Smoked "over the Top" Chili

Over the top chili is more of a technique so feel free to use this method with any of your favorite chili recopies!

• Ready In: 5 hrs 30 mins
• Serves: 10
• Yields: 1 6QT

Ingredients

• 2 1⁄2 lbs ground beef
• 1⁄3 lb bacon
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can navy beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can great northern beans
• 1 (10 ounce) can  rotell diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 (10 ounce) can  red enchilada sauce
• 3  bell peppers (1 green, 1 orange, 1 red)
• 2  tablespoons  minced garlic
• 1  poblano pepper
• 1  jalapeno pepper
• 3  different packs  chili seasoning mix

Directions

1. Preheat Kamado to 250 degrees and add 1-2 hickory wood chunks to the coals. Use smoking stone for indirect heat.
2. Prepare the meatball by chopping the bacon and kneading it into the ground beef along with ½ of each chili seasoning package. (save the other ½ of each chili packet for the bean mixture).
3. Dice all of the different peppers and sauté them in vegetable oil with the garlic for 5 minutes.
4. Drain all of the beans and add to a cast iron dutch oven.
5. Add Rotel tomatoes to the dutch oven.
6. Add sautéed peppers to the dutch oven with the beans.
7. Add ½ of each chili seasoning packet to the bean mixture.
8. Place the dutch oven directly on the cooking grates of the preheated Kamado.
9. Place the meatball directly over the dutch oven on a second cooking grate so the drippings from the meatball drip into the chili mixture as it smokes. If an upper level grate is not available the dutch oven can be placed under the main grate on the smoking stone. If this is the case use a dutch oven with feet to avoid burning the chili mixture.
10. Cook at 250 until the internal temp of the meatball reaches 155-160 degrees. The time to reach temperature will vary from cooker to cooker but plan on around 4 hours.
11. Remove meatball, crumble, and add to the chili mixture.
12. Continue to cook for another hour.
13. If needed you can add beef stock to the chili if it is too thick.
14. ENJOY!