Ingredients
Makes about 8 cups, serving 6
In a large heavy kettle cook the onions and the garlic in the oil over moderate heat, stirring, until the onions are softened, add the beef, and cook the mixture, stirring and breaking up the lumps, until the beef is no longer pink. Add the chili powder, the paprika, the cumin, the coriander, the allspice, the orégano, the cayenne, the cinnamon, the cloves, and the mace and cook the mixture, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the bay leaf, the water, the tomato sauce, the vinegar, and the molasses and simmer the mixture, uncovered, stirring occasionally and adding more water if necessary to keep the beef barely covered, for 2 hours, or until it is thickened but soupy enough to be ladled. Discard the bay leaf and season the chili with salt and pepper. The chili may be frozen or made 4 days in advance, cooled, uncovered, and kept covered and chilled. Serve the chili as is or in the traditional Cincinnati "five-way" style: Ladle the chili over the spaghetti and top it with the beans, the onion, the Cheddar, and the oyster crackers.
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Reviews (75)
Back to TopYumm! So delicious. Used Garam masala instead of the spices. Also used canned roasted tomatoes and tomato paste. Served over pasta
cheerycook
DC
11/23/2015
This is the best chili recipe ever! I have made this one for many years now. Family & friends request it all the time for gatherings. I like to add a green pepper and 2 cans red kidney beans in the last half hour of cooking.
lynnallan
6/5/2014
Great recipe! i used half ground chuck and half ground pork...also vegetable broth added depth instead of water. A winner for football season
bethpeter61
Chicago, IL
9/9/2012
我同意ccsinclair但非常克罗se. I don't use some of the spices listed; coriander, clove and oregano or the cocoa and everyone here at home says mine is better than all the chili places around. Maybe so but I think Camp Washignton has mine beat. But I digress, I don't add the cocoa and definitely NOT molasses but if you want use unsweetend chocolate. And to make it vegetarian like one of the famous chili parlors use black beans instead of the beef. It's actaully really good this way.
TheBrattons
Cincinnati, Oh
2/2/2012
Well, this was good - but I could not make myself like it as much as I wanted to. It felt like at first that I had acciidentally kicked over my whole spice drawer into this dish (and I LOVE spices of all kinds!). So, I was surprised I did not like it more, tasted kinda muddied I guess (next time I will hold off on some of the paprika and chili powder at first and add to taste later). I halved the recipe and tried half with molasses as sweetener and half with the cocoa, brown sugar, and tomato paste combo a previous reviewer suggested. Everyone liked the cocoa/brown sugar combo better. Also, subbed 1/2 beans for the meat, we don't eat that much meat for everyday meals for conservation/environmental reasons. It was great (to me!) with the beans. We also tried it with all the toppings. The spaghetti was good for a change, but no match (in my opinion) for fresh-made tortillas browned in butter!
brittydear_cook
2/5/2011
This was a great recipe. The whole family chowed it down. I can't say if it is actually cincy style, but it tasted like a cross between the Texas and Cincinnati style chilis at hard times cafe. It was super easy and I plan to add it to my menu.
natandchew
24060
9/14/2010
I'm no chili expert, and I'd never even heard of Cincinnati chili, but I thought the seasonings in this looked intriguing, so tried it. I loved it! Very tasty. One question: the recipe says nothing about adding salt--is this a mistake? I added some and was pleased with the results, but would this be sacrilege to a true Cincinnatian?
Anonymous
bronx, ny
4/19/2009
I really love this. I pour it over crushed saltines and top it with cheddar and or sour cream and or onions. It's so damned good!
Anonymous
CA
6/20/2008
I improved on this recipe by doubling the amount of oregano and cinnamon and adding a tablespoon of backing cocoa and a tablespoon of Splenda. Having eaten Skyline chili in tghe past, the additions were necessary to duplicate the taste.
Anonymous
USA
2/23/2008
If I could give this abomination 0 forks, I would. As a Cincinnati kid born and bred, THIS AIN'T IT! For the insane people making this with tofu, serving it with rice, and stirring beans in with the meat --PLEASE STOP. Or don't call the dish Cincinnati chili. To start with, the ground beef is gently simmered with the spices, never browned. It has cocoa in it, not molasses. And it is always served over thin spaghetti, with a full handful of finely shredded Cheddar cheese on top. If you MUST be creative, go desecrate New Orleans' red beans and rice.
ccsinclair
Cincinnati, OH
2/22/2008
Thought this was too sweet. Just didn't care for the molasses flavoring on meat.
kathleenrl
Easton, CT
1/31/2008
I used the spices portion of this recipe to flavor my chili and it was really good. I thought the cinnamon was an interesting choice. Really good and will make it again.
chucker999
tampa, Fl
1/16/2008
I changed this a bunch, so I'm rating not the recipe itself, but the framework. I used 3 lbs 96/4 ground beef, so no fat to skim off, nutmeg for mace, brown sugar for molasses, no paprika, no chili powder but more cayenne pepper, 3 piquin peppers and one or two other dried peppers (I removed these at the end with the bay leaf). Also I added 2 cans of rinsed kidney beans and some leftover baked beans. Delicious balance of spicy & sweet!
Anonymous
WDC
11/5/2006
Excellent, with modifications. The cinnamon (plus spaghetti) make it "Greek" spaghetti, but more specifically other items (allspice, paprika, mace, cocoa, tomato paste, simmered meat, appropriate toppings, etc.) make it Cincinnati chili. This recipe is very close, but I agree with others that a few changes would bring it closer: cut chili powder by half or three quarters, or better yet add last to taste, sub an 8 oz can of tomato paste for the sauce, quadruple the cinnamon (and increase other sweet spices and cayenne, to taste), use brown sugar instead of molasses, add cocoa powder, let sit overnight, and skim fat. The large quantity of beef keeps it from being too runny. It serves 6 because everyone will want three plates. It's important to simmer the beef a long time instead of browning it; it falls apart into tiny bits so the chili is fairly homogenous in texture and taste. I've been a long time Ohio resident and avid fan of Cinci chili, for which there are many different recipes. I think the most agreed-upon taste is Skyline chili, the fast food chain (the frozen and canned stuff is good but too salty); the spice packets sold at Kroger's make a very satisfactory and quick substitute. Most feel it should top thin spaghetti and have shredded cheddar on top, with kidney beans and fresh chopped onion underneath, and optional. While very good with saltines or oyster crackers, it is amazingly good with spaghetti. I thought it was weird at first too, and ate it with cheese and crackers only, but when I finally tried it with spaghetti I was floored! Like others I became addicted. Please do try it with spaghetti rather than rice, I promise you'll love it!!
pippininthefield
Columbus, OH
8/11/2006
Fantastic!!!!! A real winner.
HLB123
1/26/2006
