Cincinnati Chili

Easy to make and freezer-friendly, Cincinnati Chili is unique Midwest favorite with Mediterranean flare. It makes a delicious, satisfying meal (and is also one of the best chili dog toppings ever)! ⁠

Jump to:

• Why You Will Love this Recipe
• What Goes into this Recipe
• How to Make this Recipe
• Serving Suggestions
• Tips & FAQs
• Related Recipes
• Cincinnati Chili (Skyline Copycat Recipe)

Why You Will Love this Recipe

If you are used to making Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex chili, a few of the ingredients in this recipe may surprise you. With roots in Macedonian cooking, the flavor profile of Cincinnati chili more closely resembles Mediterranean, Greek, and Indian foods than it does American chili. (It may even remind you a bit of Mexican molé.) 

There are many well-known hyper-local variations made famous by Cincinnati restaurants; including Empress Chili, Gold Star Chili, Dixie Chili, and Skyline Chili. 

Cincinnati chili is traditionally served over spaghetti noodles, but it makes an outstanding meat sauce for homemade Coney Islands, too.

What Goes into this Recipe

For the Chili, you will need: 

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

• Ground beef: We use 85-90% lean ground beef: any leaner and the chili end up tasting bland.
  • By draining the cooked meat in a colander before proceeding, this recipe gets rid of some of the extra fat from the ground beef without stripping it of all flavor.
  • You can sub in ground turkey; but if you do, add an extra tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. We don't recommend ground chicken for this recipe.
• Beef broth: You can substitute in chicken broth, vegetable broth, or even water. (Beef broth brings to most flavor to the table.)
• Onions: We use yellow onions to make the chili and sweet onions for chopping for the topping.
  • Yellow onions ironically have more natural sugar than sweet onions, which cooks down into the meat sauce. "Sweet" onions have a higher water content, are taste milder and sweeter when eaten raw.
• Cocoa powder: You can substitute half of an unsweetened baking chocolate square (1 ounce) for the cocoa powder.
• Cayenne: You can use ¼ - 1 teaspoon hot paprika or ½ - 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes in place of the cayenne. (If you don't like much spice, you can just leave it out.)

You will also need: 

• Spaghetti noodles for serving chili over. We prefer thin spaghetti.
• Chili Toppings:
  • Beans: If everyone in the house loves beans, go ahead and add them right to the chili; otherwise, serve them on the side. We use small red beans.
  • Grated cheese: Traditionally served with sharp cheddar.
  • Chopped onions: Use a sweet or sweet red onion for the toppings. 
  • Oyster crackers: Crumbled Saltines also work perfectly well.

How to Make this Recipe

Not only does this recipe have a unique list of ingredients, but it employs an unusual technique for cooking the meat as well.

(1) Break up the ground beef into a cast iron Dutch oven or heavy stock pot. Pour in 2 cups of beef broth.

(2) Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the ground beef into fine pieces as it cooks.

Drain cooked beef in a colander. DO NOT RINSE. 

(3) Pour the drained meat into cast iron Dutch oven or heavy stock pot.

Add onions, tomato sauce, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, brown sugar, chili powder, cocoa powder, ground cinnamon, cayenne (or hot paprika), salt, cumin, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg.

(4) Stir in 2 cups of water and the remaining 2 cups of beef broth.

(5) Simmer over LOW-LOW heat, stirring at least every 15 minutes, for about 3 hours. Add more water if needed to keep chili from burning. Season to taste.

When it is done simmering, this chili will be a little soupier than the Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex chilis you may be used to. It will thicken some over time. 

(6) About 20 minutes before you plan to serve the chili, bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Lightly salt the water and add the thin spaghetti. Cook according to the package directions until al dente.

Drain the cooked spaghetti noodles.

Serving Suggestions

Serve prepared chili over cooked spaghetti noodles.

Top with grated cheese, chopped onions, and beans.

Tips & FAQs

This is a great Make-ahead meal. (Chili always tastes even better the next day!)

Cincinnati chili also makes an amazing coney sauce for homemade chili dogs, and it's great on fries and baked potatoes, too.

Want to lighten it up? Serve it over cooked spaghetti squash instead of spaghetti noodles!

Related Recipes

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details.