Homemade Cincinnati Style Chili

If you’ve never had Cincinnati Style Chili before, it’s delicious. If you’ve never had Homemade Cincinnati Style Chili before, you don’t know what your missing! It’s not traditional chili with beans and tomatoes in it. We used to live outside Cincinnati, and we love this chili. You can buy seasoning packets for this chili, but they are hard to find outside of Ohio, if available at all. We are less than 3 hours away from Cincinnati, and can rarely find the packets here.

Besides, the packets are expensive. And so many seasoning packets have wheat in them, not to mention other ingredients I try to avoid. Since I’ve had to stop eating wheat, and feeding my family less additives, this is a consideration for me. This recipe is so easy, though, a seasoning packet is really unnecessary.

 

Homemade Cincinnati Style Chili

 

4 cups cooked hamburger (2 pounds raw)

1 – 29 ounce can of tomato sauce

1 cup water

4 Tbsp. chili powder

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. salt

 

Combine all ingredients in saucepan. Simmer for 3o minutes. You can also put all the ingredients into the crockpot on low for a few hours. Serve over spaghetti. Top with grated cheddar cheese, diced onions, and kidney beans, if desired. Some people also top with diced tomatoes. This recipe is enough chili for 2 pounds of spaghetti.

If you serve the chili on a hot dog, topped with cheese, you have a Coney.

I served the cheese in condiment cups. We use less cheese that way.

That’s my rice spaghetti in the picture.  🙂

When cooking the hamburger, you need to stir often with a fork so you get small pieces. My favorite way to cook ground hamburger for recipes is to boil it. I know it sounds weird, but I found out about this on an email freezer cooking list about 10 years ago. You place your hamburger in the pan with a couple of inches of water in the pan.  You don’t want to boil it like spaghetti, though, so don’t completely cover it with water. While it’s cooking, keep stirring with a fork to break it up. You get the small pieces of meat that’s needed for this style of chili, or tacos, etc. Please be aware, when draining the hamburger, that there is grease in with the water, and it will clog your sink if your not careful. I run cold water in the sink, then drain the meat and leave the cold water running for a minute or two. That’s what works for me. Do so at your own risk. I can’t come unclog your sink for you.  🙂  Since I can’t come, if you don’t want to chance a clogged sink, you can drain into a large bowl or pan, let it harden, then dispose of.

 

I like to keep cooked hamburger in the freezer in 2 and 4 cup bags. This is another recipe I can make quickly by starting with the cooked hamburger.

This Homemade Cincinnati Style Chili freezes great. I put the amount needed for one meal in a freezer container or bag, then freezer until needed. Just thaw and heat while your boiling your spaghetti.