepper, salt, Italian seasoning blend, and brown sugar. Stir the chili mixture well to coat the hamburger. Turn heat to medium-low and continue cooking for one minute.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes
- Add kidney beans
- Stir in vinegar chili flakes and diced jalapenos.
- Bring to a soft boil over medium heat.
- In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup of water and the masa harina. Whisk until smooth.
- Stir in the masa harina mixture and cook for 10 more minutes so the chili will thicken.
- Serve topped with cheddar cheese and diced red onions.
Need an item in the this recipe? Click the Instacart button and have it sent right to you.
Notes
- Always start with quality ingredients such as grass feed hamburger meat. Also, be sure your seasonings are fresh. They keep in your pantry for 6 months or so but then start to lose some of their flavors.
- To drain the fat off of the hamburger, I like to take the pan off the heat and set it on hot pads so one side is a good bit higher than the other. After a few minutes, I place a few wadded-up pieces of paper towel in the lower end of the pan to soak up the grease. Discard paper towel and repeat.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in June 2021. It has been updated in August 2022 with new images and updated tips.
Mark
Uhm, your recipe forgot the chili powder ingredient measurement. Kinda important. Should be 1 tsp
Gina
Yep, I sure did, thank you. I corrected the recipe card. :)
Frenchie L'Noir
I'm sure you mean well and all, but I spent 13 of my years in Texas and I will never add beans to my chili. That's more on par with those folks from Cincinnati!
Gina
I love this comment! My husband is going to judge a chili contest today and we were just saying the true test in the end if he has some that are tied will be if there are no beans, rice, or macaroni. I agree, no beans are best but on the menu, at Roadhouse you can order with beans or without. Oh, and I do love my 5 way Cincinnati chili, best place to put beans.
Pam Kohart
I have made this recipe two times, and I love it because it's so close to the recipe my mother used to make chili when I was growing up. A pot of chili fed five hungry kids! Only, we didn't know what jalapenos were then in a small town in Ohio. LOL. Also she did not use masa to think of hers, but she let it simmer on low on the stove for a long time and we would use saltine crackers in it at the table. When I make it now, I use the masa, but I mix in some water with it to make kind of a paste. Then I pretty much don't have any lumps. It stirs in much better. Now you have made me hungry for chili even though it's going to be 95° today.
Gina
Pam, I grew up in northern Indiana and never knew about jalapenos until we moved to GA. I also grew up calling green peppers in our garden, mangos. What a surprise when we vacationed in Florida and asked for mangos. I like your tip for the mesa. I will add that to the post. Thank you.
Don
Your are 1000percent correct Texas Chill never has beans in it. They will be served on the side though
Jay from Texas
Beans… sigh. Texas Roadhouse is from Kentucky. Beans… in chili… not in Texas. It is known. Putting beans in Texas chili is like putting tofu clumps in haggis… it’s no longer what it was. That said. This chili flavored beefy bean stew looks tasty and I’ll try it.
Gina
I love the comments I'm getting about beans! The restaurant menu has beans and no beans so I did do beans in this recipe. But I agree a true Texas chili means no beans. I hope you enjoy the recipe. I would like to hear what you think if some tweaking needs to be done to make it more authentic. :)
Melissa
Recipe sounds delicious but what kind of vinegar? Wasn't sure what kind to use in chili. Thanks
Gina
Melissa, I used white vinegar. I will go edit the recipe card to say that. Thanks for pointing it out. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Robin
This recipe is fine. People from texas should maybe not choose a recipe from Texas Roadhouse (from Kentucky). I used diced tomatoes and needed a little extra liquid so i used water.
Gina
Excellent point Robin! I'm always on the search for a good chili recipe so maybe some of those Texas chili lovers need to send me theirs to try. ;)