Korean Chile Con Carne
Last Updated on November 6, 2024
This Korean chile con carne uses foundations from Texas but uses different chiles to create the red sauce. There are no chile powders to be had, just fresh veggies, broth, beer, and a small amount of brown sugar and you’ve got yourself a ridiculously complex-tasting chili that warms your mouth instantly.
Creating a new style of chili using fresh ingredients was tricky. There are are few layers of heat that create the complexity you’d expect from an excellent chili con carne: Gochujang and fresh Chipotles with adobo sauce, and Jalapeños. Gochujang and jalapeños can vary with levels of heat, so hopefully, you’ve tasted yours ahead of time and are familiar with how spicy it is.
Why This Recipe Works
- Multiple layers of heat. Chopped chipotles in adobo, diced jalapenos, gochujang, and gochugaru create a complex, multi-layered flavor with spice. Get your glass of water handy!
- Simple to prepare. The prep is the hardest part. Once everything is in the pot you simply need to wait, and occasionally stir. Lots of tasting too.
- Meal Prep. Chili is always better the next day, so feel free to make this batch ahead of time. This recipe is no different and we always try to have it ready to go.
Gochujang: Secret Ingredient
It’s a Korean fermented chile paste that is packed with umami and heat, making you crave more and more. I think that Bon Appetit has some of the best examples of how it can be used.
Don’t worry about it being a huge container – you will absolutely go through it all. I have access to it at local grocery stores, however, you can buy the same brand that I use online which makes it really easy.
Rice is a great pairing for the chili, helping soak up all of those flavors. Try putting it in a flour tortilla, making an incredible burrito. Or you could simply shove it in your mouth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, if you don’t drink alcohol I would recommend just using a light roast coffee, which would give you a rich, earthy flavor.
You sure can! Same seasonings and process, but the cooking time will vary for the meat to fall apart. Just pay attention along the way during the last phase of braising.
Nope. It’s a must for this recipe. There is not a close substitute that will mimic the flavors.
I could keep writing more but you don’t really care. You should be focused on making this and sharing your feedback below!
Thank You For Trying Our Recipe!
We’re here to bring people together with bold flavors, using spice and flames to ignite the food and friendships.
If you try this recipe, please consider leaving an honest review below. You can also find more content by following Chiles and Smoke on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
Korean Chile Con Carne
Blow your tastebuds away with this spicy Korean Chile Con Carne, fortified with FOUR layers of heat, savory tomatoes, and tender beef. This simple recipe has complex flavors, based on the traditional Texas-style meat chili.
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 10–12 1x
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons beef tallow, or neutral oil
- 3 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1″ cubes
- kosher salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 2 jalapeños, finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 2 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, finely diced
- 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from chipotle peppers
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon smoked salt
- 1 15 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1 cup Negro Modelo, or preferred dark beer
- 5 tablespoons gochujang
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoons gochugaru (Korean chile flakes)
Instructions
- Use a Dutch oven, or a deep pot. Heat the fat over high heat. Lightly season the meat with salt & pepper. Sear the meat all over, you will probably need to do this in batches. Transfer the meat to a plate lined with a paper towel once browned.
- Reduce heat to medium. When the oil is hot, add in the diced jalapeños and red onion. Stir frequently to char on all sides for 2 minutes. Add in the minced garlic, chopped chipotle and adobo sauce, cumin, coriander, smoked salt, and brown sugar. Continue to stir frequently to incorporate the spices.
- Whisk together the gochujang and beef broth to fully incorporate. Add this into the pot along with the beer, and fire-roasted tomatoes with juices, using a wooden spoon to scrape up the bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the meat to the pot and bring it all to a simmer for about 2-3 hours until the meat is tender. Put the lid on while cooking if you like the chili to have a thinner consistency, and simmer without the lid if you like it a little thicker.
- (Optional) Add in the gochugaru (chile flakes) for extra heat while it’s cooking.
- Stir in the chopped cilantro at the end. I recommend servicing with white rice and toppings such as cheddar cheese and diced white or green onions. Enjoy!
Notes
Gochujang cannot be replaced in this recipe, it’s a complex ingredient and your results will not be the same. Make sure you have fun toppings such as cheddar, sesame seeds, scallions, white onions, or even an egg. There are so many possibilities.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 120
- Category: Beef
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Chili, Dinner, Soup
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups
- Calories: 280
- Sugar: 4.6 g
- Sodium: 890.2 mg
- Fat: 10.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Protein: 29.1 g
- Cholesterol: 83 mg
Great recipe! A couple of suggestions, I replaced beef broth with Korean beef broth which I think made it more rich in flavor. Second, I served this in sourdough bread bowls. So good! Thanks for this recipe.
I can only imagine the umami you’d get from that beef broth. Sign me up!
Won my chili cookoff in a landslide with this recipe! Thank you!
That’s what I’m talking about!
I can’t find smoked salt anywhere near me. Any substitute?
Hey Jim, typical salt will work just fine – the smoked salt just adds a little more punch. Sometimes I’ll smoke the pot of chili at a low temperature for 30-45 minutes just to give it that same flavor too. Hope you enjoy!
Won (nay, CRUSHED) a chili cook-off with this recipe! I don’t even like chili and this was… so good. We added 1-2 cans of chili beans at the 2hr mark and it was great.
That’s what I like to hear! Congrats!!
This is such a delicious recipe! I have used the beer and also tried it using coffee instead. Great either way! I also throw it in a crockpot after searing the meat and veggies. Love that this is a recipe that is so customizable.
Thanks Michelle! So glad you enjoy this one as much as we do.
Super! Added a can of kidney beans, 1 tbsp of cocoa powder, soy sauce and wostershire sauce. Fabulous recipe!!
I am SO excited to try this out- the recipe and reviews look unreal! Just wondering if it is calling for two adobo peppers from the can or two cans of adobo peppers? Thank you!
2 from the can, add more if you like it a little spicier!
I just won a chili cook off with this recipe. I left out the gochugaru so it wouldn’t be too spicy. I absolutely love this recipe. Thank you!
That’s so awesome! Yeah I like to serve it with the gochugaru on the side most of the time just in case.
Extremely delicious chili! We also made this for a chili cook off and won! We’ll definitely be making again!
Heck yeah that’s amazing! Thanks for letting me know
We made this for a chili cook off and won first place! It’s sooo yummy! Fo you happen to have nutritional facts for the recipe? Thanks!!
Thank you so much! Just updated with nutritional facts
I love gochujang and will eat it by itself, but I am trying this for a work potluck so I did half the amount of that. I also did ground beef. Mine didn’t turn out as red or dark as yours. I think next time I will make the liquid part first and then cook the ground beef separately in the broth. This time I cooked the ground beef ahead of time and simmered it in the broth for 45 min and it made it moist, but it’s not as dark and red.
Ground beef would be so delicious! I’d brown the beef first, and then drain out the liquid. You can follow the instructions from there. The challenge is that it takes hours for the chuck roast to braise, but not the ground beef. The shorter simmer means that the liquid doesn’t get to reduce as much. The color will also be different as the ground beef will be more evenly dispersed in the sauce as opposed to the chunks from the chuck roast.
I really want to make this. It looks delicious. But I am worried it may be too spicy for me. How spicy is it? What areas can I cut the spice level without compromising the flavor of the dish?
Skip the gochugaru (flakes) and use a little less gochujang. You could also cut the seeds out of the jalapenos if they are very spicy.
Can’t wait to try this recipe! What type of smoked salt did you use?
I used a bourbon smoked salt that I made. I’ll have to whip up a recipe for this to share.
This is my new absolute favorite. Made it several times now and it’s always brilliant.
I also do it with mince beef and kidney beans 50/50. The rest of the family don’t like spicy stuff so this is all for me. What a find this was, thousand thanks Sir and regards from Finland!
WOW I’m so excited to see you’re making it from the other side of the world! Thank you so much for the feedback and I’m glad you enjoy it.
Is the gochujang the sauce or the paste? Does it matter? Thanks.
I’m going to say the paste, because I don’t know if the gochujang sauce has other added ingredients for your convenience.
Gochujang is always a paste. Sauce is a gimmick.
very excited to try this is there anyway I can do this in a crockpot after searing?
Yes, confirmed you can do this. I had another reader tell me that they did!
If you were to sub in chicken or pork what cut/s would you use?
If you’re going to use pork, either pork shoulder or pork loin will work. Pork shoulder is going to be fattier, so keep that in mind. For the chicken, I would definitely use thighs for the fat and flavor if you can. Chicken breast will shred if you use it, but the thighs have more flavor.
Wow! Really WOW! We are entering a friendly chili cook-off with friends and wanted something different. We love Korean BBQ and thought it would make a great chili and looked on-line for inspiration. Lucky us you shared your secret recipe! Aside from Amazon, we could not find gochujang paste or smoked salt locally, so we substituted gochujang sauce and a bit of liquid smoke as another review suggested. We also added a small knob of grated ginger and a can of black beans with their liquid half way through the cooking time.. The chili was thick and smokey and a gorgeous! 3 hours was perfect for melt in your mouth beef. The flavor is absolutely amazing and complex and we will proudly enter this in the cook-off and look forward to sharing it with friends and family for years to come! Thank you so much for giving us the best chili ever!
Oh my gosh thank you for the feedback! Please let me know how you do in the cook off. Have fun and best of luck!
We never responded to you back in 2022, but we put took second place then and in 2023 we took first place out of 17 entries. We’re entering it again tonight. Fingers crossed!!!
Oh my gosh that’s amazing! Glad to have you back after a few years!
Will powderd gochujang work the same as paste? Same quantity? Thanks
The flavor will be very close but you’ll miss out on the thickening component. I haven’t tried this, but I would imagine it wouldn’t be far off.
That’s gochugaru. Not the same thing.
I’ve always struggled to get a spot on chili & this recipe did it for me. I did some modifications to fit my pantry & tastes and the chili is totally banging. I used ground beef. I don’t like chipotle so I blistered half a red pepper in its place. I added a tablespoon of grated ginger. I also always toast my spices after sautéing the veg, and add a tbls tomato paste after. I didn’t have smoked salt but I added about 1/8 teaspoon liquid smoke to the broth. I didn’t have any beer & I wish I’d known about the coffee sub, but I didn’t read the notes, so I just added a bit more broth. I added a can of black beans. I agree, it is a complex taste of unique definition. I wish I had tripled it as you recommended. Next time. I’m thinking about serving it with Damn Good Corn Bread. Any other suggestions besides rice?
Thanks for the feedback! Glad you love it. You sound like you’re quick on your feet with being able to adapt the recipe to your tastes, which is great to see.
I love the chili on biscuits, rice, or in big burritos 🌯
Love this recipe will definitely make it again
Thanks Blue!
Tried similar recipe only a few tweaks… used Rye alcohol in place of beer, used venison in place of beef, and added black beans not from can. Very yummy! Thank you
Thanks for sharing, that sounds so tasty!
I noticed someone asked, “Can I substitute the beer?” and your answer was :Yes, if you don’t drink alcohol I would recommend just using a light roast coffee, which would give you a rich, earthy flavor.” I agree with you; however, virtually all the alcohol evaporates — or ‘burns off’ — from the beer during cooking. Also, there are non-alcoholic beers. At the same time, it may be the taste of beer that this cook wants to avoid, in which I agree with you 200%!
Hi Larry, great points and thank you for sharing. This specific question came up twice from individuals that don’t drink, meaning they don’t purchase alcohol – this comes up often in my recipes. Yes, alcohol mostly burns off but it’s helpful to also share a substitute. I’m sure that a great-tasting non-alcoholic beer could potentially work. Frankly, I’ve never cooked this with non-alcoholic beer for testing, but I did with coffee. Appreciate your time in sharing, gives me something to think about for future testing.
Great recipe with perfect amount of heat. Followed recipe exactly. Next time I will add tablespoon of paprika and small amount of tomato sauce.
So glad you enjoy it! It’s very easy to customize too.
Can you use ground beef instead of the roast?
Yes you can! Follow the same process but you don’t need to cook the chili down quite a long, since you’re not trying to tenderize the beef.
We’ve made this a few times now and it’s crazy! Thank you!
Could this be done in a slow cooker?
You can, however, the flavors and textures will be compromised if you don’t sear first. You could easily transfer it to a slow cooker for the braise.
I’ve made this several times now and it’s awesome. It’s my husbands now favourite chilli! Thank you so much for sharing xxx
That’s a huge compliment! Thank you for letting me know, we’re big fans too.
Gonna try it! Thoughts on adding black or kidney beans?
I think black beans would work with the flavor profile. You might want to add them in halfway through if they are canned, that way they don’t become mush.
I’m going to make this‼ Yum