Pellet Smoker Chuck Roast Chili

You’ve heard of over the top chili with ground beef and other proteins. But have you ever tried it with whole cuts of beef? This smoked chili recipe does just that with a chili rubbed chuck roast over a pot of fire roasted tomatoes, beer, and a few other goodies (not beans).

The beef is smoked just long enough to develop an awesome bark and great smoky flavor before it’s chopped and braised with smoked peppers and the rest of the gang until it’s melt-in-your-mouth tender. While it’s not a truly classic Texas chili, the few shortcuts make life a lot easier and prevent the need for toasting, rehydrating, and blending dried chiles.

Ingredients for Smoked Chuck Roast Chili

You can sort the ingredients into three groups—the chuck roast and seasoning, the peppers, and everything that goes in the pot underneath the chuck roast on the smoker.

The Chuck Roast and Rub

My recipe calls for a choice or prime roast (though select works in a pinch), a packet of chili seasoning, and a little bit of hot sauce as a binder. Feel free to use any hot sauce or binder you like and go with a homemade chili seasoning if you prefer.

I contemplated using the rub from my brisket style chuck roast since it has coffee and brown sugar that work well here, but I wanted to keep the ingredient list as short as possible. My smoked pot roast calls for H-E-B beef fajita seasoning and would fit the brief.

And feel free to use other cuts of beef. I’ve seen Chef Tom from ATBBQ make a brisket flat chili, for example.

The Smoked Peppers

The recipe calls for mini seedless peppers that you can just throw straight on the smoker. If you can’t find mini peppers, swap them for poblano or bell peppers. Throw ’em on the smoker the same way, just remove the seeds when dicing them after they’ve cooked for an hour.

You can also throw any choice of peppers in a food processor (and even leave the onions in bigger chunks) like I did in my smoked bison chili recipe.

Everything Else

Diced onion, fire roasted crushed tomatoes, beer, Mexican chocolate, and cinnamon sticks walk into a bar. And make a solid shortcut chili base that’s ready to go straight on the grill in minutes. You also need beef broth, but that comes in at the end for braising.

I might be a Texan, but I’m admittedly not a chili purist when it comes to beans in chili. In fact, I tested a version of this chili with two cans of ranch beans going in with everything else. Our neighbors actually liked that version better, but they’re from New York. What do they know about chili?

Kidding, of course. If you want to throw some beans in your chili, be my guest. I would hold them out until you add the diced smoked peppers around the hour mark so they’re not totally overcooked and mushy.

Part One: Developing Bark on the Chuck Roast and Smoking the Peppers

I tested this recipe on a Weber Searwood XL pellet smoker with their Grillmaster blend of pellets. Different grills and rubs may affect the cooking times, but I found 2.5 to 3 hours was the sweet spot for developing a nice bark on 3-pound to 3.5-pound chuck roasts.

The smoked chuck roast will be chopped and braised to finish, so you don’t have to aim for any specific internal temperature.

If you have the time and want to let it ride to develop more bark on your chuck roast, go right ahead. As long as the chili base in the Dutch oven has enough liquid, there’s no harm in stretching out the cook.

Part Two: Chopping and Braising the Chuck Roast

You’re in the home stretch.

We all know chuck roast takes a while to break down and get super tender. So don’t rush the back half of the cook. Chopping the chuck roast into small pieces speeds things up, as does increasing the temperature on the smoker.

I tested adding half the beef broth and braising for about an hour with the lid off. The chili picks up a bit more smoke and bark on the exposed pieces of chuck roast. But I think adding all the broth, covering, and finishing faster is the better choice. If you go half uncovered and half covered, you may want to add a bit more beef broth to reach your desired consistency.

Either way you go, you’re looking for super tender pieces of beef that basically fall apart when you poke them with a spatula or spoon. A couple hours should do the trick.

Once the beef reaches that point, you’re ready to finish and serve.

Side note: I’ll also mention that you could save some pellets by transferring the Dutch oven to your conventional oven once it’s covered. I find it’s easier for cleanup purposes to just keep the chili on the grill, however.

Finishing and Serving

I always like to finish chili with some type of acidity like vinegar or hot sauce, pickled veggies, or citrus and freshness via herbs like green onion or cilantro. And as always, salt to taste before serving. The recipe doesn’t have much salt beyond the chili seasoning, so you may need more than you think. My smoked taco soup, for example, calls for three packets of taco seasoning for three pounds of ground chuck.

You can also add a little salt, spice, and texture with condiments like homemade salsa macha.

As for serving, you can’t go wrong with cheese and crunchy toppings like tortilla chips or corn chips. Cornbread is another classic chili pairing that you see pictured here. I actually have a smoked cornbread that cooks at 425ºF but should work at 400ºF in the last hour of cooking. And if you have leftovers for some reason, bookmark my smoked chili cheese nachos for a cool way to use them.

And that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Fire away with any questions about ingredients, substitutions, or anything else in the comments at the bottom of this post. Otherwise, I trust you’ll thoroughly enjoy this chuck roast chili. If you do, recipe reviews are always appreciated!