Steak & Shake Chili

James Craig's Note:

Steak and Shake was a franchise started in the Midwest. My father would take me there on special occasions. I loved their chili! This is a chili which would be ideal for children. It is very mild with a slight sweetness. I found this recipe on the internet @ I dunno4recipes. The recipe origionally called for 2 (15 ounce) cans of kidney beans drained, but I prefer the taste of chili beans better

• Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (10 1/2 ounce) can Campbell's French onion soup
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons cocoa
• 2 (15 ounce) cans ranch style beans or 2 (15 ounce) cans any brand chili beans
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 cup cola (not diet!)

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef and salt in oil-If there is a high fat content to the ground beef you can omit the oil.
2. Put soup in blender, blend for 1 minute.
3. Add all to crock pot.
4. Drain beef before adding to pot.
5. Let simmer on low for 6 hours or on high for 2 hours.

Reviews

[gcpdrummer]

this is pretty good. but use some water in it. and don't drain the beef or anything else. i work at steak n shake, and the chili is made by pouring 2 big ol cans of beans...one empty bean can full of water....and then the chili beef is pre-seasoned and ground up and cooked and frozen in a bag. when it's thawed out, there is just a ridiculous amount of grease. we have pans full of just chili beef by itself. and the pan is 1/2...maybe even 2/3 full of grease. and the beef sits at the bottom. so yeah...don't drain the grease. grease=good

[TracyFL]

So, here's the deal. My favorite food ever is Steak 'N Shake chili. Is this chili EXACTLY like Steak 'N Shake chili? No. Is it close? It's close enough to satisfy a craving, absolutely. About an hour into the cooking, I tasted it and thought it was a little bland. Like some others said, it felt like it was missing something. So, here's what I recommend: Use an extra can of beans. I used 2 cans of chili beans in mild sauce (they were located near the baked beans in my supermarket) and 1 can of dark kidney beans. Drain the kidney beans before adding them in. Add a tablespoon of brown sugar. Add a dash of paprika (gives it a small kick), some garlic powder, some onion powder, and some thyme. After that, it was delicious -- and closer to Steak 'N Shake's version. I think next time I'll leave the lid off the crockpot for the last 20 minutes or so to thicken it up a little. Also, I think I'll cut back on the amount of meat next time. It wasn't bad, it just seemed like a bit too much. Steak 'N Shake is mainly beans. All in all, this was a very, VERY good recipe for some delicious chili.

[NancyLeeIL]

In my humble opinon, this tastes exactly like the chili at the Steak and Shake we go to in a suburb of Chicago. I did take some advice here and increased the chili powder to 2 1/2 tablespoons and decreased the cocoa to 1 teaspoon and omitted the tomato paste entirely. It was VERY GOOD. My son (22) was drinking :-) the juice from the bowl. Always a good sign :-). Thank you SO much for posting this. I'm thrilled I've finally found a chili recipe!