Homemade Hot Dog Chili (+Video)
Southern Style Homemade Hot Dog Chili is made with ground beef, garlic, beef broth, tomato sauce and seasonings (no beans!) So much flavor!
SOUTHERN STYLE HOT DOG SAUCE
For me, the key is to a great homemade hot dog chili recipe is that it won’t overtake the taste of the hot dog (cause I wanna taste that too). Also, it can be kept in a slow cooker to keep warm for serving!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Hot dog chili is much thicker than soup chili. It also doesn’t usually contain beans. The meat in hot dog chili is also usually very finely ground where as in soup chili, it is chunkier. Also, hot dog chili is usually made with tomato paste rather than tomatoes. Now obviously, this can vary by region and people’s personal preferences.
Generally hot dog chili and hot dog sauce are the same thing. However, some people refer to hot dog sauce as a slightly less-thick chili – it has more liquid in it.
This chili wonderful on tater tots and french fries. Throw some melted cheddar cheese on top and it’s over-the-top delicious. I also really love this chili on baked potatoes!
Put it in a covered container in the refrigerator and it will keep up to 5 days. You can also freeze leftover chili. Put it in a freezer-safe ziploc bag. Remove as much air as possible. Chili will keep in the freezer up to 3 months.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- onion
- garlic
- lean ground beef
- chili powder
- sugar
- cumin
- Worcestershire sauce
- tomato paste
- beef broth (or water)
- corn meal
- kosher salt
HOW TO MAKE HOT DOG CHILI:
Put a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in medium sauce pan. On medium-high heat, saute onion until translucent, then add garlic.
Stir for about a minute, then add ground beef. As beef begins to brown, use a potato masher to grind up the beef into small bits.
Once brown, add in the rest of the ingredients (if your beef produced a lot of grease, you may want to strain some of that out first before adding the rest of the ingredients.)
Give it all a good stir to combine then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Do a taste test at this point to see if it has enough salt. If you want, you can transfer the chili over to a Crock Pot and put it on the keep warm setting.
WANT MORE RECIPES? YOU MUST TRY THESE!
Homemade Hot Dog Chili (+Video)
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup beef broth (or water)
- 3 Tablespoons corn meal
- 1/2 Tablespoon kosher salt, (or to taste)
Instructions
- Put a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in medium sauce pan.
- On medium-high heat, saute onion until translucent, then add garlic.
- Stir for about a minute, then add ground beef.
- As beef begins to brown, use a potato masher to grind up the beef into small bits.
- Once brown, add in the rest of the ingredients (if your beef produced a lot of grease, you may want to strain some of that out first before adding the rest of the ingredients).
- Give it all a good stir to combine then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Do a taste test at this point to see if it has enough salt.
Video
Notes
- If want, you can transfer the chili over to a Crock Pot and put it on the keep warm setting.
- This chili is super-duper wonderful on tater tots and french fries. You gotta try it if you have some leftover chili. Throw some cheddar cheese on top and you gotta whole new meal!
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Originally published: March 2011
Updated and Republished: August 2022
Oh my, hotdogs reminds me of summer. My husband would want a regular beer to go with it.
I live in Chicagoland, so the hot dog is near and dear to me – just don't put ketchup on it!
I can just imagine that chili with fries – yum!!
In the summertime we have hot dogs so often on the open fire! It seems so long ago, I know at the first almost warm evening, Mr. Rosemary will be asking if we have any dogs. (I'll surprise him with the chili!)
I was just over at a friends this morning who said she had a chili dog last night. I'm really picky about my dogs but needless so say this looks delish!
I think my brother would love these….goonna make these for him when he visits chicago and i hope it's soon…hehe.
yum! That looks good! You should come link it up to my What's Cooking Wednesday linky tomorrow!Diane
I think I have a few boys in the house that would enjoy this recipe!
Nothing like a good chili dog! I'm going to have to try that brand..and I'll be sure to pick up some Stewart's Rut Beer :o)
I have never had chilli on a hot dog before. Sounds interesting.
🙂 Mandy
We are a chili dog family here, Brandie. Love them so much. Your chili recipe sounds wonderful! I'm with you on the split top hot dog buns. I could never find them in Louisiana. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
My husband and boys would love this too! 🙂
Wow this looks amazing! Tater tots sound wonderful too. Soo ready for summer and this is the perfect dish!
Brandie, I love your sense of humour. Must be tough keeping a couple of hot dog connoisseurs happy! Great job.
Can't wait for summer! Your dog looks so good piled high with chili like that, yum! Like the split-top bun, too, less messy if that were possible with a chili dog.
Lizzy, I know WAY more about hot dogs than I probably should…hee hee.
Don't even get me started on pizza!! ;o)
LOL, Brandie, you know a lot about hot dogs 🙂 I've never even had a chili dog, but that may change soon! Yours look awfully good~
I along with Becky grew up on the Chicago dog, lots of veggies (might as well be a burger with a whole pickle and slices of tomato on it) and love it to this day. Then I grew up and moved away and discovered chili dogs… AMAZING!!! Oh and chili fries… Ok I'm hungry!
I just got done telling a colleague how much I love hot dogs as a guilty pleasure. Thanks for bringing these to me while I have hot dogs on the brain!!
This is one super beautiful hot dog!!! My mouth is all watery now, yum yum yum! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I'm going to give this chili recipe a try. We love chili dogs here! I've never seen those split top buns before. Thanks for mentioning those. I'll be on the lookout for them. And those Hebrew National dogs are the only ones that are eaten in this house!
Thanks for sharing.
Jennifer
Yum..that looks good!
My hubby LOVES chili dogs…or just hot dogs period!! He's from Indiana also..maybe that explain it! The kids always hated it when I needed him to cook for me..guess what they'd always have?? 🙂
Wow that looks wonderful. My daughter would dig right in!
Mmmmmmmmm Chili Dogs… *drool*
Mmmmmmmmm Chili Tots ..*drool* : )
Tasty hot dog..You did an amazing job! I'm totally drooling :))
Oh No! If you have an authentic Chicago Hot dog, no ketchup. That's the rule;) we eat Portillos Hot dogs! Your chili dogs look good though. Every region has their own version of the hot dog.