Oxtail Chili Cheese Fries (Bachi Burger Copycat)

Homemade oxtail chili featuring black beans, pinto beans, and dark chocolate simmered in an oxtail and red wine demi-glace. Oxtail chili is smothered over crispy french fries and topped with cheddar, jalapeños, and a sunny-side-up egg. Don’t forget the spicy mayo sauce for an extra kick!

These Oxtail Chili Cheese Fries are AMAZING. Every bite is rich, succulent, and silky with the perfect amount of spice. Melt-in-your-mouth goodness. We’ve tested and tweaked this recipe over the last few years and it is (finally) perfection. Marrekus is already talking about entering this oxtail chili into our neighborhood’s chili cook-off!

This recipe was inspired by a dish off of the menu at Bachi Burger, one of our favorite restaurants in Las Vegas. We were so sad to learn that they are no longer open for business. However, their epic oxtail chili cheese fries (which were featured on Guy Fieri’s Diner’s, Drive-Ins, and Dives) will live on forever.

If you love oxtails or making award winning chili from scratch then we know you will appreciate this recipe. It’s not quick, but it is fairly simple. Like all good things, this oxtail chili takes time to make (at least 12 hours), so it’s not something you can rush. The best part: It’s totally worth the wait!

Oxtail Chili Ingredients

Here are the shopping list ingredients you will need to make oxtail chili:

Oxtail Stock and Red Wine Demi-Glace

Two major components of this oxtail chili are the oxtail stock and red wine demi-glace:

• The oxtail stock is the reserved liquid from slow cooker oxtails.
• Our red wine demi-glace is made with pinot noir or merlot, oxtail stock, butter, yellow onion, fresh thyme, whole peppercorn, and a bay leaf.

After slowing cooking the oxtail in a Crockpot, add all of the demi-glace ingredients to a saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil. Then, reduce the heat, cover, and let it simmer for two hours, or until the sauce is reduced by half. You can stir it from time to time, but try to leave it covered as much as possible. As the demi-glace reduces, the flavor will intensify.

The demi-glace is then added to the pot along with the chicken stock, dark chocolate chips, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, beans, etc.

What is a demi-glace?

A demi-glace is a rich, dark sauce that is produced by combining equal parts brown stock and brown sauce, and then reducing it by half. Demi literally means “half” and glace means glaze or icing.

How to Make Oxtail Chili

1. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a separate large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and bacon, and sauté until the onions are translucent about 4 to 5 minutes.
2. Next, add the jalapeños, brown sugar, smoked paprika, chili powder, granulated garlic, granulated onion, black pepper, oregano, cumin, and mustard powder. Stir to combine.
3. Then, stir in the tomato sauce, chili paste, two additional cups of reserved oxtail stock, beer, and chicken stock. 
4. Add the dark chocolate chips, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, pinto beans, and black beans.
5. Mix in the prepared demi-glace and the pulled oxtail meat. Add salt and pepper and continue cooking until liquid cooks down and chili thickens, about 2 hours.

Oxtail Chili Cheese Fries

Once the oxtail chili is complete, it’s time to make chili cheese fries! We took a bag of frozen french fries and fried them so that they were extra crispy. We smothered the fries in oxtail chili, then topped it with cheddar cheese.

For additional toppings, we went with a sunny-side-up egg (in true Bachi Burger style), sliced jalapeños, and our signature spicy mayonnaise sauce. Trust me when I say, that runny egg will change your life!

Oxtail Chili Tips For Success

• After 8 hours of slow cooking, remove the oxtail from the crock pot and pull the meat from the bone. Transfer the pulled meat to a bowl, cover it, and set it in the refrigerator until later.
• The first and most important step in making oxtail chili is to slow-cook the oxtails in a crock pot for 8 hours. This long and slow cook method is the most important step because the meat takes a very long time to cook. You want the oxtail to be fall-off-the-bone tender.
• The leftover oxtail liquid, or stock, will be used to make both the demi-glace in the following step and used to cook the chili itself. Save at least 4 cups of oxtail stock from the pot of the slow cooker!

More Oxtail Recipes

SEE ALL BEEF

Here are some of our favorite oxtail recipes!

Smoked Oxtail

Southern Oxtail Recipe (Authentic Soul Food)

Oxtail Chili Cheese Fries

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Prep Time 8 hours hrs

Cook Time 4 hours hrs

Total Time 12 hours hrs

Cuisine American

Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

  

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Oxtail Stock 

• 1 pound oxtail
• kosher salt and ground black pepper
• water

Oxtail and Red Wine Demi-Glace

• 2 cups reserved stock from slow cooking the oxtail
• 1 cup pinot noir or other dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons chopped yellow onion
• 2 teaspoons chopped thyme
• 1 teaspoon whole peppercorn
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Oxtail Chili

• 2 tablespoons neutral oil
• 1 medium yellow onion chopped
• 1/4 pound uncooked bacon chopped
• 1 jalapeño chopped and seeds removed, plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 1 tablespoon granulated onion
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground oregano
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 3 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons chili paste
• 2 cups reserved water from oxtail braise
• 1 cup of stout beer or pilsner
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 15- ounce cans pinto beans
• 1 15- ounce cans black beans
• kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 32- ounce bag of frozen french fries freshly cooked
• eggs cooked sunny-side-up, for topping

Spicy Mayo

• 1/2 cup Kewpie mayonnaise
• Louisiana Pepper Exchange Cayenne Pepper Puree to taste

Instructions

 

• Season oxtails with salt and pepper. Place oxtails in a slow cooker, cover with water, and slow cook for 8 hours. After 8 hours, reserve at least 4 cups of braised water for demi-glace and chili. Pull oxtail meat off the bone and place it in a bowl, cover it, and transfer it to the refrigerator until ready to use.
• Prepare demi-glace by combining 2 cups of reserved stock from slow cooking the oxtail, pinot noir, onion, thyme, peppercorns, bay leaf, and butter in a pot over medium-high heat.
• Bring the mixture to a boil. Then reduce and simmer, covered for two hours. Stir occasionally.
• Heat neutral oil in a separate large pot over medium high heat. Add onions and bacon, and sauté until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
• Add jalapeños, brown sugar, smoked paprika, chili powder, granulated garlic, granulated onion, black pepper, oregano, cumin, and mustard powder. Stir to combine.
• Stir in tomato sauce and chili paste.
• Pour in 2 additional cups of reserved oxtail broth, stout, and chicken broth. 
• Add dark chocolate chips, Worcestershire, red wine vinegar, pinto beans, and black beans.
• Mix in the prepared demi-glace and the pulled oxtail meat.
• Add salt and pepper and continue cooking until liquid cooks down and chili thickens, about 2 hours. Stir occasionally.
• Meanwhile, prepare the Spicy Mayo. Mix 1/2 cup mayonnaise with cayenne pepper puree. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Smother the oxtail chili on top of french fries and sprinkle with cheese. Drizzle with spicy mayo and top with sliced jalapeños and a sunny-side-up-egg.

Keyword bachi burger, chili, chili cheese fries, cold weather, game day, oxtail, oxtail chili

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