The Unexpected Way Texas Roadhouse Makes Its Chili

Whether it's serving up gigantic steaks, buckets of peanuts, or maintaining an enjoyable country atmosphere, Texas Roadhouse markets itself as big and bold as the state they're named after. Although Texas Roadhouse is not actually from Texas, the steakhouse still tries its best to bring a little bit of the Lone Star state everywhere it goes, one honky-tonk step at a time.

Of course, trying to live up to the idea that "everything is bigger in Texas" means that there's no shortage of heaping portions. One location served a 64-ounce steak (via Facebook), so it's no secret that Texas Roadhouse is serving up some pretty big dinners. Cynics out there may draw the conclusion that such big portions mean there's an equally large amount of food waste — an understandable, but fortunately incorrect, judgment. Texas Roadhouse boldly declared that it's working towards eliminating as much food waste as possible from its menu. In its 2021 Corporate Sustainability Report, Texas Roadhouse claims that the use of their in-store Meat Cutters not only helps to give customers the best cut of meat but also ensures that as little food is wasted as possible.

But how exactly does having in-store butchers help to reduce food waste? According to one supposed member of the chain's meat prep team, those butchers work to ensure that every bit of meat is used in meals across the restaurant in one way or another — such as the chili, for example (via Reddit).

On the subreddit r/IAmA, a user claimed to be a "meat prep" at Texas Roadhouse, a job that entails cutting and preparing the meats used for steaks. Other Redditors asked if Texas Roadhouse serves microwave dinners (something that the user denied) and if they had ever seen anything disgusting happening in the kitchen, and one users wanted to know if the steaks from Texas Roadhouse were really high-quality or just cheap overpriced meat. A user noted that they believed the quality of the steaks to be "good," noting that the chain did everything it can to make use of the "high-quality" steaks.

"I don't buy it so I can't say as to the cost but the quality of it is good," the user explained. "The steaks would be the highest grade, then the leftovers from them are used for the kebobs and Dillo bites, and anything else is used to make the chili." Strangely, the user warns against the chili, perhaps having a personal distaste against "leftover meat" being reused in such a way. Texas Roadhouse isn't the only company to make chili using leftover meat. Wendy's famous chili came about similarly, with unused hamburger meat being stored, frozen, and then cut up for the chili (via Reddit).