Smoked Brisket Chili – 5 Different Ways

Our chili recipes are some of the most popular out there, so it was time to share our mega tasty Traeger smoked brisket chili! And we are sharing 5 different ways to make it – stove top, oven braised, smoker, slow cooker or Instant Pot.

The smoky flavor of the brisket with those bold chili flavors ands spices makes for an outrageously good bowl of chili. I love to top my bowl with shredded cheddar cheese and some sour cream.

I mean, where do I even start? This smoked brisket chili recipe has been living in my brain for probably the past 5-6 years and it has taken me all this time to get it down on “paper”. How weird that we rarely use paper anymore. Remember all those calendars on walls and sticky notes of reminders?

5 Different Ways

Anyway, I always have leftover brisket, those things are huge and my children are small. Therefore, brisket chili. And you don’t need a ton for this recipe…just 1.5 lbs.

I want to help you out so there will be five different versions explained. Please don’t get bugged! I will get questions about making it different ways so I’m just trying to anticipate that and help. The five different ways are stove top, oven braised, smoked, slow cooker and Instant Pot. Then there will be instructions for both uncooked brisket and leftover brisket for each method. Make sense? Sheesh, I hope so! Here we go…

First, I will start by explaining how to brown uncooked brisket if you’re going to go that route…

How to Brown Brisket for Chili

1. Cube the pieces of raw brisket meat – Trim any hard fat as that will not melt away in the cooking process. Remember, the size of the meat is what you’ll be eating so we want no bigger than 2″ pieces (these will break down so you can smash them a bit, creating smaller pieces once cooked).
2. Season the brisket with salt and pepper.
3. Heat oil in the bottom of a cast iron dutch oven or large pot until shimmering. Cook the brisket in batches, never at once or it will end up cooking in liquid, aka boiled meat. Remove to a plate and proceed with the recipe of your choice, oven braised, smoked, or stove top. 

 Using Leftover Brisket for Chili

If you have leftover brisket either from our smoked brisket recipe or our slow cooker brisket, your steps will be fewer…

1. Because your meat is already prepared, start by cooking the veggies and seasonings first. 
2. Add cubed
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Fresh lemon sorbet is a light and refreshing treat that is a terrific addition to any meal.

At first glance, a scoop of sorbet is unlikely to grab your attention and impress. However, at first taste, you’re certain to be won over immediately.

Lemon Sorbet

My sister and I often talk about that “unforgettable bite.” A special meal or fancy dinner out that you remember fondly often contains a certain food or combination of flavors that simply wows you.

It never fails to impress me when a small number of ingredients are combined to create something truly amazing. I tasted a lemon sorbet for the first time while on a cruise with my sister Jenny and we found ourselves talking about it repeatedly over the next few days.

I got back home from our trip on a Saturday night and on Sunday I was in the kitchen mixing this sorbet together. I simply had to recreate it for my family.

Sorbet Palate Cleanser

While I typically choose a rich ice cream, a fruit cobbler, or a chewy fudge brownie for dessert, believe it or not, there are times when I crave something lighter.

Whether you’re serving this sorbet as a palate cleanser, a light dessert, or a fancy after-dinner treat, I’m willing to bet that you’re going to love it every bit as much as we do.

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White Chocolate Banana Bread

We’ve only given you 50 Banana Bread recipes, so why not make it 51 with this moist white chocolate banana bread full of white chocolate chips and banana flavor!

STOP! Before you read this post, have you read our post on The Very Best Banana Bread? It’s essential before you make this white chocolate banana bread recipe. The batter is really simple, but you’ll want to follow a few tricks to make it turn out perfect.

Especially if you choose to make muffins like our Crumb Banana Bread Muffin recipe because muffins that are over mixed are flat topped.

This is a recipe our daughter created when she was only 7 years old and it was the perfect opportunity for me to teach her about the banana bread rules.

Banana Bread Rules

• Ripe Bananas- This is a tricky one as everyone claims a banana to be ripe at different points, but I would look for medium bananas that are starting to brown and are heavily covered in freckles. Once the banana has gone black its sugar and water content is different and can lead to a lame finished product.
• Use a regular loaf pan instead of a very large one and I’ve found that metal actually works best.
• If you’re not comfortable with the tap test to be sure it’s cooked through, gently insert a toothpick into the center and it should come out clean.
• All purpose flour is best here, but you can experiment with half whole wheat as well.
• Sweet White Chocolate melts down in the loaf and disappears a bit so don’t be shocked if you don’t slice the bread and find chocolate chips everywhere.

After we created our best moist banana bread recipe (you guys, it literally took us years and years, no joke) we were dying to take a break, er I mean try even more recipes, haha.

Ok, it was a balance of both. On the one hand we really did need a break from banana bread, but on the other our minds were suddenly bubbling with ideas. After breakfast one Saturday, our youngest daughter asked if she could create a white chocolate banana bread recipe, and how could you ever turn down that?

Secret Ingredient

The banana bread is super moist thanks to the oil and mashed bananas, but what’s really awesome about it is that it almost has a slight churro flavor with the hint of cinnamon and those creamy white chocolate chips. My goodness, she nailed it!!

Teriyaki Chicken Quesadilla

Teriyaki chicken stuffed in a cheesy quesadilla…it doesn’t get much better than that! I love the sweet and tangy flavor of teriyaki especially on chicken. Wrap it in gooey, melty cheese and a buttery tortilla, and you have yourself an out of this world meal!

I know this is a little weird to admit as it’s really not at all healthy and I wouldn’t ever make it for my kids after school, but I might as well let you in on my life. So here goes, at least 3-4 times a week when I would get home from high school I’d make myself a teriyaki chicken quesadilla or burrito.

I know, dinner was only a few hours away and most kids were having a snack but I was having a full on meal. But it was good, it was real good!

And then for some odd reason I totally forgot about it. Fast forward 10 or so years and I rediscovered this delicacy. I had some leftover teriyaki chicken from the night our babysitter went into labor at our house, while babysitting. Oh, you missed that?

This Actually Happened

One night I took the hubs to a Utah Jazz basketball game and due to a few changes we ended up having our friend, who was pregnant with her first, babysit for us. She wasn’t having anything happen with baby, the kids would be in bed sleeping and the neighbors had been alerted that a preggers was babysitting just in case anything did happen.

So off we went to the game and I was texting like mad, “Any baby news? How’s baby? Are you in labor? Get that baby out!!” It was all good fun and I was truly just teasing her when suddenly I got a text, “K, this is for reals, I think my water just broke.”

Holy cow!!! Was this for real? You should have seen Cade and I run out of there. I mean seriously. Just minutes before I had told him that I had a feeling that we should head home. I even had my coat in my lap. He had decided to wait a little longer as it was just half time. Nope! My feeling had been right. We ran up the stairs, down the street and straight to our car and then flew home. The next day one of our favorite family’s ever had a beautiful baby girl.

So, here’s to you Ashton and Tyler! Thanks for not giving birth in my living room! Haha, jk. But seriously, love those sweet friends.

What is a Quesadilla?

Now back to the teriyaki chicken I had leftover in the fridge. A light came on and suddenly I remembered that childhood favorite of mine…teriyaki chicken quesadilla!

A quesadilla is a tortilla that is filled with meat, cheese and sometimes other ingredients.

It is then heated on a griddle until the cheesy is melted and the tortilla is crispy.

What Do I Need to Make a Teriyaki Chicken Quesadilla?

If you have your teriyaki sauce ready to go then all you need is 3 more ingredients. Here is what you will need:

• Chicken Breast: You could use chicken thighs if you prefer. I just like how a chicken breast shreds a little better.
• Teriyaki Sauce: You can buy from a store or make homemade sauce. If you go with our homemade teriyaki sauce recipe, you will need water, soy sauce, brown sugar, g

With a velvety broth loaded with the goodness of corn, potatoes, and bell peppers, this cheesy, Creamy Vegetable Soup is one heck of a hearty meal.

The first time I tasted this soup, I’d arrived at my aunt and uncle’s house in Arizona around 8pm, after a long flight. I wasn’t especially hungry, but the kitchen smelled so good that I couldn’t resist a bowl of the warm soup that was waiting on the stove.

We sat down to eat and I simply grinned at the first bite. This soup adds up to a whole lot of delicious flavors that are much more than the sum of its parts. It turns out that this was one of my Grandmother’s recipes and I’m thrilled to be sharing it with you now.

Over the past few months, this soup has become a family favorite for my husband and kids, as well as for the friends we’ve shared it with. I hope that you will enjoy it as much as we do!

Creamy Vegetable Soup

It’s honestly kind of rare for dinner at my house to be completely vegetarian. My boys love meatier fare. But, this soup was very well received. It’s hearty even without the inclusion of any meat.

Still, if you want to make it with meat, you could easily add chicken to the recipe. Or, bacon. Definitely bacon. Actually, I may have to make this creamy soup again with bacon just at the thought of it.

There are very few traditions that I recall from ch