I think the biggest problem with this recipe is that you cooked it for such a long time in the crockpot. That will turn any meat to paste. Your meat was already cooked. So were your beans and onions. You really just needed to bring this to a simmer on the stove and let it all heat up together for an hour, maybe.

Not adding salt and using a light beer didn't help with the blandness. I would have used more sweet chili powder to compensate for the omission of the ancho. You can try that now but nothing will help with the meat texture, I'm afraid.

Things you can add:
-a tablespoon of unsweetened baking cocoa
-more sweet chili powder
-a bit of salt
-dry red wine
-more mild green chilies, the Rotel would have added some zing

I would say the dry taste was from the lack of fat if you used very lean ground beef. Also, 2 lbs of meat or so isn't a lot, and kidney beans are large so I'm thinking the "bulk" of the solids was more bean, which can be drying as well. I personally, don't care for kidney beans - I think they're too large. I use black beans in my chili as I like the taste better and also, they're smaller beans and I like each spoonful of chili to be a little bit of everything, not large beans surrounded by a little of the rest. That's just my personal preference, however.

I don't know how much you have left over, but maybe you could fry up a bit more hamburger with a higher fat content and add that in? That will increase the fat which will eliminate the dry taste and also up the meat to bean ratio, which might help as well.

I'm just guessing as I can't imagine what would cause the meat to be dry where it's been cooked in the liquids of the tomato, beer, water from the veggies, etc. All I can think of is too low a fat content or too many beans. Hopefully someone else will hit the nail on the head for you!!

Lisa

And that's another reason why I don't like a crock pot.
The meat was way over cooked and had turned to strings and sawdust as you sy....nothing you added gave the meat flavor.
Rotel would have helped a lot....as well as a little meat with some fat.
And sometimes canned tomatoes are blah and need a little lemon to brighten them.
I'd add some browned ground chuck and a can of rotel....and seriously think of adding some lemon and a bit more chili powder.
Linda C

If my chili doesn't have enough punch for me, I add salsa. It has chilis, vinegar and tomato. Like Linda says, sometimes canned tomatoes can be very bland so some cider vinegar can help (but not a lot!). I have also sometimes added V8 juice to chili, it seems a little peppery. And a dash of tabasco and some pepper. But go easy on these things. Can't help with the sawdust texture though!

Lisa, meat can certainly be dry and stringy, even tough, after cooking a long time in liquid. I've overcooked beef in stews, and the day before yesterday I made dry carnitas by overcooking the pork! I'm so mad about that because I knew what I was doing. It was loaded with fat so I thought I could get away with it, but the meat was dry despite the fat because I left it in the oven too long. Rats!

Sherry

I agree, meat can be cooked too long in the oven as well as a crockpot, but I never cook anything with ground meat in the crockpot, I just don't like the texture, even if it's not overcooked. It's the same reason I don't can chili, I don't care for the texture of ground meat when pressure canned.

Can you save it? Maybe, but I doubt that I'd waste more meat trying to salvage it. Lpinkmountain's suggestion on the salsa is a good one, just adding more seasonings isn't going to help the texture of the meat, maybe some of those Rotel type tomatoes might help that.

Truthfully, I'd make it into nachos or chili dogs, or use it to top baked potatoes and not try to eat it by itself. Spice it up a bit and use it as a condiment...

Annie

I agree that 9 hours is way too long for ground beef to simmer, that's why it tastes like sawdust. If I make my long-simmering spaghetti sauce with ground beef, I don't add it in until the last hour and a half or so.

I would try two or three experiments if you've that much leftover. The first would be to fry some ground beef and add it into a single portion of the chili to see if that would make it palatable. The second would be to put a small portion of it into a food processor and give it a couple of quick pulses to break up larger bits and then serve it over hot dogs (or some other sausage) and buns with grated cheese on top as a chili dog. A third would be to do the same as the second and use it in a layered hot dip for tortilla chips with layers of refried beans, cheese, guacamole etc.

Thanks Everyone!

I was afraid 9 hours would be too long... but it is what the recipe said! And they have an entire section on Beef Chili... hmmmm.... I'm new the the crockpot and made a fantastic pot roast with it. DH suggested Chili, so this was for him. Too bad at the same meal I also (from the same cookbook) made skillet corn bread he hated.

Like Rachelellen I make my long-simmering spaghetti sauce by adding the meat in at the end, too... Just never simmered Ground beef so long, so wasn't expecting the sawdust. Won't be doing that again! :-)

I didn't even check how lean the meat was (DH bought it) but I did rinse it since the recipe said too. I'm sure it needs more fat!

So those of you who suggested adding more ground beef, I might do that... to change the proportions so it's more tasty/fatty ground beef and less sawdust LOL.

I also love the ideas of making hot-dog chili with it, or putting it into Nachos or a layered dip... the cheese, Guac, and Sour cream adding some creaminess to take your mind off of sawdust.

Great ideas on how to spice it up, too.

Loaded baked potatoes might do it, too.

I'm going to run the ideas by DH. I'll let you know if I'm successfule and this "meal" can be saved!

I had a similar problem with spaghetti sauce that I made in the crockpot; it didn't simmer 9 hours, but since it used ground turkey, it was dry and grainy by the end of the cooking time.

Do you have time to take the beef out of the sauce? If so, I'd try simmering it in a mix of beef broth and salsa for a little while (10 mins or less) to see if that 'rehydrates' it. Simmering ground turkey in chicken broth combats dryness and reinjects moisture when I make burritos, and it seems like beef broth should do the same for beef.

On reviewing the recipe again, it seems you changed all the things that would give it that real "chili" flavor.
You used jarred garlic instead of fresh...not as flavorful,you omitted the rotel.
And you did you sub the diced orange and green peppers for the can of roasted chilis?
And you subbed kidney beans for pinto beans....
And you added lots more meat....without adding more flavor.
Try it the way it was written....and I'll bet that even with 8 hours in the pot itS a lot better.
Linda C

I'd add black pepper, fresh garlic from the clove, a few shots of Tabasco & some BV & Worcestershire. More chili powder. And corn because I like corn in my chili. Make it into Walking Tacos or spoon it over frybread & douse it with salsa.

I am probably one of the few people who likes ground meat in a crock pot. I used to do my spaghetti sauce that way (before I started canning readinglady's recipe). I could never stand the texture of ground beef if it wasn't done in the crock pot. It always seemed grisly or something. I preferred it softer. It never tasted liked sawdust mixed with the pasta sauce.
Bizzo, I would probably add a bunch more cumin to it and try it again. (Course, I love cumin)

cilantro, I like corn in my chili too, but my kids don't.

Annie