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This short rib chili is packed with slow cooked flavor and spooned over cheese filled polenta. The perfect meal for a cold winter night!

Soup is a big part of our winter routine. We love all things comfort food, but there is something special about a big, cozy bowl of soup comfort. And I know there is a debate in the soup community about chili – is it a soup? Is it a stew? Is it its own category?
Honestly, I don’t care. I just know that I want anything categorized as soup or soup adjacent.
And that’s where this hearty short rib chili comes into play! It’s packed with flavor, and while it takes hours to cook, it’s worth every single second, or hour.
Because this chili is made with short ribs, it’s very rich and meaty. I like to serve it over cheesy polenta to help cut the richness. If you’re not a polenta fan, you could serve it over rice, mashed potatoes, or even egg noodles.
If you have grits on hand that will work as well.

Ingredients needed
For chili:
- 3 pounds bone-in short ribs
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- olive oil
- yellow onion
- garlic
- cumin
- oregano
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- beef stock
- dried pasilla peppers
- fire roasted diced tomatoes
- cilantro
For polenta:
- whole milk
- water
- kosher salt
- coarse grain polenta
- black pepper
- unsalted butter
- sharp shredded cheese
My Pro Tips
Recipe Tips
- Because short ribs are fatty and rich, skimming off as much fat as possible is important. Another option is to make the meat portion the night before, let it cool in the fridge, and remove the top layer of hardened fat. This requires two days of cooking time, but the chili gets better the longer it sits.
- Use a high-powered blender to ensure your dried peppers are fully incorporated into the sauce. If you do not have a high-powered blender, soak the peppers in hot water to soften them before blending. This will make it easier to blend fully.
- I like polenta for this dish, but you could also use grits, rice, and egg noodles or serve the short rib chili over mashed potatoes.

More chili recipes
Short Rib Chili

Ingredients
For chili:
- 3 pounds bone-in short ribs
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, diced, about 1 cup diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2-½ cups beef stock, divided
- 6 dried pasilla chilies, stemmed and seeded
- 2 (15 ounce) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1/3 cup cilantro, finely chopped
For cheesy polenta:
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups water
- 1-½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 cup course grain polenta
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 ounces sharp shredded cheese
Instructions
For chili:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Debone the short ribs leaving large hunks of meat. Heavily salt and pepper the short ribs.
- In a large 6 quart dutch oven add the olive oil and set over medium heat. Once the oil is hot add in the short ribs. Only cook a few pieces at a time so you don’t crowd the pan. Sear each side until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Set the short ribs aside on a plate.
- Once all the meat has been cooked lower the heat to medium low and add in onion. Saute for about 5 minutes until the onion starts to get translucent. Add in garlic and cook for 30 seconds longer until the garlic starts to get fragrant.
- Add in cumin, oregano, cocoa powder and mix. Gently (careful not to burn the garlic) simmer while you prepare the chili/tomato mixture. If you mixture is too dry add just a touch of oil to keep it from burning.
- In a high powered blender (I used a Vitamix) add 1/2 cup beef stock, dried chilies and 1 can fire roasted tomatoes. Process on high until completely smooth and there are no dried chili pieces. (If you blender is not high powered simply heat the dried chilies with stock over low heat until they are soft and then continue with directions)
- Pour mixture into the pan along with the remaining 2 cups beef stock and remaining can of fire roasted tomatoes. Stir together.
- Add ribs back to the pan along with any juices that collected on the plate.
- Turn the mixture up to medium high and bring to a boil. Once boiling cover and cook in the oven for 3 hours.
- After 3 hours remove the pan from the oven, uncover and remove meat with a pair of tongs. If you see any large pieces of fat remove from the meat and shred the rest of the meat with 2 forks.
- You will see a layer of grease (I know it sounds gross but it’s happens with fatty meat) so skim off as much as you can*. Add in the meat, stir and add to the stove over medium heat. Gently simmer on the stove until the mixture is warmed.
- Serve over cheesy polenta and sprinkle with cilantro.
- *Another option is to add in the shredded meat and then let the chili completely cool and store overnight in the refrigerator. The next night when you want to re-heat remove from the refrigerator and uncover. The fat that rose to the top will now be solid. You can simply just skim it off the top. This method is also great because the chili get even a million times more flavorful after it sits. Then re-heat over medium heat until hot and bubbly.
For cheese polenta:
- In a large high sided skillet add water, milk and salt. Bring to a boil and slowly whisk in polenta. Once all the polenta has been added turn the heat down to low and slowly whisk until thick. On my stove this takes about 7 minutes.
- Once creamy and cooked remove from heat and stir in pepper, butter and cheese. Serve with chili.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
















Why have I never thought to have polenta with my chili?!?! Brilliant! And using short ribs….that must make the chili amazing!
This recipe is truly gorgeous. My husband and I would go crazy for it, and devour the whole pot full:-) Beautiful, Hugs, Terra
I am going to attempt to use the sous vide to cook my ribs. Any thoughts on how to adapt this recipe?
Hi Dee! I’m honestly not sure how to adapt using sous vide cooking. If anything I would say you could make the base, simmer and then add the ribs near the end so they combine in flavor with the chili. This is all a guess on my part though. If you get it to work out please let me know what you did. I would love hear!
I absolutely love this recipe! I’ve made it a few times over the years and every single time it’s delicious and a huge hit! I omit the cocoa (because I usually don’t have it on hand) and add extra onions and garlic. Adobo chilies work nicely if you can’t find pasilla. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, it’s one of my all time favorites!