Slow Cooker Steakhouse chili is a unique recipe! It has fresh salsa in it and other secret ingredients. Rich and deep flavor and wonderful topped with Fritos.
We love a good chili recipe, in fact, I like to make a chili every week! This recipe and chuckwagon chili are my go-to recipes.
This recipe for steakhouse chili is amazing, I adapted it for my slow cooker and here is how the recipe came about-
A girl I work with, when I barely knew her yet, would bring me chili and a little bag of Fritos for lunch. And of course, I ate it, I never say no to food!
Let me tell you, it was the best chili I have ever had. The Chili wasn’t overpowered by chili seasoning (see what my friend uses instead below), and it had big chunks of steak in it. It’s almost like Fritos were created just for this chili! Well, it turns out my friend’s husband created this chili recipe by accident, what a great accident it was!
What is in this recipe for Steakhouse Chili?
This slow cooker recipe for steakhouse chili doesn’t have your usual ho-hum chili ingredients in it! See below what makes this chili different.
- Steak or Stew Meat – No ground beef in this recipe!
- Taco Seasoning – Skip the chili powder, taco seasoning has way more flavor.
- Au jus – Adds more beef flavor to the recipe (only a half a packet)
- Tomato paste – This thickens the recipe
- Kidney Beans
- Fresh Salsa – I use Roja refrigerated salsa (photo below). This salsa has a fresh flavor and changes the dish. Stirring this in is like adding fresh tomatoes, onions, and cilantro! DO NOT add this until AFTER the cooking time is up.
If you are looking for a new chili recipe, that is amazing, and totally different from any other chili recipe, this steakhouse chili is it!
More Slow Cooker Chili Recipes here:
- Slow Cooker V8 Chili
- Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Chicken Chili
- Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili
- Slow Cooker Beef Enchilada Chili
- Slow Cooker Venison Chili
- Slow Cooker Chipotle Turkey Chili
- Slow Cooker Copycat Wendy’s Chili
How I serve this chili:
- Fritos – the best topping for this chili
- Shredded Cheese
- Sour Cream
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Slow Cooker Steak House Chili
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 lb. cubed sirloin or stew meat
- 4 cups water
- .50 oz. dry au jus (half of a 1 ounce packet)
- 1.25 oz. taco seasoning packet
- 6 oz. tomato paste
- 30 oz. kidney beans drained
- 16 oz. container fresh salsa (found in the refrigerated section of the store, not too chunky, I use Reser's Restaurant style)
For serving:
- Fritos (regular kind, not scoops)
- shredded cheese
- sour cream
Instructions:
- In your slow cooker, add 4 cups water a half packet of au jus mix, taco seasoning packet, and tomato paste.
- Whisk until smooth.
- Add stew meat, or sirloin, and drained kidney beans.
- DO NOT ADD SALSA YET!
- Cook on low for 8 to 9 hours.
- Stir in fresh salsa.
- Cook for 20 minutes longer, just enough to warm it up again.
- Serve with fritos on top.
- If the chili is too salty for your taste, add some water at the end of cooking time.
I’m renovating my house and this is exactly the type of recipe I need to make life simpler. I used Chi-Chi’s hot chunky salsa. I also was worried about how liquidy the chilli was, ado added the noodles from a pack of ramen. Thickened it up so it wasn’t watery. Will definitely make this again!
Hiya, I just wondered if it thickens up during cooking? Currently have it in the slow cooker but it seems very watery. Thanks.
when you add the salsa it will seem thicker
I have a question do u use the whole pack of taco seasoning.
I do use a whole packet. It will seem like too much, but will be the perfect amount of seasoning after the salsa is stirred in.
So you cook the meat before you add it or will it cook through?
No need to pre-cook the meat. It will be so tender it shreds after cooking in the slow cooker. 🙂
This is currently in my slow cooker, I just added some chorizo sausage and green chilies. I don’t know if I can wait 9 hours!
I think a little spoon full of sour cream on top would be good too. Hubby an I like ours a little bit spicy so I think I would also add some chili powder.
This sounds delicious! I have it my crockpot right now! What a great collection of recipes!!
Oh gosh — this “pre-packaged” approach to a good chili won’t do; I encourage you to set yourself free from such a plastic approach, and discover the joys of real food!
Not only is this packaged junk not as good as whole foods, but eating this way, over the long term, is a recipe (no pun intended) for chronic illness.
Don’t trust the big food corporations, they’re much more interested in their profits than the health of your family!
Thanks for stopping by James. I know this recipe isn’t the healthiest, but it sure is tasty!
What an idiot! If you don’t like what’s in it, don’t make it 🙂 we don’t all need your lecture!
I know I’m a full two years late but I agree with Alysha! I’m making this right now because it’s easy and looks awesome. Thank you for sharing!
Good grief James! This is a location to share recipes and some of them include easy shortcuts, they may also contain readily available items from our local big box grocery store. If you want to do all of your shopping at the Michelle Obama Malibu Kitchen and Delicatessen, be your own guest. But should you continue to eat that way, your personal menu may fail as badly as hers has… Moral of the story? Keep your lecturing to a minimum so I can.
PS: This was delicious! Especially when topped with those big salty Fritos and shredded cheddar cheese!
Thanks for standing up for shortcuts, Brady. Sometimes they’re just what a busy cook needs. I do wish you hadn’t brought politics into it, though. In the spirit of keeping the lecturing to a minimum, as you said.
Made this tonight and it was a big hit! The kids loved it – I make my own taco seasoning without salt and used that instead of store bought. I loved the broth – really tasty…
What a gorgeous bowl of chili. Love the dark red color.
I am super hungry just looking at this…