Jeff's Hot Dog Chili

I made this last night for hot dogs. In the south we eat homemade slaw, homemade chili, diced sweet onions and mustard on our dogs. This was perfect for a southern hot dog! I used beef broth instead of water. Since I was using 80/20 beef I just cooked my beef and mashed it, drained it, and added it back to pan. Then added the beef broth as needed. I used Rotel's tomato sauce with diced green chiles (try it if you can still find it). I used a small 8 oz can of the tomato/chile sauce for 1.5 lbs of beef. Otherwise, I followed the recipe to a T. Absolutely yummy! My husband who doesn't eat chili with beans commented that he could eat this chili with just a spoon. BIG statement coming from him! Thanks so much for sharing this one! It's a keeper!!

I made this recipe twice--once following the recipe exactly and again with some changes. As written, the recipe is pretty good but is missing 'something' and is a little runny, as other reviewers found (hence the 3 stars). I made it a second time and this time used beef broth instead of water (and omitted adding the extra salt), added 1 clove of garlic, and used tomato paste instead of sauce (made it less runny), and added 1/2 a tsp of brown sugar. I also reduced the amount of chili powder (to 1/2 tsp) to make it more child-friendly, and my toddler and husband both loved it!

This was really good, the whole family really liked it. I would have given it 5 stars but it was a little too greasy for my taste. I think next time I will cook the meat first and then add to the sauce. I had no problem with it getting thick, but I also just realized I didn't add the water. oops! :o) Thanks so much for sharing the goodness!

Made this chili last night for dinner over hotdogs,and it's a keeper. I followed the recipe TO THE LETTER. It looks a little unappetizing while it simmers, but I allowed it to simmer over a low heat for about an hour and it was worth the wait. Turned out to be a perfect chili dog dinner. I used oscar meyer classic weiners and Martin's potato roll hotdog buns, with a smear of mayo on the bun, a drizzle of mustard and minced onions on the top. The way I like my chili dogs. For those who aren't fond of semi sweet chili, you could always eliminate the tiny bit of sugar but I never, ever, review these website recipes unless I follow the complete directions exactly. I like this one and made a recipe card for it.

I am wiping a tear from my eye, Jeff!!! This is awesome! As a child, I practically lived on 'chili buns' (just chili in a hot dog bun) from a drive-in restaurant in my hometown in North Carolina. After I moved away as an adult, I have missed that chili so much. I can't tell you how many restaurants and recipes I have tried with great hope, only to be disappointed. But today I tried your chili, and it takes me back to all those chili buns I had as a child. Thanks for sharing!!

Perfect! I made this recipe exactly as is except I did not have any onion powder - so I left that out. I have been trying to get a good hot dog chili recipe for years and everyone tells me the ingredients they use but that they do not measure the ingredients so they dont know how much to tell me to add - so I would try over and over and just couldnt get it right! This was perfect!

I know everyone hates it when you change recipes, but hey - I'm not a pro and I can't customize it so don't read on if you're annoyed by my notes. Watching fat, so I opted to combine the meat & water first - merrily mashing and squishing along so I could achieve that hotdog sauce consistency. Then I drained meat and skimmed the fat from the liquid. Was worried about the sweetness of our ketchup, so I only added half of what was called for and stopped after that (would have been way too sweet). Entirely skipped the sugar, but added everything else recipe called for. Added back some of the reserved liquid and let it reduce. Finally opted to add a few shakes of Hungarian Hot Paprika for just that little bit of kick. Outstanding and a new hotdog sauce fav! Thanks so much for the recipe!

This is the closest thing to the southern chili for hot dogs I've had in a long time. LOVED IT..however, next time I think I will try not adding the sugar, it was sweeter than I thought it would be and the chili I grew up eating wasn't sweet at all. Ketchup has sugar in it as well, which will probably be enough sweet for us. I did substitute beef broth for the water. Used 93/7 ground beef and took the advice of others, browned the meat and then drained the fat. Even so I followed the recipe exactly other than the method and the beef broth. Now I have a great chili for our hot dogs and it's pretty healthy. The whole family really likes it. Thanks orion3 for sharing.

Awesome quick hot dog chili. Great in a pinch. Browned and drained the beef first. Used whole can of tomato sauce w/green chili, 1 Tbsp tomato paste, and 2/3 C water, and boiled down to thick sauce consistency. Also added garlic powder and a pinch of oregano. Tastes better than canned!

This is a fantastic recipe. I had 3 leftover grilled hamburgers and chopped them up in my food processor. The result was finely chopped meat (which I like) and the chili had that little extra something from the taste of the grill!

I made this two months back for a baseball-themed pot luck for chili dogs and nachos and I think folks licked the bowl when it was gone. Literally nothing was left in the Crock Pot. I scaled the recipe to 5 lbs of meat and could have used two more! I did add a bit of cumin, some celery seed, and used about 1/2 ketchup with 1/2 tomato sauce just to avoid some of the sweetness, but otherwise as written. Just for a trial, I made another batch this week and added beans for eating out of a bowl. That was pretty tasty, as well. Especially the next day. Thanks, Jeff, for a great recipe we will use many times over.

We really enjoyed this! Added about a tsp of garlic powder, upped black pepper to full tsp, chili powder to full Tbsp, used about a Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce. Subbed low-sugar ketchup and Splenda for the ketchup and sugar. Next time I'll add 1/2 cup of sauteed onions.

I just made this recipe, the only things I did different was to cook it on low versus medium. When I was done I let it sit in the pot with the cover on for about 15 minutes before I was going to eat it then I tipped the pan and drained off the fat that rose to the top with a spoon. I loved this chili sauce. I like it a little less greasy, hence why I drained off some of it off the top. It will definately be my go to chili for hot dogs this summer! Thanks for the recipe.

Love this recipe. I make it a lot but wanted to say I have been substituting the water with a 1/2 cup of beef broth. One of my wife's favorites.

This was so good. Like some other reviewers, I substituted beef broth for the water. I also used a can of rotel diced tomatoes and a full teaspoon of pepper. This was so good. Grilled some Nathan's Famous hot dogs to serve it one.

My husband requested chili dogs for dinner last night so, I figured I'd look for a simple chili recipe rather than buy canned. This one hit the spot! It was perfect! I made mine exactly to the recipe and it was not too runny or too greasy at all. Keep in mind, the amount of grease you have is most likely going to depend on the fat content of your ground beef. I bought mine on the lean side. Mashing the ground beef is a genius idea! This is not the hearty type of chili that you'd want to eat over rice with garlic bread, but more of a condiment chili IMO so I didn't feel the need to add anything extra! Will definitely be making this again, next time for chili cheese fries:)

Made it according to directions, tasted like Manwich made with too much meat and some extra water to make it stretch.

Husband said it tasted like Dairy Queen's chili. I thought it was too salty. Tasted it as I was making it and I went back to the recipe thinking I must have missed an ingredient or something, but I didn't. I wanted to be WOWED by this, but I just wasn't.

This recipe was very tasty. However, it seemed to me to be more like Sloppy Joes than Hot Dog Chili. Hence, only 3 stars.

A little sweet for my tastes, but that's easily fixed when next i make this. The potato masher method is genius , perfect consistency.

Great chili; taste even better a day later.

This is a very good recipe. For those saying its too runny, it just needs to cook down a little, so I simmered it for 30 extra minutes. The family loved it.

I love this recipe for both chili dogs and I change it up a little for a big pot of chili on a cold night. I double the recipe and add chopped onion, kidney beans, and cayenne pepper. Perfect with cheese and crackers.

I just fixed this tonight for dinner. My husband and I had been craving good, old-fashioned chili dogs for a week now, so I had to try this recipe. I followed it to the letter except for mashing the beef--no time for that. The sauce was delicious and was way better than the stuff from the can. Kudos to Jeff for this delicious version of the classic chili dog sauce!

I used the tomato Paste, used chicken broth instead the water, and didn't put in the salt or sugar, put on a bee dog and they are great

Oh Jeff, thank you for sharing! Of course, I thought I would have some left over from this batch to maybe use the next day, or to freeze for next weekend, but NO!!!! My one son kept going past the pan, taking a taste every single time! I just didn't bother measuring the chili powder, since my family is a bunch of "hotheads", but I will tell you, I'll be making this many, many times in the future!

So easy and yummy. Family favorite.

I wanted a good hot dog recipe & this was at top of the list. I read all the reviews & tweaked it a little based on what was said. I doubled the recipe & used ground turkey & the old-fashioned potato masher is perfect for breaking the meat up! I used an 8-oz can tom sauce, at first only used 1/2 cup ketchup since some people said it was too sweet, but it tasted like it was missing something so I went ahead & put the other 1/2 cup in (since I doubled it). I left the sugar out, added an extra tsp of chili powder, and minced about 1/4 of a large onion since I didn't have onion powder. The consistency & texture was just perfect after it simmered 20 min. Is very good recipe & I'm going to add some pictures I took! Definitely would use this recipe again-thanks Jeff!:)

We really enjoyed this! The only thing I did differently was at the end, it was still a bit runny, so I thickened w/ some Wondra and that worked great. I would make this again! Thanks for sharing. :)

This homemade hot dog chili is the best! It is very easy to put a little heat to it if you choose to do so. I used minced onions in place of onion powder. We love it!

Absolutely perfect. I used stevia instead of sugar because my family has issues with blood sugar but otherwise I followed the recipe to the letter and it was very tasty. I will make it again.

This is the recipe everyone's been looking for! I love hot dog chili when i'm out but hate the preservatives and other stuff they throw in. I have allergies so I wanted my own. Jeffs is now our family recipe! Jeff, this is amazing! its everything I wanted it to be!I'm in GA and this is the way we love our chili. I love it so much I'm going to make it my chili dinner recipe and add my beans, green peppers and onions! Thank you for posting this!

I made this last night with a slow cooker Mac and cheese, hot dog chili turned out great even though I forgot to add the sugar. Can't complain and will make this again for sure!

I made this for dinner tonight and it was delish just the way you posted it. I doubled the recipe and its all gone. Thank you for a great recipe.

This is the best hot dog chili I have ever made. Or ate, even my kids was eating Just the chili with out the dog!!!" Lol. It's AWESOME!!!!

I made this but like others I cooked the meat and drained it first. I also replaced water with beef broth. I had a small portion of taco meat as well as some left over BBQ/sloppy joe meat that I added after Browning the burger. I used an 8oz can of tomato sauce, and did not add any extra salt, nor sugar. I added about a 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin as well. Simmered for about an HR. It thickened up very nice. This is a great recipe and one can tweak it to their own liking.

I love this Chili, great with hot dogs!

This was very good on a hot dog, though the ketchup made it seem more like sloppy joe meat than chili. It wasn't really spicy, so the chili powder could be increased if you want more of a kick. I did make 2 modifications. First, I used a 6 oz can of tomato paste instead of sauce because that's what I had. I also browned the meat first, then drained it while adding the other ingredients to the pot. It was too thick at first, but I added some of the drained fat a spoonful at a time until the texture was right.

This is my go to hot dog chili recipe! I have made it as is and I have changed it based on what is in my pantry, it can be adapted many different ways and really just depends on what you prefer! Reading the reviews always helps with the adaptations. My current version is with beef broth instead of water, real onions instead of powder, ketchup & paste instead of tomato sauce & no sugar.

My husband made this. Really good on spaghetti too! He calls it Skyline chili.

I made this recipe for a party to top hot dogs. I browned the beef, drained well then combined all ingredients into the crock pot. I cooked on high for 2 hours. It was a huge hit!! So delicious !

Not for chili on its own but for chili cheese fries or on hotdogs- this is perfect!

I will be making this again. Followed the recipe as it is. As others stated it is on the sweet side. But once you load it up with sauerkraut watch your fingers! OMG great!

I just made this chili for tonight, easy and delicious! Thanks for sharing.

Made this tonight. I used beef broth versus water. This was a bit sweet, even without the sugar. It is comparable to Sloppy Joe filling. I added extra chili powder, red pepper flakes, black beans and some onion after trying the recipe as written. Good but not great.

I followed another user's suggestion and changed out the water for beef broth and the tomato sauce for tomato paste. I made it for the first time and won 2nd place in a Sunday School chili cookoff!! This is great by itself and wonderful on top of potatoes, nachos, etc.

It was super easy and quick. However; it was too sweet for my liking. I will definitely leave out the sugar and maybe cut back on either the tomato sauce or ketchup.

Great recipe! I doubled it and used the beef broth and water as recommended and it was a 5 star hit! I made this for a cookout for 15+ people and everyone loved it.

I have made this several Times; SOMETIMES I add Chopped Onion OR MINCED Onion INSTEAD of Onion Powder, BUT this recipe never fails to spice up a good weiner.

Made this tonight with a couple changes.Finely chopped onion and garlic clove to add a little more flavor. And a little hot sauce because i like spicy things. Would cook this again.

Would have given 5 stars except for the changes made...I was asked to make chili dogs for our youth group and had no idea what kind of chili to make...I did not have onion powder, so I substituted dried minced onion (1 1/2 teaspoon), I omitted the sugar, added a dash or two of hot sauce and a tablepoon dijion (based on 6 servings. It was a huge hit! I am glad I increased the recipe x4 as I ran out of chili before I ran out of dogs. I did have to skim the fat off the top at least three times during the cooking process and after the intial start on the stove I transferred it to the crockpot to continue to cook and for transport.

Great chili recipe! Have made twice! The second time I cut the amount of chili powder in half. It is just a little to spicy for our taste in original recipe.

THE RECIPE WAS FINE. A LITTLE SWEET FOR MY TASTE SO I ADDED MY OWN SPICES AND INGREDIENTS TO STEER THE FLAVOR MORE TOWARD SAVORY. I CUT BACK ON THE KETCHUP, ELIMINATED THE SUGAR ALTOGETHER AND USED TOMATOE PASTE (WHICH ADDED PLENTY OF SWEET)ALONG WITH BEEF STOCK AND BEER. ADDED A LITTLE MORE CHILI POWDER(DOUBLE)SOME CUMIN AND OREGANO THEN SIMMERED FOR AN HOUR ON LOW. WE'LL SEE HOW IT TURNS OUT, SAMPLE TEASPOONS HAVE GOOD FLAVOR. WHAT KIND OF HOT DOGS ARE GOOD, FLAVORFUL AND HEALTY...ANYONE?

I didn't read the ingredients right and put a whole 8 oz can of tomato sauce and omitted the sugar. Next time I will put the correct amt of T. Sauce, Love the texture.It's a keeper.

I added 3TBS brown sugar instead of white. Turned out great, easy to make and my kids loved it. Definitely making it again.

Giving this 4 stars because I did change this a little, but without this recipe to inspire me I wouldn't have made it! I had 1/2 bag of vegetarian crumbles left from something else so I used that and grated about a 1/4 of an onion into it, and warmed that up first, then added the tomato sauce (used regular sized can), 1/2 can of tomato paste (eliminated the ketchup and sugar; we wanted savory, not sweet), double the chili powder and added 1 tsp each cumin and oregano, and about 3/4 tsp of garlic powder as well. Added the rest of the ingredients as listed on the recipe, and at the end I added just a dash of cayenne pepper at the end for just a tiny touch of heat. Did not add water and it was PLENTY thick this way! I ended up eating this over fries with some shredded cheese (chili cheese fries!). Awesome sauce!

Loved it! I needed a recipe that I could easily cut in half. Wanted to only make a small amount. It worked out great!

I made this recipe to the letter, aside from a pinch of flour to thicken it up. It was good-but didn't quite say hot dog chili to me. I added 2 more teaspoons of chili powder and it was better, but it still seems like it needs a little more spice or something.

It was very close to what I was looking for. Good job, Jeff. Made it my own with a 1/2 tsp of cayenne, and 1 tsp of cumin.

Just used little less of chili powder and little mor of garlic powder and salt. Cut up the hot dogs and smimmered with lid on very low 1-2 hrs. Used over noodles. yummy. Thanks for posting.

Really strong tomato/ketchup taste. A little too sweet for my taste, but very simple easy to make.

Just made this with a couple changes per other reviews...cooked the hamburger and water, then drained, then added water back in. Also omitted the 1/2 t. sugar. It is DELICIOUS!! Great recipe...

I made this for our 4th of July hotdog cookout and for anytime we are grilling burgers or hotdogs. I used a 10 ounce can of diced tomatoes with green chilies because I had it on hand. I pulsed the tomatoes, left out the water in the recipe and changed the white sugar to brown sugar. I carmalized 1 diced onion, put that in and eat u the onion powder. We like our chili a little thicker in the South. This was perfect. Great recipe. I have had many say this is the best hotdog chili they have ever had.

I've been using this recipe for a couple of years now and LOVE IT! Only change I make is also adding 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder. Otherwise, this hot dog chili is amazing!

This chili did not taste bad, it was just not what I was looking for for hot dogs, hamburgers and chili cheese fries. It's a bit sweet, and I didn't quite use as much ketchup as called for. With onions and peppers it would make a really tasty sloppy joes, and I'll use this recipe as a sloppy joe base in the future. After following the recipe and tasting, I added a touch of vinegar, mustard, cumin and garlic powder to reduce the sweet and add more spicy flavor, which made it more what my family was looking for.

I made this because I forgot to buy canned chili, well needles to say I don't think I'll ever buy another can of chili! This is my go to chili now, thanks so much!

I just made this ,I expanded the recipe to 60 serving and invested in 10# of ground beef and I have to say im not impressed ,I was hesitant to add the sugar and to use that much Worcestershire sauce what I have now is 5 gallons of sweet tasting chili .I made this for a church function tomorrow and I am going to have to do something to it to make it palatable DONT PUT SUGAR IN IT ! I'm from Texas and we know what chili is supposed to taste like

I've made this several times and my family loves it on hot dogs and on hamburgers. I made it exactly as the recipe states and then I made it with a whole petite diced onion. We like it better with the onion but it's amazing as is.

Easy to make and absolutely delicious !

It was a decent base to start with but I definitely had to add a lot more spices and seasonings to get more of that chili dog flavor. Didn’t need all the sugar either. Perhaps if I had not added the full half teaspoon I would not of had to add extra of everything else. I also did a combo of tomato sauce and tomato paste to thicken it up slightly. I used a bit of mustard and some Sriracha as well to give it a little more heat. It was definitely a sweet yet somewhat bland chili without all of my extras added to it. I’d use it again as a base but like I said I’d add tons more seasoning to it.

This recipe was quick, easy and yummy! If you let the chili sit for a few minutes after cooking it thickens up. I also added a little garlic powder.

This recipe is great! It could use a little kick so I added cayenne and paprika. Also, the second time I made it I used low sugar ketchup...much better! It was a little too sweet with the regular ketchup.

Did not care for it at all. It taste more like a sloppy joy mixture to us. Will not make it again.

Super easy, super fast and delicious. My kids loved it

Excellent! Followed recipe almost exactly just changed water to beef broth. Great chili dog!

Oh, yeah! Love this! Just like I remember! I ended up not using the extra salt and instead used a bit of celery salt to add just another layer. This is excellent dog chili!!! Made a double-batch just now for a weekend cookout!

My family loves this recipe as is! We have had it multiple times now. I agree, it's not pretty, but it is delicious.

It's good! I added a bit more chili powder, a dash of garlic powder and more Worcestershire. I only had jar pasta sauce in the pantry so I used that instead of plain tomato sauce. I cooked it down more, about a full hour.

Best hotdog chili I’ve ever had. Ever. The only thing I changed was I added a little chopped onion. Will be the only chili recipe I ever use. Thanks so much!

My dad loved this! He actually took the leftovers and had hotdogs with this for breakfast. Lol. Hotdogs with coney sauce, the new breakfast meat!

I like a thicker chili, so I didn’t add water & I used tomato paste. I just dashed it with a little more Worcestershire sauce a few times to make it smoother. Great flavor!!

The bomb

I have been using this recipe since I found it here a year ago. I love it, my family loves it (even the young grand-children) and friends. Always get compliments. I do not change a thing. Other than taste, I also love it because the ingredients are simple. I usually don't have to go to the store to get something I don't keep on hand. It does not need any changes. Simple and delicious. Isn't that what we all want? It's never runny when I cook it. I do let it simmer with a lid on the pot for 30-45 mins.

I didn't have any onion powder so I used about 1/2 cup of finely diced onion instead. Other than that I followed the recipe exactly. However, I still thought it was missing something so I added some garlic powder. Then it was perfect for me. This is a great easy recipe for hot dog chili (we call it "coney sauce" where I'm from). I topped my dogs with mustard, chili, and shredded cheddar. My girlfriend's son is very picky and even he went back for seconds.

simple and quick dish..

The best

This takes me back to my child good. Didn't change a thing, except, the beef stock and 1/2 tsp cumin, as others suggested. Delish!!!

This really is one of the better hot dog chili recipes I've found. It's simple, quick and great to freeze the leftovers. I usually freeze half and thaw it out next time it's needed. Thanks!

I’ve made this several times.

Good,put hbg in food chopper after cooking to make really fine

The original recipe was too sweet for our families liking, so I made the following adjustments: I added 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and 1 can of Stags chilli.

Delicious!! Even better the next day!!

I didn't add as much sugar as it calls for because I don't like my chili with a sweet taste.

It's a great recepie but not quite hot enough for me. I added 1 can of chipotles in adobo and I replaced the white sugar with raw brown sugar

The recipe is very good and easy to make, I believe it's the best hot dog chili recipes I've tried to date. The next time though I may reduce the chili powder by 1/2 tsp and use just 2. Overall excellent!

I used the rotel tomatos with green chillis after running them through the food proccessor and a Tbl of tomato paste and water. I also added garlic powder and onion powder. No sugar but a Tbls of mustard. I used the ketsup but I think that is probably why I felt it needed the mustard. It was a bit sweet for me until I added mustard. I always let chilli cook down for an hour. Very good!

This will be my go-to chili. Husband loved it!!

Made this as a quick addition to hotdog night. My mom said it was the best chilli she had ever had. That’s a very high acclaim to achieve. It is a sweet chilli but it doesn’t over power like some do. Will definitely make a gain

I added some tomato paste and it came out great