Perfect for cookouts, here’s an easy and oh-so-tasty homemade hot dog chili recipe that you can also freeze. You’ll never buy canned again!
I don’t know about you, but I’m planning on doing a lot of relaxing this upcoming Labor Day.
If the weather cooperates, we’ll be firing up the grill and kicking back on our beautiful patio with friends and family.
I’ll be keeping the menu simple — burgers and dogs slathered with homemade hot dog chili, baked beans and salted watermelon for dessert.
I first shared this hot dog chili recipe earlier this summer on Today’s Creative Life. In case you missed it there, here are all the details.
Once you try this homemade hot dog chili, you'll never buy canned again! Great on burgers, too!Click To TweetOnce you try this scratch hot dog chili recipe, you’ll never buy canned again.
My husband loves his hot dogs served Carolina style — with chili, slaw and onions.
I love to slather this chili on brats with pickle relish and spicy mustard. It’s also great on hamburgers. Messy, but tasty.
So, whenever I make it, I cook a big batch and freeze the leftovers in individual dinner-sized portions. We freeze the leftover homemade hot dog chili flat in quart-size bags for easy storage and thawing. (If you do a lot of freezer meals, these clever bag holders are a great buy. They make easy work of filling freezer bags without making a mess.)
In some parts of America, people refer to chili as hot dog sauce. That’s due to the texture, which is much finer than meat-and-beans style chili, which is great from a bowl on a cold day. This chili is a condiment, like ketchup or mustard, that you spread on top of your hot dogs. So, you don’t want the beef chunky.
The best way to accomplish this is by adding water to the ground beef before you cook it.
It sounds weird, I know, and it’s not the most appetizing image either. But it makes for some mighty fine chili.
Just add enough water to cover the ground beef. Then break up with a wooden spoon. Or, if you’re really gung ho, dig your hands in and break up the meat by letting it squish through your (clean) fingers.
I let the ground beef soak while I’m sweating the onions and garlic. Then, I add the beef and water to the pan and let the meat brown slightly before adding the rest of the ingredients, simmering and reducing.
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- water
- 1 medium Vidalia onion or sweet onion finely diced
- 2 cloves of garlic finely diced
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups ketchup
- 1 Tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
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Place lean ground beef in a bowl and cover with water. Use a wooden spoon or your hands to break up the beef. Set aside.
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Over medium heat, saute diced onion and garlic in olive oil in a large saute pan or Dutch oven.
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Once the onion and garlic are soft, add the ground beef and water to the pan. Cook about 5 minutes, until the beef is no longer pink on the outside.
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Add ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, chili powder and Worcestershire sauce.
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Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until mixture has thickened and reduced and the beef is cooked through.
I’ve found that everybody has a preferred way of topping a hot dog. Some people even have rules about whether the ketchup should go under the dog or on top.
To make sure that everybody gets to have their hot dog their way, it’s always fun to set up a hot dog toppings bar with everybody’s favorite condiments.
I always add a few unexpected choices, like salsa or crumbled bacon, too.
If you enjoyed this recipe for homemade hot dog chili, be sure to check out these other cookout favorites:
Honey & Blue Cheese Kettle Potato Chips
Here in WV, you’ve got to have good chili to go with the sweetness of the slaw. Thank you for sharing at the Creative Muster Party. PINNED!
Can this sauce be frozen?
Yes, I freeze this all the time. I usually put it in a zippered bag and lay it flat in the freezer. When you’re ready to serve, just thaw, remove from the bag and reheat, either on the stove or in the microwave.
Nothing like a good chili & topped on a dog. Yum! Thanks for sharing at the #InspirationSpotlight party. See you again soon. Shared.
I made this chili recipe for a birthday cookout yesterday. I didn’t want to use two cups of ketchup because of the amount of sugar in ketchup so I used a small can of tomato paste instead and added a little water to “loosen it up”. I skipped the part about putting water on the beef, not sure why you did that. Everyone loved the chili, great recipe, thanks for sharing it.
Glad it worked out for you. I’ve also skipped the ketchup before when I was running low and used a mixture of tomato sauce and paste instead. The water is just used to break up the ground beef. I’ll admit that I don’t love looking at the beef soaking in the water, so I may try your method the next time.
HI – we are going to use this recipe for an office potluck. I need to serve 50. How many does the above serve? Thanks!
Sarah, I hope you get this reply in time. This recipe makes enough to top 6-8 hot dogs.
Hope the office potluck is a lot of fun. I still miss “goodie day,” the annual holiday feast at the newspaper where I used to work.
— Amy
My husband loves chili dogs. I’m not a big fan of the chili sauce in a can, so I did a search and came across this recipe. I really liked it and so did my husband. He won’t buy the cans any more lol. Thank you for sharing!!!
great recipe. I did 1 1/2 cups ketchup and 1/2 cup spicy BBQ sauce and added some Sambal for heat. Tasted great.
Ooh, I’m going to have to give your variation a try. I love spicy!
I’m late to the party on this one, but I have another suggestion some folks might like to try. Omit the water. After browning the beef, mash it up real good with a potato masher. Add the ketchup, etc., plus add in a can of beef consomme or beef broth, and allow to cook down to your preferred consistency. The consomme/broth does the job of the water while adding a little more beefy flavor. Another totally optional step, if you feel like messing with it at all, is to dump the cooked concoction into a food processor and give it a few whirls to break the meat down to a saucier style. This has worked well for me, but, I admit, I don’t always go to the extra trouble.
These are great tips. I’m going to have to try using the broth next time I make it! Thanks for sharing.
Could I make this ahead of time and reheat in a crockpot? Wanting this for a hot dog bar but won’t have a lot of time for actual cooking the day of the party. Thanks!
You can definitely make this ahead of time and reheat. We do that all the time. I even freeze the leftovers and reheat.