I just love the change of seasons and one of the best things about moving from summer to fall is…Chili! We LOVE chili at our house and we have several different recipes that we frequently whip up but there are a few that make our “favorites” list.
My husband is from Cincinnati, where Skyline Chili is ‘The’ place to get your chili. It’s served up in the form of a 3-way, 4-way, 5-way or coney. Being from Maryland, I was a little unsure of this whole Skyline chili thing but I have to say that it didn’t take long to convince me.
The problem for our family is…you can’t get Skyline Chili in Maryland, so we had to find a recipe that would work. There are lots of recipes out there in the great big internet world and we’ve tried many of them. Most tasted NOTHING like the original but we finally found one that worked and with a little adding of this and subtracting of that, we think we got it pretty close to the original! So, I thought I would introduce it to all of you so that you could enjoy a new and exciting variation of chili this year.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 4 cups beef stock
- 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 oz. grated, unsweetened chocolate OR 2 1/2 tbsp cocoa
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/8 tsp bay leaf powder or 1 bay leaf
Optional Toppings:
- chopped onions
- finely shredded cheddar cheese
- kidney beans
- oyster crackers
Served over:
- spaghetti noodles OR
- hot dog on bun (best when bun is lightly steamed!)
Instructions:
- Brown ground beef and onion; then drain.
- Add beef stock and simmer for approximately 10 minutes.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and allow chili to simmer, uncovered for 1 hour.
- Remove the bay leaf and skim off the fat.
How do I eat this stuff?
3-way, 4-way, 5-way:
- Boil spaghetti and drain
- top with chili
- add one or more of the following: kidney beans, onions, chili
- serve with oyster crackers on the side
- ENJOY!
Cheese Coney:
- Boil your hot dogs (you want smaller dogs rather than the big Ball Park franks in this case)
- Lightly steam your buns (you can just toss them in the micro for a few seconds)
- Put your dog in the bun and top with chili, onion and cheese.
- For a really yummy treat…put a little mustard on the bun first!
- ENJOY!
It may seem like a lot of effort but it is well worth it! This is a perfect recipe for your next football party. We can’t wait to hear your reviews!
Oh…and the next time you are driving through Ohio, be sure to find a Skyline Chili restaurant and get the real thing. You can even visit their website and order some to have shipped directly to you. There’s nothing quite like it.
Jennifer Kline – Wife, mother of three, Executive Editor of The Zone Magazine and Ohio State fan by marriage! (Sorry Maryland fans!)
Do you have a favorite chili recipe? Send it to blogs@thezonemag.com. If we use your recipe for an upcoming Tasty Tuesday blog…you get a prize.
The Zone Magazine 
OH My Goodness!!! I love this recipe! Thank you!!! I always just buy it but it sure would be a good surprise for me to make it “homemade” for the hubby!!!
Thanks for sharing this!!!
Courtney
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This recipe is awful. Followed it t a tee and it came out bland. I ended up trashing the whole pot and buying cans.
Tried this recipe – used extra tomato sauce (28 oz.) can – served on spaghetti with shredded cheddar cheese – family loved it. If your not from Cincinnati you may expect a traditional chilli taste which skyline is not. Its a very unique flavor but excellent for a change from the tradional sauces.
Hi this is Elizabeth from Arizona ,my parents are from Cincinnati and so I’m very very familiar with Skyline Chili and love Cincinnati chili ! the only difference I would do to the above recipe ,which we’ve always done,when we’ve made it at home, even using the pre-made chili spice packet . you put the ground beef into the wet mixture raw and that way it becomes little bits of beef pieces and it just makes the chili not as chunky and it turns out better and more original.
I have been making this recipe As long as it’s been posted. I loved it but what did I know I didn’t have anything to compare it with. I had never had Skyline Chili before. That was until October of 2017 on our way to Washington DC We Came Upon a Skyline Chili I told my husband stop we have to eat there. I wasn’t dissatisfied for sure I looked at my husband I said this tastes just like my chili LOL. I would say this the recipe is as close as you can get
I have lived in Cincinnati all my life and gave up until recently ate Skyline once a week. I followed this exact recipe the first time and then tweaked it the second time. I think the flavor is improved by boiling the meat in the beef broth, using onion powder instead of actual onions when cooking, 3 tablespoons of chili powder, 1 tablespoon of cumin, I used 2 cans of tomato paste
My husband is from Cleveland and Skyline was a huge deal for him also. Before meeting him, I’d never had it. Until we visited his grandma in Cincinnati. Needless to say, I was hooked. We moved to Cleveland shortly after we married and were about 10 minutes from a Skyline restaurant. When we moved to Arizona we began relying on the cans we can buy at a Kroger type store. I also am an Ohio State fan by marriage, and can never go back, lol. Go Buckeyes!
This recipe is entirely wrong… no vinegar, no Worcestershire sauce, no chocolate or cocoa in real Cincinnati-style chili. Beef stock is not necessary either. Stop promulgating these false recipes!
Don’t forget mustard on bun before the dog!