Dutch Oven Chili with Coals
Ground beef, canned tomatoes, and a real spice load, stewed under a lid for an hour.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 12 oz
- cal / oz
- 35
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 70 min
- total time
- 80 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Lean ground beef | 1 lb | rides in the cooler, cook it the first night |
|---|---|---|
| Onion | 1 small | chopped |
| Garlic | 2 cloves | minced |
| Jalapenos | 3 | chopped fine, seeds in if you want it hot |
| Canned tomatoes | 1 can (20 oz) | chopped, juice and all |
| Chili powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Cumin | 1/2 tbsp | |
| Oregano | 1/2 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp |
Method
- Build a bed of coals and set a 12-inch dutch oven over about 25 of them. You want roughly 375F, hot enough to fry.
- Brown the beef with the onion and garlic, breaking the meat up as it goes. Do not drain it. The fat carries the spices.
- Stir in the jalapenos and cook another minute.
- Add the tomatoes with their juice and every spice. Stir until nothing is dry.
- Pull coals until you are down to about 10 under the oven, roughly 250F. Lid on, no coals needed on top for a stew.
- Stew one hour. Stir every fifteen minutes so the bottom does not scorch, and check that it is barely bubbling rather than boiling.
This is a coal-cooked chili, so the whole recipe is a heat management problem. You need frying heat at the start to brown the beef and build fond, then a long low stretch that never boils. That means moving coals twice, not adjusting a dial.
The fat from the beef is doing the flavor work. Chili powder, cumin, and oregano are all fat-soluble, so browning first and adding them to a greasy pan gets more out of them than dumping everything in cold. The hour is not optional either. It is what turns the canned tomato from acidic and thin into something that coats a spoon.
This one stays as written rather than getting a trail conversion. Ground beef and a 20 oz can are cooler-and-car food. If you want it in a pack, use the bean variation and dehydrate the finished pot.
Packing
Mix the chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt into one small jar at home. Chop the onion, garlic, and jalapenos before you leave and bag them together. Beef and the vegetable bag stay in the cooler until go time.
Variations
- Swap the beef for two cans of drained beans and it becomes a vegetarian pot with no cooler required.
- A can of drained kidney or pinto beans stretches this to six servings.
- Cornmeal, a tablespoon at a time, thickens a chili that came out thin.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/dutch_oven_hot_chili-583.asp