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A few of you may be asking yourself, “What the heck is Cincinnati Chili?” And I was just like you. Yes, I too was had no clue what I missing. Luckily, I married a man whose family introduced me to this wonderful dish!
3 Reasons why you should make this Chili one of your Staple Dinners
1. Most of the ingredients sit right in your Pantry!
Onions, canned tomatoes, noodles, spices, and beans all hang out in your pantry together, or at least they do at my house! Even though, a majority of the ingredients are from your pantry, the onion adds some freshness and so it doesn’t feel like a pantry meal. If are like me and have days that you just can’t make it to the grocery store, I usually prepare this bad boy!
2. Cincinnati Chili is Convenient Dinner
This chili comes together fairly quickly! The most arduous aspect of this dinner is measuring all the spices. And now that I have older kids, they can take on that task. Hurray! Let’s hear it for outsourcing!
Another major selling point to this recipe is that you can also make the chili mixture in the crock pot. If I have time, I’ll prepare the chili in the morning and then let it simmer the remainder of the day. When dinner time approaches, I need only cook the noodles and prepare the other toppings. Bam! It’s awesome when I have my life together like that. Though, generally speaking, my life isn’t perfect and I don’t typically make this in the crockpot.
Granted, I know I’m a little behind on the latest trends but I have heard they are amazing. I don’t own an Instant Pot. I imagine you could adapt this recipe to work in an Instant Pot, but I am not an expert in that area.
3. This Chili can feed a crowd with Ease
I love this meal because I don’t feel the need to make a side dish: Cincinnati Chili is like a “one pot wonder”. The noodles and other toppings act as a filler of sorts which stretch this meal to feed more hungry bellies.
I have a fairly large extended family and this is a recipe we make when we are all together. In Fact, this Chili is actually a famous Watt family recipe. To illustrate, my In-laws have 22 grand children and most of the kiddos and all of the adults love this chili. It is a crowd pleaser!
Cincinnatti Chili
This chili is flavorful, very filling and it's easy to make. This meal is great if you need to feed a crowd. My kids love this!
Servings: 6 Adults
Author: Nana Watt
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds Ground beef I use 1 pound or less (budget queen over here)
- 1 med, onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 Tbs unsweetened Cocoa
- 1 tsp each of dry mustard, ground cumin, paprika & Salt
- ¼ tsp each of cayenne pepper & black pepper
- ⅛ tsp each of ground allspice, cardamon, cinnamon & cloves
- 1 28oz can Italian plum tomatoes
- 1 cup Water
- 8 oz Vermicelli or thin spaghetti, cooked
Toppings
- 1 can red kidney beans, heated
- 1 small onion chopped
- Cheddar Cheese optional
Instructions
Cook ground beef with onion and garlic in Dutch oven/ pot over medium high heat until meat loses red color. Remove excess fat (you can spoon it out or use a paper towel to soak it up.
Stir in chili powder, cocoa, mustard, cumin, paprika, salt, cayenne and black pepper, allspice, cardamon, cloves, tomatoes and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 45 minutes (less time is fine 20-45).
To assemble chili, layer the following ingredients on 6 individual plates: Noodles, chili mixture, beans, cheese and onions.
Notes
If you want to use your crockpot, follow the directions above and make the chili mixture in a pot. You will most likely not need a full cup of water, so start with just 1/2 a cup. Next, transfer the chili into the crock pot. Make sure your crockpot is on a low setting.
Full Disclosure on Spices for Cincinnati Chili
There is one downside to this recipe! There are a load of spices in this recipe which makes the chili taste so flavorful. However, if you don’t normally have a lot of these spices in your spice repertoire, it can be expensive. On the flip side, once you have all of the spices, the meal is pretty cheap because you only need small amounts of most of the spices. So, you shall decide if the initial investment to buy all the spices is worth it.
Occasionally, Amazon will have cheaper prices for spices. Don’t you love when I sound like Dr. Seuss? Anyway, I recently checked cardamon at Kroger (Kingsoopers) and it was $12.00 and it’s $7.00 on Amazon. Cardamon will last you years (I think we have had ours fir 14 years and our Cardamon just ran out).
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