Take the cream cheese out of the fridge first so that it has time to soften.

Add the ground venison to a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook the venison, stirring occasionally, until it’s cooked through, around 7 minutes. I like to season the meat after it’s browned for a few minutes. Add the ancho chili powder, cumin, and paprika as the meat cooks.

Add yellow onion and garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the pinto beans (including liquid), diced tomatoes with green chili, hot sauce, and beef broth to the Dutch oven.

Increase the heat to high to bring the soup to a boil. Upon boiling, immediately turn down the heat to a simmer. Simmer for around 15 minutes.

While the soup simmers, add cream cheese to a bowl. Spoon out some of the soup liquid into the bowl with cream cheese. Stir until the cream cheese has completely melted in (you can use a blender if you’d like to speed up this process).

Add the melted cream cheese mixture to the soup and stir to combine. Add heavy whipping cream and stir.

Take a potato masher and smush some of the beans. I like to do this by just carefully mashing about half of the soup. The starches released from mashing the beans will help achieve a thicker chili.

Taste and season the soup with salt and pepper (if desired). Serve with shredded cheese and tortilla strips or chips!