Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 2 hours
Serves about 12-16
Fuego and family lived in Ohio and Fuego grew up with Cincinnati Chili—it’s a childhood favorite!
The only problem with making it over the past many years is that none of the recipes online matched with her experience, and all of them are too spicy for her mom and her sister.
Last night was the most recent attempt. Since last time I made it, February of this year, it was still too spicy for them, this time I made my own chili powder recipe to bring the necessary flavors with none of the heat (this was for them… personally I like my chili to melt my face off).
The results last night brought back a lot of memories for everyone and it’s the recipe we’ll be using from now on!
So for anyone looking for an authentic experience of Ohio born Cincinnati Chili, I hope this brings you some memories as well :).
Chili ingredients:
26 oz homemade pasta sauce (see below for my pasta sauce recipe or use your own family recipe)
6 oz tomato paste
1T Onion Powder (Fuego doesn’t like the texture of onions, or this would be a grated/minced Maui onion)
2T chili powder (see chili powder recipe below for the no heat version I made for Fuego’s family)
2T cocoa powder
2T sugar
2T Worcestershire Sauce
1T white wine vinegar
2 1/4t salt
1t ground cinnamon
1t ground cumin
3/4t garlic powder
1/2t ground allspice
1/4t ground black pepper
1/4t ground cloves
2 bay leaves
2 lbs ground turkey(or ground beef)
Other finishing ingredients:
Fettuccini,
Shredded Colby Jack or goat cheddar cheese,
Sour cream (we use dairy free and it works great)
Instructions:
Combine all chili ingredients in stock pot (do not precook the ground meat—in this recipe it is essential for the texture that it be added to the other ingredients raw), add 2 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for two hours stirring occasionally (be careful not to break the bay leaves). At the end of two hours, gently use a fork to find and remove the bay leaves, then stir well (I use a whisk) before serving.
In a separate stock pot, cook as much fettuccini as needed for the number of people you’ll be serving. Time the pasta to finish when the chili is done.
Plate pasta, top with a generous portion of chili, shredded Colby Jack (or goat cheddar if you’re me), and sour cream.
Refrigerate or freeze left-over chili (if freezing, consider freezing individual portions since it should only be reheated once).
Pasta Sauce:
(For this recipe, store-bought canned tomato puree works perfectly well… The spice measurements are approximate as I don’t measure for my pasta sauce.)
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yield: 26 oz.
1-25 oz can tomato puree
1-2T olive oil
~4T balsamic vinegar
3/4-1t salt
1/4-1/2t black pepper
1/2-3/4t garlic powder
1/2-3/4t onion powder
3/4-1t dried oregano
2-3t dried basil
Combine all ingredients in a chef’s pan (I use a whisk) and simmer for ~10 minutes, stirring frequently.
“Gutless” Chili Powder
Prep time: 5 mins
Yield: about 1/4 cup (- 1/2t)
2T +1/2t paprika
1 1/2t garlic powder
1 1/2t onion powder
1t dried oregano
1t cumin
