A favorite in my household is tri-tip. If I have leftovers, then smoked tri tip chili is on the menu! This chili recipe hits different in the cooler months, but I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve made this in the summertime, too.

One of the challenges I have with great barbecue is what to do with the leftovers. I know, if you have great barbecue then there will be no leftovers, but I have a small family and I tend to make things in bulk so it does tend to happen. But this smoked chili recipe is a good excuse to cook extra!

Video Tutorial

Leftover tri-tip? Is that even a thing?

Sometimes, yes. It happens in my home on occasion. Regarding leftovers, I wanted to mix it up a bit with a recent batch of leftover, reverse seared tri-tip. So I gathered up some chili ingredients (and one crazy awesome ingredient) and started an epic culinary adventure!

For starters…

First off, I took some ground beef and put into a large pot over medium heat. I like 80/20 beef the best because it has more flavor (and it doesn’t hurt that it’s cheaper). I combined it with a chopped yellow onion and four cloves of minced garlic (I like to buy a jar of minced garlic to make my life easier in the kitchen and on the grill).

Cook the beef, stirring the ingredients around occasionally, until brown. Drain the grease by butting into a strainer. Put ingredients back into the pot.

Next off…

Secondly, I mix in my leftover tri-tip. In the recipe below, I recommend that the tri-tip is reverse seared previously because smoking it and then searing it gives it excellent flavor and crust.

However, it is so good that you may not have any leftover. That’s why I recommend reverse searing two: one for now, one for awesome meals later such as this chili recipe. Places like Costco and Sam’s Club sell them in a two pack and at a better price.

Got Pork Steak?

An ingredient that is getting seriously overlooked here in the tri tip chili recipe is the pork steak. For those unfamiliar, the pork steak is a cut from the pork shoulder (aka-Boston butt, pork butt) and has excellent flavor.

I like the taste that pork provides to chili, so if you can’t find pork steaks near you, then I’d recommend substituting some precooked bacon to toss in there. I mean, how can you go wrong with bacon?

When you mix in the tri-tip and pork steak (or bacon), put in the chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, dried oregano, brown sugar, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce.

That one crazy ingredient

Remember the one crazy awesome ingredient I mentioned earlier? That would be the Dr Pepper! I love drinking Dr Pepper with my tri-tip, as well as pork steaks. So why not mix it in a chili featuring these meats as ingredients?

A 12 oz. can will suffice, or if you’re like me, you prefer the 12 oz glass bottle version made with cane sugar. Pour this drink in, get the pot up to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer for an hour, covered. Make sure to stir about every 10 to 15 minutes.

Simmer down now!

After an hour of waiting and occasionally stirring and drooling, remove the lid and add the kidney beans. Make sure to rinse and drain the kidney beans before pouring into the pot. Keep on simmer for 20 minutes, this time uncovered.

Rest, then dive right in!

Now that it is done, I like to let the tri tip chili sit uncovered for 20-30 minutes to thicken a little. While this chili will taste great today, it tastes even better the next day! I think because it thickens even more chilled in the fridge overnight. So try not to eat it all right now because the next day will be even better! Trust me on this.

Looking for Other Chili Recipes?

While this one of my best chili recipes, I also have a brisket chili that is more savory. Looking for a white chili? This white chicken chili recipe is hearty and healthier!

Tasty Tri-tip Chili

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Additional Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 25 minutes

Have some BBQ leftovers? This recipe is a great way to put some of that to good use! Good in the fall, winter, or whenever you're craving chili!

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Ingredients

• 1 Cup tri-tip, sliced into small cubes (previously reverse seared)
• 1 Cup pork steak, sliced into small cubes (previously reverse seared)
• 1 lb. of 80/20 ground beef
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 12 oz Dr Pepper
• 1 15 oz can kidney beans, drained

Instructions

1. Combine ground beef, chopped onion, and minced garlic in a large pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until beef is brown. Drain.
2. Stir in tri-tip, pork steak, chili powder, salt, cayenne pepper, dried oregano, brown sugar, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and Dr Pepper. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover, stirring on occasion. Cook like this for an hour.
3. Stir in drained kidney beans. Simmer for 20 minutes uncovered. Stir occasionally.
4. Let sit for 20-30 minutes before serving to let thicken

Notes

If you don't have pork steaks, substitute bacon. Because it's bacon!

Tri-tip may not be as easy to find where you live. Since tri-tip is a roast that cooks like a steak, feel free to substitute your favorite cut of steak.

As you’ve been browsing on social media, you’ve been seeing articles and posts from other people showing off their turkeys: talking about how excited they are for Thanksgiving, how they already bought their turkey, recipes they are trying, the intricate processes they plan on doing, etc. And then you find yourself thinking, “It’s the week of Thanksgiving and I still need to buy my turkey! It needs to be thawed out for days in advance! I’m not gonna make it in time! And I’ve got Christmas presents to buy! I need to find someone to spend Valentine’s Day with!” Well, stop sweating it because you’ve come to the right place. I’m going to guide you through this in a manner of minutes.

Thaw that turkey!

First things first: buy that turkey! Now! Turkeys come frozen at most grocery stores and they can take up to FIVE DAYS to thaw out in your fridge (depending on size of the bird).

Don’t have that kind of time? That’s right, you procrastinated. You’re not alone. Do what I do when in that situation and submerge the bird in cold water for 30 minutes per pound of turkey. For example, I recently thawed my 14 pound bird for seven hours and it was ready. Doesn’t that sound much better than two-to-three days for a bird of the same weight in the fridge?

Just make sure the water is pretty cold and the turkey, still in its packaging, is completely submerged. The turkey has some buoyancy in the water, so if you can’t completely submerge it then it is okay to rotate it ever so often to ensure the whole bird gets thawed.

Turkey Tip: for faster thawing, submerge your packaged turkey in cold water for 30 minutes per pound.

Brine time

Once thawed, it is time to brine. Brining is the process in which you help meat become more juicy and flavorful by submerging it in a solution of water, kosher salt, and sugar. Some folks throw in more items to help add flavor to the meat, such as oranges, onions, bay leaves, etc. and there are plenty of brine recipes to be found here on the World Wide Web (that was originally lowercase, but autocorrect corrected me. Guess it must be capitalized).

I’ve heard folks say they brine between 24-48 hours in cold water. I do 12 hours (minimum) and have had no problems. The 12 hours go by much faster when you start the brine the afternoon/night before. That way, you can wake up, rinse off the turkey, and get to prepping.

Rubbin’ that bird

This next part is the least time consuming and will help with that flavor. I go simple and put butter and rub on the bird. My not so “secret” is to apply the butter and rub underneath the skin, that way the flavor is seeping into the meat itself, not just the layer of skin that may not get eaten in the first place.

I only apply to the turkey breast portion underneath the skin. The dark meat will keep juicy enough and will be more of a pain to get to. When done underneath the skin, put some butter and rub on top. While you are doing this, get your smoker up to temp and put your preferred flavor of wood in.

With the grill I smoke on, I prefer to smoke mine between 225-250F. I’ve seen others put in at 325F and that will be fine if you are in more of a rush. I like it a little lower and slower to help the meat absorb more of that pecan wood smoke flavor (NOTE: you don’t have to use pecan. It just happens to be my favorite wood right now. Go with whichever wood flavor you prefer).

Smoke times depend on the size of bird you will have on the grill. Rule of thumb is 20-30 minutes per pound of turkey (when smoked between 225-250F). So if you smoke a 14 lb bird, you’re looking at around seven hours. For example, I did a 14 lb bird recently and it took just over six. When smoking at 325F (more like roasting at that temp), it will take that same size bird just over two hours. Since this is a last-minute recipe, do what you gotta do.

Checking temps

The best way to gauge the turkey temp is by placing your meat thermometer into the middle of the thickest part of the turkey breast, which is best to get to by sticking the probe into the top of the bird, about two inches away from the hole where the neck used to be. Look and feel for the thickest part and make sure you don’t hit the bone.

I love using the Smoke from Thermoworks to track temps in both the grill and the turkey. Using the wireless Bluetooth remote, I can watch the temps from inside and set alarms when temps get too high or too low. The USDA recommended finishing temp for a whole bird is 165F internal. The dark meat will cook about 10 degrees higher and that will be just fine. The dark meat doesn’t risk drying out as soon as the white.

Make it extra tasty

Now that the bird is done cooking, I put the turkey in a giant foil pan and like to smear some butter on the skin then wrap with foil over the top. This way, the butter can melt all over the bird and give you both awesome color and flavor. Unwrap after about 15 minutes.

Turkey Tip: let the turkey rest for 30 minutes before carving.

Rest, then slice

Here comes the part that you should NOT skip (not that you should skip any of these steps, but this one is simple and can seem unworthy of your time): LET THE TURKEY REST! Let the turkey rest for 30 minutes before slicing. The most important reason is to let the juices build inside the meat to provide that tender, juicy flavor you so desire come to fruition. The meat is muscle and after being exposed to higher heat for so long, the muscles need to relax. This is where the juices start coming. You slice too soon and you have a good tasting turkey when you could’ve had a great one.

I hope your turkey is out of this world good for Thanksgiving! And make sure you find time to get a date for Valentine’s.

last-minute smoked turkey

Quick thaw: submerge frozen turkey in cold water, 30 minutes per pound of bird. Swap out water and/or add ice cubes as needed. Also rotate bird if you cannot completely submerge to ensure even thaw.

Brine: at least 12 hours (NOTE: you may need double or triple this brine recipe to completely submerge turkey, depending on how large of a container you brine in)

• 1 gallon water
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 Tablespoons rub
• 1 Cup apple juice
• 4 apples, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 clove garlic

Turkey prep: right before you put bird in the smoker (NOTE: if you haven’t already, now is a great time to get your smoker going)

• 6 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons rub
• Apply underneath skin on turkey breast, apply rest of mixture on top

Smoke:

• 225-250F
• pecan wood (or wood of your choice)
• spritz with apple juice and/or apple cider vinegar as needed
• 20-30 minutes per pound
• finished when white meat hits 165F

Rest:

• smear some more butter and rub on turkey, wrap in foil for 15 minutes
• unwrap, let rest for 30 minutes before serving

Usually with product reviews, I like to hold my opinion to the end. But I’m gonna be forthright with you now: I love the Flame Boss 300! Now I’m gonna spend the rest of the article telling you why.

Flame Boss 300 Contents

To start off, the contents of the package include the following:

• Flame Boss controller
• Power adapter
• Pit temperature probe
• Meat temperature probe
• Blower
• Mounting adapters for Kamado-style grill/smoker
• Product manual
• Flame Boss sticker!

Using the Flame Boss 300

This device not only monitors the temp in my Kamado Joe, but it also lets me adjust it. This is possible by the blower/fan you put in the bottom vent that will either increase or shut off air flow to keep your temperature right where you want it. For example, I originally had my brisket go on the Kamado Joe at 275F at 8:00 p.m. When I went to bed, I decided to adjust the temp to 250F while I was asleep.

 With other Flame Boss devices, you can adjust the temp from the device itself. With the Flame Boss 300 (and 200), you can use website or mobile app (which I’m beta testing right now) and adjust from wherever you are. So when I lowered the temp, I didn’t even have to go outside: I was able to do this from my bed.

You can also receive text notifications when the meat is done, and even set a warming temp for the grill to keep it steady!

The Flame Boss 300 allows you to monitor up to four different temps at the same time! This is possible due to the splitter adapter plug ins and software that measures three meat temps and the grill temp.

With any product we buy, we are also paying for customer service. Jeff, the owner, will occasionally handle customer service issues directly and his company is overall quick to make sure your Flame Boss is working right and that you are completely satisfied.

As with all reviews, I list both pros and cons. While I love this device, there are a couple of downsides. First, the fact that it solely operates on a power adapter and has no option for batteries. Good news is they do offer a portable power source which will power your Flame Boss when you don’t have an outlet available. Second, the cost. The $369 price tag is enough to keep some prospective buyers away, but after one use you will see the long term value of less stress and more free time in your life for many cooks to come (and that you are in good hands if anything goes awry). Finally, the cords. You have a cord for the power adapter, one for the blower, another for the grill temp, and one more for the meat. It can make for a tangled mess, but no wireless probes exist at this point and this is the best technology we have to date for monitoring BBQ temps.

Pros

-Easy setup
-Monitor both grill and meat temps while you are away from home
-Ability to adjust temp inside smoker via the app is HUGE
-Get text alerts when meat is done
-Set warming temps after meat is done
-Track multiple meat temps at once
-Top-notch customer service

Cons

-Lots of cords
-Cost
-Must be plugged in

Flame Boss 300 Review

As of the posting of this review (2018), I’ve used the Flame Boss 300 a bunch of times and can’t imagine smoking meat without it. With the monitoring of multiple meat temps and the ambient temp on the grill surface simultaneously, as well as an app to adjust grill temps on the go (and not to mention the stellar, personalized customer service) I’m convinced the Flame Boss 300 is a game changer!