We take a cheap ass chunk of well marbled bottom round roast, smoke it for 8 hours and then toss it in the fridge. The next day, chopped onion goes into the chili pot and the smoked bottom round roast is cubed and placed on top of those onions to steam for a few minutes, infusing the meat with a wonderful onion flavor. Then the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, chili powder and four kinds of beans go into the pot. The chili is transferred to a crockpot and allowed to simmer for about 8 more hours making a thick, meaty crockpot chili.

Bottom Round Roast

We are big fans of chili, particularly in the colder months. For years, my go-to chili included leftover brisket, or, if no brisket is leftover, I would go to SugarFire and buy a couple pounds. Well, that’s not cheap, particularly when feeding a crowd. So I switched to chuck roast and the chili was still fantastic. We are huge fans of chuck roast in comfort food. But the other day, I saw some well marbled bottom round roast and decided to give that a go:

And why am I giving this a try? Simply because of the unit price:

Tri Tip also makes great chili, but it’s $10/lb. The bottom round roast is 60% cheaper than tri tip and is even $2/pound cheaper than 80/20 ground beef at my local grocery store.

AND, while ground beef shrinks a ton as it sheds fat, this bottom round roast doesn’t lose nearly as much weight while cooking.

Truth be told, you could use hamburger in this recipe (just skip the smoking process and brown it in the pot), but this is soooo much better.

Bottom Round Roast Crockpot Chili Ingredients

• 1 bottom round roast (approximately 2.5 lbs)
• SPG seasoning
• 2 tablespoons beef tallow
• 1 large onion, divided
• 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 90 ounces of canned tomato sauce
• 2.5 ounces of chili powder
• 1 tablespoon of Andria’s steak sauce, optional
• 30 ounces canned chili beans in medium spice chili sauce (adjust spiciness according to your palette)
• 30 ounces canned black beans
• 15 ounces canned dark red kidney beans
• 30 ounces canned butter beans, substitute navy beans or cannellini beans

There isn’t much to the smoking of the bottom round roast. Season the outside liberally with the SPG rub and then throw it into a 225F smoker until the bottom round reaches 200F internal.

Here is the smoked bottom round roast sitting right around 200F in my GMG Pellet Smoker:

Truth be told, it took forever for this thing to rise from 180F to 200F. I finally raised the temp inside the GMG pellet smoker to 275F to get me over the top.

After we reached 200F, I brought the bottom round roast inside and let it rest for about 30 minutes and sliced:

The meat is glistening and there is a pronounced smoke ring along the tip. This terrible cut of beef is now super tender and juicy. Perfect for crockpot chili.

After a couple samples for the pitmaster, the bottom round went into the fridge.

The next day, I made the smoked bottom round roast crockpot chili.

How to Prepare Crockpot Chili

Drop in two tablespoons of beef tallow in a large pot on the stove (I know this is called crockpot chili, but we start in a pot on the stove) set over medium heat. While the tallow melts, peel the outer papery stuff off the onion, lop off each end and slice in half. Rough chop half of the onion and drop in the pot. Rough chop half of the other half, leaving the remaining quarter of onion for later. Cube the bottom round and place on top of that onion and put a lid on the pot to allow the onions to steam the beef as it warms up. Transfer the meat and onions to the crockpot (there it is!). Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder and beans. Set to low and allow to simmer for many hours and serve.

Grab the Chili Pot

Drop a couple dollops of beef tallow (or bacon fat or vegetable oil) into a large pot on a medium burner on the stove.

I know that this recipe is for crockpot chili, but we start on the stove.

Peel the outer papery stuff off the onion and lop off each end and rough chop 3/4 of the onion and drop in the pot:

Then cube the smoked beef round roast:

Drop the cubed smoked bottom round on top of the sautéing onions and place the lid on the pot:

The goal here is to infuse the meat with the steam coming off those onions. Trust me here!

At this point, we want to transfer everything to the crockpot. I did not do this. I added the rest of the ingredients and then transferred the chili.

This is why we transfer the meat and onions and then add the rest of the ingredients to the crockpot:

Yeah, the chili splattered everywhere.

Once the onion and beef are in the pot, add in the can of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, cans of chili beans and chili powder:

Then, drop in the tablespoon of Andria’s which is absolutely loaded with flavor:

Take the remaining quarter of the onion and slice it as thin as possible and finely mince it up. Indeed, we want the onion to melt into the sauce:

Additionally drop in the chili beans in the medium seasoned sauce. The sauce goes in as well:

I specifically mention that the sauce goes in as well because the other beans, go in sans sauce.

Drain the Beans

Take a can opener around the top of the other cans of beans, but only halfway. Then place them upside down in the sink and let the sauce drain out for 20 minutes or so:

I want the flavored seasoning from the regular chili beans, but with my other beans, I just want the beans, not the sauce.

Don’t add the drained beans to the crockpot chili until the you are within a couple hours of dinner time. Particularly white beans as they tend to turn to mush much more quickly than the black beans or kidney beans.

Importantly, place the lid on the crockpot, cocked off to the side a bit to allow moisture to escape. If the lid is sealed well, the steam will hit the lid, cool and roll back into the crockpot chili. Giving the water a chance to escape will allow the chili to thicken. Chili should be closer to stew than soup. In fact, if I can’t spackle my wall with it, it’s not thick enough for me.

Add the rest of the beans

After about 6 hours of simmering in the crockpot, add the rest of the beans:

This begs the question

Does Chili have Beans?

This debate revolves around the hubris of Texas. Sure, everything is bigger in Texas, but that state doesn’t get to dictate how chili should be served. Texas is very much in the minority on this subject. Additionally, most denizens of Texas believe that chili originated in their state, but it originated in northern Mexico. And don’t tell me that those who invented chili didn’t use one of their major food staples in the dish. Also, what makes chili is right in the name. Chili. Which is the spices, in particularly the chiles, used to season the sauce.

Preference vs Definition

This argument generally comes down to those that prefer not to have beans feel like beans don’t belong in chili. The preferences of the minority of people who eat chili should not dictate how the rest of us eat it. Besides, if my 7 year old daughter can eat the beans, the men in Texas should man up and eat the chili as God intended.

Finally, serve the thickened, meaty crockpot chili with whatever accoutrements you prefer

If the chili doesn’t mound up over the ladle like the above pic, then it hasn’t thickened enough

Bottom Round Roast Crockpot Chili Recap

The star of this crockpot chili is that smoked bottom round roast which has the glorious bark around the outside and wonderful smoky flavor. Then that meat is infused with the onion flavor before simmering all day in the sauce. A variety of beans helps to make the chili more visually appealing and gives for a better mouthfeel as well as more flavor. Sure, you can use hamburger if you want. But what fun is that?!?

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Bottom Round Roast Crockpot Chili

The ultimate comfort food made from a smoked bottom round roast and slow simmered all day to make bottom round roast crockpot chili

Course Chili, Comfort Food, Entree, Main Course

Cuisine American, American Fare, Beans, Beef, Chili, Latin American, Latin Fare, South American, Southwest

Keyword Barbacue Beef Ribs, Bottom Round, Bottom Round Roast, Bottom Round Roast Crockpot Chili, Bowl of Chili, Comfort Food, Crackers, Crockpot, Crockpot Chili, GMG, GMG Pellet Smoker, GMG Smoker, Green Onions, Lime Sour Cream, Pellet Smoker, Saltines, Smoked Bottom Round, Smoked Bottom Round Roast

Prep Time 8 hours hours

Cook Time 8 hours hours

Servings 12 People

Author Scott Thomas

Equipment

• 1 Smoker
• 1 Crockpot

Ingredients

• 1 Bottom round roast approximately 2.5 pounds
• SPG seasoning
• 2 tablespoons Beef tallow
• 1 Large onion
• 15 ounces Canned diced tomatoes
• 90 ounces Canned tomato sauce
• 2.5 ounces Chili powder
• 1 tablespoon Andria's steak sauce optional
• 30 ounces Canned chili beans in medium spice chili sauce
• 30 ounces Canned black beans drained
• 15 ounces Canned dark red chili beans drained
• 30 ounces Canned butter beans drained. Substitute cannellini beans or navy beans

Instructions

• Season the bottom round roast with the SPG rub. Place in a 225 smoker and smoke until the roast hits 200F (approximately 8 hours). Remove the roast from the smoker and place in the fridge overnight
• Place a pot over a burner set to medium. Drop in a couple dollops of the beef tallow. Rough chop 3/4 of the onion, reserving 1/4 for later. Place the onion in the pot and allow it to sauté
• Cube the smoked bottom round roast and drop that on top of the onion in the pot and place the lid on top. Allow the onion to steam up through the beef to warm it up.
• Transfer the onion and meat into a crockpot. Pour in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili beans (and medium spiced sauce), chili powder, and Andria's steak sauce. Slice the remaining onion as thin as possible and finely mince so that it will melt into the chili sauce. Drop the onion in and set the crockpot to low. Place the lid on top, cocked off to the side a bit to allow moisture to escape which will thicken the chili
• Drain the liquid off the rest of the beans and set aside. After a few hours of simmering, and within 2 hours of serving time, add the sauceless beans to the crockpot chili and stir in.
• When the chili mounds over the top of a ladle, it's ready. Serve with whatever accoutrements you prefer

Video

No spoons needed. Crackers is all I need:

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Author information

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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