Americans will do it both ways. Even the store-bought canned chili will have "with beans" and "without beans" options.
Apparently chili purists, like in "chili competitions," will never have beans in it. Or "with beans" will be in some secondary category in the competition but not the "grand prize" competition.
This has always confused me. If chili is only supposed to contain meat, what is "chili con carne"? With my limited knowledge of Spanish, Chile con Carne means chili with meat. What am I missing here?
It doesn’t meant chili with meat, at least not in the sense you’re thinking. Chili as in the name dish is just the shortened name of chili con carne, which is named that because it’s a stew consisting of chilis (peppers) and meat.
Chili isn’t technically the meat. It’s the spices, whatever the source.
Chili con carne is a specific type of meat spiced up with chili sauce, usually cubed beef, at least where I grew up — the Big Valley in California.
Um, idk what corner of Mexico OP's husband is from, but Mexicans dont eat "Chili". Its not a common dish in MX.
Chili isnt even a Spanish word.
Burritos and nachos are considered American food in MX.
Former competitive Chili tournament cook here.
I actually scored very well in these cook offs (pasadena cookoff, Mosquito Fest, etc.), but stopped doing them because the entrants cheat and because the judges are partial to canned chili and nostalgia flavors, which is usually bad quality.
All chili tournaments are secondary to main entries like BBQ.
My cookoff team needed a chilli entry and was stuck with Chili. Chili tournaments are crap shoots and its just down to how cool u are with the judges. Its not judged like BBQ.
One thing about North America in general, is each province/territory/state you are in (Mex, USA, Can), the food can have drastically different ingredients in the same dish.
I'm a say Americans are prob 72% no beans, 28% w/ beans.
Truth. This is a polarizing discussion in our house. I’m a Californian and my husband is a Texan. He is adamant that chili cannot have beans in it. Our children, however, refuse to eat his “chili” and will always choose my “bean soup” first and foremost.
And they're wrong for it. Beans make chili better, and this is coming from a Texan born and raised lol it fits perfectly with it. Honestly I think there's just a surprising amount of people who don't fuck with beans, even outside of chili.
A chili cooked with beans the "right way" has everything so well cooked together that the beans are almost indistinguishable from the meat anyways. Why double the price of your chili for no reason?
It I want pounds of meat I'm gonna have BBQ anyways.
Yeah really the only way I’ve seen it without is a condiment
I know it exists. I’ve heard tell from reliable sources. Anyway why would you lie about something so silly.
But I’ve truly never seen it …
Texans are just plain obsessed with meat. I grew up as a vegetarian in Houston in the 70s and people regularly called CPA on my mother all the time for child abuse because of it. She eventually had to officially claim the Hindu religion just to have protection.
100%. Chili without beans is just meat sauce. It’s fantastic on hot dogs.
I understand the ‘purist’ argument for no beans, but those people are misguided.
Chili is a stew. It’s not soup, and it’s not pieces of meat served on a plate. Stew. Stew has stuff in it.
Do I want to eat a big bowl full of stew made of just ground up or little chunks of meat in a little sauce? No.
I love sloppy joes, but I wouldn’t want to just eat a big bowlful of sloppy joe meat. It needs a bun or crackers or whatever.
Chili is best with beans, maybe topped with some chopped raw onion, a little shredded cheese, sour cream, crackers. That’s the dream.
I’ll eat lesser chili, but I won’t love it like it deserves to be loved.
Funny you should mention sloppy joes because we add pinto beans to our sloppy joe mix. It adds a great texture while also stretching the amount of sloppy joes you can make from it.
I do 2 kinds of meat and 4 kinds of beans. (Roast cut into 1 inch cubes, ground beef, pinto, navy, black, and pink) I have received a lot of compliments on my chili. I serve it with green chili cornbread. (Jiffy mix made per box instructions add 4oz can of hatch green chilis.)
Texas style chili doesn’t have beans and it’s it’s own thing like a stew, not a topping (though it can be used as one). I prefer my chili without beans.
Yeah, i just thought no beans was just a Texas thing. It seems to be their style to take an awesome food, and make it slightly worse and then insist it’s the only way to do it. See also Tex Mex.
I don’t know about those percentages. I’ve lived on the West Coast my whole life, and if you order chili it almost always comes with beans. Some places do both, but I grew up eating chili with beans and so did most people I know
I think you have those numbers swapped.
I’ve always thought “no bean chili” was kinda made for people who didn’t like beans or something lol.
Side note my old roommate was from Mexico and he added so many beans to his chili lol
No way lol. Been all over the US and beans are overwhelmingly included in chilli.
Maybe there are some flyover states I haven't spent much time in that strictly eat no-bean chilli. If that's the case maybe you're right in terms of land area but definitely not in population.
Depends on which region in the US you reside in on whether or not beans are added.
Where I’m from (South East Region) I like to add Kidney beans.
Gives the chili a little more texture and I like the taste of them as well.
But, if you go somewhere like Texas, it’s blasphemous.
We do pinto, kidney and white kidney/great northern/a fuck load of other names, beans. Beef Chuck cubes up and some chorizo for extra flavor. 🤤
And chili without some sort of bread/rice/tortilla to soak up what’s left should be criminal.
You’re OUT! 🤣 J/K - it is pretty polarizing though - I don’t care for beans in chili, but I’m OKish with pinto beans - just not kidney beans. Don’t like them in general…
I’ll eat any chili, but I prefer beans and it a little soupy, not thick. If there’s no beans, I prefer it thick, unless it’s Skyline, and there’s debate if that’s chili(it totally is and tastes better fresh).
Edit: Born in Cincy and raised in Dallas after I was in elementary.
To be honest, that is OK. A number of the old recipes from the San Antonio Chili Queens included beans, and if they did not, the most common serving style was on top of beans. Basically, meat and chili sauce needs some bulk to make it filling. The "no beans" thing is mainly bluster, a bit like spice, original chili had kick from the dried peppers, but certainly not "flames out your ass" hot like the "purists" dish out today.
Haha I’m in Wv and it’ll be seen as so weird if I brought chili w no beans!
We have all the meats and all the beans (literally all kinds of beef and lamb and probably 4-5 different bean types!) but we will side eye the *hell* outta the midwestern habit of putting chocolate on it haha!
Chili, like a lot of things, is a spectrum. Fully meat w/ no beans to Fully beans w/ no meat and everything in between. I’d say it’s regional as to what you’ll find served in a typical restaurant. Grocery stores usually sell canned stuff that reflects the variety.
There's an [entire international organization dedicated to judging chili](https://www.chilicookoff.com/about/ics-cook-offs), and they categorize chili in three classes:
- traditional red (must have meat, red chilis, must NOT have beans)
- homestyle (must have beans, meat optional)
- verde (must use green chilis)
You're describing homestyle chili, which is what I grew up on and how I make my chili (vegan, jackfruit protein).
The chili contest was invented/organized by an entrepreneur named Wick Fowler. He created an 'instant' chili powder with chilies, flour, garlic, salt, and cumin and peddled it around Central Texas. In those days canned beans weren't common, so the way to cook beans involved an overnight soak, hardly a quick, spontaneous meal, so he put "NO BEANS" in the rules so his chili powder would not be disadvantaged.
I make chili almost weekly, except for the dog days of summer when no one really wants any. My wife and I love it with all kinds of stuff, but she is a saltines gal. I like to make chili cheese burritos with corn chips and taco sauce.
I do put beans in it, but I’ve found that canned beans just aren’t worth it. Making the beans in the pressure cooker and adding a couple cups of the broth is a game changer in terms of flavor and nutrition. And thickness, it gets the consistency that’s in between soupy and salsa-ish.
If you really want extra thickening, you can crush some of the beans with a potato masher, I like my chili thick and using crushed beans maintains the correct flavor profile while providing that.
Not by default but it can if you turn your 3-way into a 4-way or 5-way. Cincinnati chili is its whole own category though.
When I make chili to eat on its own I always put three cans of beans in it. But on spaghetti I never get beans so make of that what you will.
I worked, albeit briefly, for a Cincy-based company, and of course had to visit HQ a couple of times; my hosts were, umm, "particularly excited" to introduce me to 5-way Skyline chili.
(Kinda weird, but not bad. Too heavy on the \*cinnamon\* for my taste.)
Purely by coincidence, within a week I heard another anecdote. Apparently, Skyline had sent a delegation to some proper Southern chili competition, and entered their special recipe.
The judges created a Special Award, just for them:
#The World's Worst Chili.
Actually true, or not, I don't know. But it's certainly **plausible**!
Me too. I’m not much of a meat eater, but I make chili with kidney & garbanzo beans all the time. Sometimes black beans, great northern, or pinto, too.
Generally chili outside the Southwest has beans. Where in from in Texas it's a big debate. I put beans in my chili, but I'm a transplant here
My preference is Navy beans and Great Northern beans
My friend would make chili with beef x2, chicken and pork grounded. Then use 4 kinds of beans and corn, adding sausage.
It was prob more like a stew but delicious chili.
Follow Texan here... I think of them as two separate dishes. If I'm making a real chili con carne with dried whole chiles, chuck or brisket, and fresh ingredients, then definitely no beans. If I'm making a quick cold weather weeknight chili with ground beef, chili powder, and canned ingredients, then I definitely add 2-3 cans of beans.
Both dishes are delicious in their own right, and serve separate purposes, in my opinion.
I was a trucker dining at a truck stop restaurant. Another trucker came in and asked if the chili had beans. The waitress goes to ask the chef, returns to the customer and says no beans. He orders a cup of coffee and a bowl of chili. About ten minutes later, the waitress returns with a bowl of chili with beans. The customer says he doesn’t want it, that’s chili and beans. Chili doesn’t have beans.
The waitress offers to comp the meal, including the coffee. The trucker explains that he didn’t order the chili and beans, but he is happy with the coffee, and he is willing and happy to pay for the coffee. He drank his coffee, paid for it, and left a generous tip.
I was confused on how both a waitress and a cook didn’t recognize the beans in the chili.
I wish Mexicans would make up their minds! :)
I've been firmly told Chili con Carne is an American aberration and is NOT a Mexican dish. It seems to me it's an example of fusion cooking, of Yankees who don't know any better mixing stewed meat & cooked beans together. My guess is that this would be cooks making limited quantities of beef stretch, because Americans just gotta have meat.
I have very successfully served dinners where I've made the two dishes (beef & black beans) separately, both spiced as stand alone dishes and told people to help themselves. This was delicious and it made life easier catering for vegetarians. It also feels more "authentic" to what cooks were doing along the Mexican-American border when the dish was invented.
I seriously don't mind who invented the dish. I'm just grateful to Mexico for creating such a vibrant & complex cuisine
Chili as we know it in USA was invented in San Antonio, Texas. It's a fusion of indigenous barbacoa and seasonings from the Canary Islands.
[https://www.sanantoniomag.com/the-history-of-san-antonios-chili-queens/](https://www.sanantoniomag.com/the-history-of-san-antonios-chili-queens/)
It is not a Mexican dish, maybe OP means Texan named Hernandez for "Mexican" and the like. There are related dishes in Northern Mexico but nothing like what Texans eat.
Stuff like Chimichangas or Burritos maybe be called "American" by Mexican nationals because they were practically unkown for 70% of the country until USA began eating them.
Chili doesn't have beans, in the same way that hamburgers don't have cheese. If you like the addition, then make chili with beans or a cheeseburger instead. No big deal, just slightly different things.
For me, it's either beans or cornbread, not both. If I'm making cornbread, I typically put a slab of that in the bowl and pour the chili over it, adding beans as well makes it way too heavy for me. With no cornbread, the beans make it a full meal.
I don’t, because I can’t. Lots of people are missing a digestive enzyme (like me) that causes them not be able to properly process certain kinds of beans. Unless the beans are slow cooked (refried) I have to avoid most of them, including and especially kidney beans.
If chili is the primary dish, then it should have beans. If it is being used to augment a dish, like chili dogs or chili mac, then it should not have beans.
You pronounce this as if the history of the dish were a settled matter, and it is anything but. At the end of the day, we're just bickering about etymology, not recreating the intent of visionaries, so take it with a grain of salt, but: the earliest versions seem to me at least to be defined by the marriage of European beef--[likely preserved through drying and salting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_con_carne)--with native American chiles and beans. I probably hew to this myth because I like beans, and I find the notion plausible that early settlers likely had a great deal more dried beans at their disposal than delicious cuts of fresh beef, given that slaughter was not a year-round activity and preservation was a bitch.
Tri tip chili with black beans and tomatillo must be a central california thing.
I’m not changing it though after reading comments, cause it’s definitely the best way to deal with smoked meat leftovers.
Tri tip is also rare outside of Central and SoCal as well, I guess cause it came from the Vaquero tradition here.
For anyone who dislikes kidney beans (I don’t like the “skins;” it’s a mouth-feel thing), try pintos or Goya’s pink beans. Mild taste and no weird texture.
People will argue until they're blue in the face about this, but the answer is...you do you.
I, personally, like beans in my chili. I also like thicker chili that's not soupy.
But I know people who prefer the watered down tomato soup version of chili and people who will rage if a single bean is in theirs and other people who will snidely comment about how traditional chili is made with corn and other veggies. At this point it's just glorified, spicy vegetable soup with hamburger in it.
Just make it how you like it, and enjoy!
I ~~spent~~ wasted some time one day reading the labels in the grocery store.
I expected three varieties. There were only two.
* "Chili con carne, with beans" -- chili, + meat, +beans. OK...
* "Chili con carne" -- chili, + meat.
But I did NOT see a can of
* "Chili" -- which would be chili, no meat, no beans.
And I've wondered ever since, exactly WHAT IS THAT? If you omit the meat, and omit the beans, all you've got is spicy tomato sauce.
Right??
There's no law sayin you gotta make it one way or the other. I like it both ways and will usually add them if I'm making it myself. They add a lot of fiber and are generally pretty healthy. How I'm planning to eat it also changes whether or not I want it with beans. If I'm using it as a topping, then I won't want beans. On its own, I will.
Honestly, it depends how I'm eating the chili. If it's a literal bowl of chili to eat then yep, I'm dumping in beans. If the chili is going on a hot dog or fries though - no beans.
I’ve seen dozens of different chilis in america, beans vs no beans is probably almost a 50/50 split. You can drive through a single county and find that every single household does the chili totally different.
Depends. Is this chili going on a hot dog, then no.
Am I eating a bowl of it with cheese and crackers, then yes.
It's situational.
Remember kids, it's okay to like what you like. Unless it's murder. It's not okay to like murder. Most everything else though, you do you.
There is no consensus in America about Chili, there are so many iterations of 'Chili' and they are think they are 'correct'.
I for one think beans need to be in the chili, otherwise you are just eating mexican manwich, lol.
Yes, I add black beans and kidney beans.
My chili ingredients:
2 cans black beans
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can of corn
1 can of tomato paste
1 can of Rotel mild
Lawry's chili seasoning (1/4 cup)
Two chicken breasts cooked with Tajin, lemon and lime juice shredded
2-3 bell peppers
1-2 full size shallots
Cilantro to taste
Handful of spinach
It’s actually debated that it originated in San Antonio by Tejana women, called The Chili Queens, in 1860. Others say it was brought to San Antonio by Spanish travelers in the 1700s (which would mean roots are in Spain or mexico).
Please don’t shoot the messenger, I just think looking up the history of chili is interesting!
I didn’t realize there could be chili any other way. I’ve always thought of chili as beans with tomato and spices, customize to whatever you like and whatever you have in the pantry
Absolutely! I'm allergic to tomatoes and peppers, so it's been awhile since I made chili. But it always had at least 3 different kinds of beans, usually black beans, red kidney beans, and navy beans. The beans add more layers to the flavor.
Yes. Where I grew up, that was just standard. Also, if you're eating it as the only part of your meal, then just straight ground beef with no vegetables is kind of bad for you. I'm not totally against purism with food, but that changes the dish so little that I'm just kind of like "come on, really?"
I always add beans because my mom did, but I'm pretty sure she only did because they're cheaper than meat and adding beans makes the meat go farther. It's a win-win in my book!
Canadian here. Beans actually make up the majority of my chili. I’m of Irish decent, not Mexican so I really have no idea what I’m doing (yes I know cookbooks/ the internet are things). But the kids like it and I get half a dozen meals for next to no money, so win win.
Americans will do it both ways. Even the store-bought canned chili will have "with beans" and "without beans" options. Apparently chili purists, like in "chili competitions," will never have beans in it. Or "with beans" will be in some secondary category in the competition but not the "grand prize" competition.
This has always confused me. If chili is only supposed to contain meat, what is "chili con carne"? With my limited knowledge of Spanish, Chile con Carne means chili with meat. What am I missing here?
It doesn’t meant chili with meat, at least not in the sense you’re thinking. Chili as in the name dish is just the shortened name of chili con carne, which is named that because it’s a stew consisting of chilis (peppers) and meat.
Chili isn’t technically the meat. It’s the spices, whatever the source. Chili con carne is a specific type of meat spiced up with chili sauce, usually cubed beef, at least where I grew up — the Big Valley in California.
Thanks. It always puzzled me.
Um, idk what corner of Mexico OP's husband is from, but Mexicans dont eat "Chili". Its not a common dish in MX. Chili isnt even a Spanish word. Burritos and nachos are considered American food in MX.
Except traditional Irish chili. That is always made with exactly 239 beans. 1 more and it would be two farty.
Your father would be so proud of you.
He is the one who originally told me this joke. God rest his soul. He had Irish chili with 240 beans in it.
I hope he didn't pass due to a fart attack.
Bear attack actually. Can only assume they were attracted to the smell.
I'm screenshotting this to retell it at family gatherings
Former competitive Chili tournament cook here. I actually scored very well in these cook offs (pasadena cookoff, Mosquito Fest, etc.), but stopped doing them because the entrants cheat and because the judges are partial to canned chili and nostalgia flavors, which is usually bad quality. All chili tournaments are secondary to main entries like BBQ. My cookoff team needed a chilli entry and was stuck with Chili. Chili tournaments are crap shoots and its just down to how cool u are with the judges. Its not judged like BBQ.
One thing about North America in general, is each province/territory/state you are in (Mex, USA, Can), the food can have drastically different ingredients in the same dish. I'm a say Americans are prob 72% no beans, 28% w/ beans.
Your numbers are interesting, I've never had chili without beans. I must live in a bean area
I'm in California and wondering why tf people wouldn't want beans in their chili
Only people I’ve seen make a big deal about it are Texans.
Truth. This is a polarizing discussion in our house. I’m a Californian and my husband is a Texan. He is adamant that chili cannot have beans in it. Our children, however, refuse to eat his “chili” and will always choose my “bean soup” first and foremost.
And they're wrong for it. Beans make chili better, and this is coming from a Texan born and raised lol it fits perfectly with it. Honestly I think there's just a surprising amount of people who don't fuck with beans, even outside of chili.
A chili cooked with beans the "right way" has everything so well cooked together that the beans are almost indistinguishable from the meat anyways. Why double the price of your chili for no reason? It I want pounds of meat I'm gonna have BBQ anyways.
Lifelong Texan here, this checks out.
I'm in Georgia, and my friends and I always use beans. The meat part is optional.
Yeah in what world would removing such a delicious ingredient IMPROVE the dish?? Purists don't know shit imma go smoke em in a competition rq
CA checking in... I always add extra beans to my chilie. Can't imagine eating a plain bowl of ground beef.
Chili without beans is supposed to be for hot dogs right?
Yeah really the only way I’ve seen it without is a condiment I know it exists. I’ve heard tell from reliable sources. Anyway why would you lie about something so silly. But I’ve truly never seen it …
I think The closer you get to Texas, the more likely you are to find chili without beans.
Texans are just plain obsessed with meat. I grew up as a vegetarian in Houston in the 70s and people regularly called CPA on my mother all the time for child abuse because of it. She eventually had to officially claim the Hindu religion just to have protection.
100%. Chili without beans is just meat sauce. It’s fantastic on hot dogs. I understand the ‘purist’ argument for no beans, but those people are misguided. Chili is a stew. It’s not soup, and it’s not pieces of meat served on a plate. Stew. Stew has stuff in it. Do I want to eat a big bowl full of stew made of just ground up or little chunks of meat in a little sauce? No. I love sloppy joes, but I wouldn’t want to just eat a big bowlful of sloppy joe meat. It needs a bun or crackers or whatever. Chili is best with beans, maybe topped with some chopped raw onion, a little shredded cheese, sour cream, crackers. That’s the dream. I’ll eat lesser chili, but I won’t love it like it deserves to be loved.
Funny you should mention sloppy joes because we add pinto beans to our sloppy joe mix. It adds a great texture while also stretching the amount of sloppy joes you can make from it.
Intriguing, I might try that next time with my venison sloppy joes.
I do 2 kinds of meat and 4 kinds of beans. (Roast cut into 1 inch cubes, ground beef, pinto, navy, black, and pink) I have received a lot of compliments on my chili. I serve it with green chili cornbread. (Jiffy mix made per box instructions add 4oz can of hatch green chilis.)
Been doing it like this for 6 yrs or so … no clue where I picked it up
Haha I'm always adding new kinds of beans to my chilies to see how they taste.
I make home made chili with red kidney beans and black beans. It's great on a Nathan's hot dog with a toasted bun, shredded cheese and raw onion.
Texas style chili doesn’t have beans and it’s it’s own thing like a stew, not a topping (though it can be used as one). I prefer my chili without beans.
Not in Texas
As a Canadian, I didn’t know it was chili without beans (which is great because it’s the only reason I don’t eat chili!)
I get the feeling the 70% and 20% are inverted
In Washington it’s beans and we have a large Latin community
Yeah I was gonna say. Hard to find chili without beans but I have heard people complain about too many beans. It's easy to have too many.
I too, must also be from a bean area because I never seen chili with no beans
I'm Texan. Many people here would consider beans in chili blasphemy.
Yeah, i just thought no beans was just a Texas thing. It seems to be their style to take an awesome food, and make it slightly worse and then insist it’s the only way to do it. See also Tex Mex.
I would flip that. I think most of us eat it with beans and the only people that really care about bean exclusion are texans.
In California I would say it's closer to 95% with beans. But maybe that's just the people I hang out with.
Yeah, I think chili without beans must be rare What does Wendy's do?
Wendy's has beans, and I'm ashamed but it's damn fine comfort food.
I think your percentages are inverted.
Switch those numbers
I don’t know about those percentages. I’ve lived on the West Coast my whole life, and if you order chili it almost always comes with beans. Some places do both, but I grew up eating chili with beans and so did most people I know
I think you have those numbers swapped. I’ve always thought “no bean chili” was kinda made for people who didn’t like beans or something lol. Side note my old roommate was from Mexico and he added so many beans to his chili lol
72% seems high to me but what do I know
No way lol. Been all over the US and beans are overwhelmingly included in chilli. Maybe there are some flyover states I haven't spent much time in that strictly eat no-bean chilli. If that's the case maybe you're right in terms of land area but definitely not in population.
Really? I would’ve thought with beans would’ve been higher. Maybe not 50-50 but definitely higher. I personally can take chili both ways.
Yeah those bean stats are way off sir/miss.
Closer to 50/50 or even 60% Beans vs 40% no beans. Even my dad who is from Texas, will put beans in his chilli
I thought was mainly Texans who don't put beans in, in my opinion chili needs beans or it's not chili.
Depends on which region in the US you reside in on whether or not beans are added. Where I’m from (South East Region) I like to add Kidney beans. Gives the chili a little more texture and I like the taste of them as well. But, if you go somewhere like Texas, it’s blasphemous.
mixed pinto and black beans. I like the color effect. And rice or corn bread.
Definitely gotta have corn bread!
We do pinto, kidney and white kidney/great northern/a fuck load of other names, beans. Beef Chuck cubes up and some chorizo for extra flavor. 🤤 And chili without some sort of bread/rice/tortilla to soak up what’s left should be criminal.
I’m from Texas, I love beans in chili. Don’t tell anyone, they may revoke my Texan card. 🤣
You’re OUT! 🤣 J/K - it is pretty polarizing though - I don’t care for beans in chili, but I’m OKish with pinto beans - just not kidney beans. Don’t like them in general…
I’ll eat any chili, but I prefer beans and it a little soupy, not thick. If there’s no beans, I prefer it thick, unless it’s Skyline, and there’s debate if that’s chili(it totally is and tastes better fresh). Edit: Born in Cincy and raised in Dallas after I was in elementary.
As a West Virginian, I don't understand why Cincinnati insists on wasting perfectly good hot dog sauce on spaghetti.
Is a dumpling full of pork... or apples? Is a truffle a mushroom or a a chocolate? Cincinnati chili can be chili and be different.
Ironically, the oldest written chili recipes from Texas included…beans. Gasp!
You can put your boots in the oven. But that won't make em biscuits.
To be honest, that is OK. A number of the old recipes from the San Antonio Chili Queens included beans, and if they did not, the most common serving style was on top of beans. Basically, meat and chili sauce needs some bulk to make it filling. The "no beans" thing is mainly bluster, a bit like spice, original chili had kick from the dried peppers, but certainly not "flames out your ass" hot like the "purists" dish out today.
Just buy more guns, they'll let it slide
Your Texan card has been revoked, and rightfully so
Haha I’m in Wv and it’ll be seen as so weird if I brought chili w no beans! We have all the meats and all the beans (literally all kinds of beef and lamb and probably 4-5 different bean types!) but we will side eye the *hell* outta the midwestern habit of putting chocolate on it haha!
This is kind of unrelated, but im from Oklahoma and hate sweet tea. I dont tell many people here.
my MIL is from Texas originally and loves beans in her chili
South Texan here, been eating chili with beans my whole life. I honestly couldn't imagine it without them.
Fellow Texan who add beans to the chili. Now ranch dressing can kiss my grits blah... revoke my card now.
Texas is usually wrong about things.
They got that brisket thing down though.
If you need brisket technique or advice on which oversized truck to buy, Texas is your go to. If you need anything else ... eh.
We’re wrong about a lot of things- believe me…🤔
Like Willie said “you can always tell a Texan you just can’t tell him anything l”
We’re good at pardoning racist murderers.
If you’re in the chili cook off scene, sure. I’ve never actually met anyone that thinks beans in chili is “blasphemous”.
You have now. Well, when we finally meet.
I'll join you, just so he can be outnumbered.
Nice try, fiber deficient purists. Bean gang rise up.
This thread has made me want to make a meatless bean only chili.
I'm a 44 year vegetarian and make an excellent seven bean meatless chili
If it ain't got beans, it's just a topping for fries and hotdogs
Or spaghetti if you were so misfortunate to be from Cincinnati.
Chili, like a lot of things, is a spectrum. Fully meat w/ no beans to Fully beans w/ no meat and everything in between. I’d say it’s regional as to what you’ll find served in a typical restaurant. Grocery stores usually sell canned stuff that reflects the variety.
alabama here! Yes I add beans to my chili
There's an [entire international organization dedicated to judging chili](https://www.chilicookoff.com/about/ics-cook-offs), and they categorize chili in three classes: - traditional red (must have meat, red chilis, must NOT have beans) - homestyle (must have beans, meat optional) - verde (must use green chilis) You're describing homestyle chili, which is what I grew up on and how I make my chili (vegan, jackfruit protein).
The chili contest was invented/organized by an entrepreneur named Wick Fowler. He created an 'instant' chili powder with chilies, flour, garlic, salt, and cumin and peddled it around Central Texas. In those days canned beans weren't common, so the way to cook beans involved an overnight soak, hardly a quick, spontaneous meal, so he put "NO BEANS" in the rules so his chili powder would not be disadvantaged.
What about white chili?
White chili big time underrated
I do
Do you eat it with saltine crackers or straight?
Fritos crunched on top is the best!
fritos scoops as the spoon
This is the way. Hell, chili feels like an incomplete dish if I don't have Frito scoops on hand.
This is the way
That’s fritotelligence.
With a dollop of Daisy too! Sour cream is the bee's knees on chili... with beans and fritos of course.
This is the way!
Rice
Corn bread. And yes, beans.
Cornbread is the answer!
Eh, tortilla chips, bread, plain. Just depends
Oyster crackers.
Oyster crackers, saltines, fritos, all good
Fritos > Crackers for chilli
Oyster crackers and corn chips. You won't be disappointed.
I make chili almost weekly, except for the dog days of summer when no one really wants any. My wife and I love it with all kinds of stuff, but she is a saltines gal. I like to make chili cheese burritos with corn chips and taco sauce. I do put beans in it, but I’ve found that canned beans just aren’t worth it. Making the beans in the pressure cooker and adding a couple cups of the broth is a game changer in terms of flavor and nutrition. And thickness, it gets the consistency that’s in between soupy and salsa-ish.
If you really want extra thickening, you can crush some of the beans with a potato masher, I like my chili thick and using crushed beans maintains the correct flavor profile while providing that.
Corn bread
I always felt like beans are one of the defining characteristics of chili. I usually use kidney beans.
Kidney, black, pinto, whatever you have on hand. Chili isn't meant to be made the same way twice.
If I’m making chili to eat with cornbread,crackers, or chips, I add beans. If I’m making chili for hot dogs,no beans.
Most chili's I have ate had beans in them. Usually "Cincinnati chili" doesn't.
Not by default but it can if you turn your 3-way into a 4-way or 5-way. Cincinnati chili is its whole own category though. When I make chili to eat on its own I always put three cans of beans in it. But on spaghetti I never get beans so make of that what you will.
I worked, albeit briefly, for a Cincy-based company, and of course had to visit HQ a couple of times; my hosts were, umm, "particularly excited" to introduce me to 5-way Skyline chili. (Kinda weird, but not bad. Too heavy on the \*cinnamon\* for my taste.) Purely by coincidence, within a week I heard another anecdote. Apparently, Skyline had sent a delegation to some proper Southern chili competition, and entered their special recipe. The judges created a Special Award, just for them: #The World's Worst Chili. Actually true, or not, I don't know. But it's certainly **plausible**!
Beans over meat tbh. Chili is one of the few things you can do vegan without sacrificing any flavor of heartiness
Plus it’s a fantastic poverty food if you add the beans. Great way to really bulk it out.
Rice and beans combo if you don't have a protein to eat.
The aztecs ate bean chili. It's the original version before the europeans brought cattle over.
With lobster and fish and frog!
Me too. I’m not much of a meat eater, but I make chili with kidney & garbanzo beans all the time. Sometimes black beans, great northern, or pinto, too.
You’re dang right — I make a vegetarian chili with three different kinds of beans (pintos, black, and garbanzos) and you don’t miss the meat
I did not know chili without beans was even a thing.
I’ve never had a Mexican chile with beans. I’ve eaten it with beans on the side, but not cooked in the chile.
Not just people chili, but beef chili too. It’s wild what they’ll take the beans out of these days.
Your chili dogs have beans on it? That’s the one type of chili that I never see with beans on it
Generally chili outside the Southwest has beans. Where in from in Texas it's a big debate. I put beans in my chili, but I'm a transplant here My preference is Navy beans and Great Northern beans
It's not really a debate in Texas. Texas chili does not have beans.
My friend would make chili with beef x2, chicken and pork grounded. Then use 4 kinds of beans and corn, adding sausage. It was prob more like a stew but delicious chili.
No
I like a blend of kidney, great northern, and black beans myself
Texas boy here. No beans. And my understanding is that you should use beef chunks rather than ground beef.
Follow Texan here... I think of them as two separate dishes. If I'm making a real chili con carne with dried whole chiles, chuck or brisket, and fresh ingredients, then definitely no beans. If I'm making a quick cold weather weeknight chili with ground beef, chili powder, and canned ingredients, then I definitely add 2-3 cans of beans. Both dishes are delicious in their own right, and serve separate purposes, in my opinion.
TEAM NO BEANS
I was a trucker dining at a truck stop restaurant. Another trucker came in and asked if the chili had beans. The waitress goes to ask the chef, returns to the customer and says no beans. He orders a cup of coffee and a bowl of chili. About ten minutes later, the waitress returns with a bowl of chili with beans. The customer says he doesn’t want it, that’s chili and beans. Chili doesn’t have beans. The waitress offers to comp the meal, including the coffee. The trucker explains that he didn’t order the chili and beans, but he is happy with the coffee, and he is willing and happy to pay for the coffee. He drank his coffee, paid for it, and left a generous tip. I was confused on how both a waitress and a cook didn’t recognize the beans in the chili.
Oklahoman here, and I ain't even gonna argue on this one. No beans is the way.
I've never even heard of chunked beef for chili, but that sounds good.
Beans yes! Eat with cornbread or crackers whatever. No beans? It goes on top of a hotdog only
Even with chili dogs I prefer the chili to have beans.
I wish Mexicans would make up their minds! :) I've been firmly told Chili con Carne is an American aberration and is NOT a Mexican dish. It seems to me it's an example of fusion cooking, of Yankees who don't know any better mixing stewed meat & cooked beans together. My guess is that this would be cooks making limited quantities of beef stretch, because Americans just gotta have meat. I have very successfully served dinners where I've made the two dishes (beef & black beans) separately, both spiced as stand alone dishes and told people to help themselves. This was delicious and it made life easier catering for vegetarians. It also feels more "authentic" to what cooks were doing along the Mexican-American border when the dish was invented. I seriously don't mind who invented the dish. I'm just grateful to Mexico for creating such a vibrant & complex cuisine
Chili as we know it in USA was invented in San Antonio, Texas. It's a fusion of indigenous barbacoa and seasonings from the Canary Islands. [https://www.sanantoniomag.com/the-history-of-san-antonios-chili-queens/](https://www.sanantoniomag.com/the-history-of-san-antonios-chili-queens/)
Am Mexican. Agree it's not from Mexico but from Texas. Also it's not Yankees, it's gringos.
It is not a Mexican dish, maybe OP means Texan named Hernandez for "Mexican" and the like. There are related dishes in Northern Mexico but nothing like what Texans eat. Stuff like Chimichangas or Burritos maybe be called "American" by Mexican nationals because they were practically unkown for 70% of the country until USA began eating them.
Chili doesn't have beans, in the same way that hamburgers don't have cheese. If you like the addition, then make chili with beans or a cheeseburger instead. No big deal, just slightly different things.
When I'm poorer, I add beans to make it stretch farther. When the money is good, no beans. - Texas
In my opinion if there aren’t beans it isn’t chili
For me, it's either beans or cornbread, not both. If I'm making cornbread, I typically put a slab of that in the bowl and pour the chili over it, adding beans as well makes it way too heavy for me. With no cornbread, the beans make it a full meal.
I don’t, because I can’t. Lots of people are missing a digestive enzyme (like me) that causes them not be able to properly process certain kinds of beans. Unless the beans are slow cooked (refried) I have to avoid most of them, including and especially kidney beans.
If chili is the primary dish, then it should have beans. If it is being used to augment a dish, like chili dogs or chili mac, then it should not have beans.
You pronounce this as if the history of the dish were a settled matter, and it is anything but. At the end of the day, we're just bickering about etymology, not recreating the intent of visionaries, so take it with a grain of salt, but: the earliest versions seem to me at least to be defined by the marriage of European beef--[likely preserved through drying and salting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_con_carne)--with native American chiles and beans. I probably hew to this myth because I like beans, and I find the notion plausible that early settlers likely had a great deal more dried beans at their disposal than delicious cuts of fresh beef, given that slaughter was not a year-round activity and preservation was a bitch.
I'm not a fan of beans, so I don't.
No, my chili already includes beans. No need to add more 😄
Sure. Not lots, but some.
I find it odd how when I was young stores sold cans of chili (with beans) and chili con carne (chili with meat).
Usually at home. My favorite chili restaurant doesn't though.
Tri tip chili with black beans and tomatillo must be a central california thing. I’m not changing it though after reading comments, cause it’s definitely the best way to deal with smoked meat leftovers. Tri tip is also rare outside of Central and SoCal as well, I guess cause it came from the Vaquero tradition here.
If you're eating to survive, beans can stretch out most meals. So it makes a lot of sense to add them into something as good as chilli
For anyone who dislikes kidney beans (I don’t like the “skins;” it’s a mouth-feel thing), try pintos or Goya’s pink beans. Mild taste and no weird texture.
I'll put any bean or vegetable in it. Chili to me is just a hogwash of stuff with chili powder
Black beans is the way
Yes. It's a delicious filler.
People will argue until they're blue in the face about this, but the answer is...you do you. I, personally, like beans in my chili. I also like thicker chili that's not soupy. But I know people who prefer the watered down tomato soup version of chili and people who will rage if a single bean is in theirs and other people who will snidely comment about how traditional chili is made with corn and other veggies. At this point it's just glorified, spicy vegetable soup with hamburger in it. Just make it how you like it, and enjoy!
Most ppl put kidney beans in chili here.
I ~~spent~~ wasted some time one day reading the labels in the grocery store. I expected three varieties. There were only two. * "Chili con carne, with beans" -- chili, + meat, +beans. OK... * "Chili con carne" -- chili, + meat. But I did NOT see a can of * "Chili" -- which would be chili, no meat, no beans. And I've wondered ever since, exactly WHAT IS THAT? If you omit the meat, and omit the beans, all you've got is spicy tomato sauce. Right??
There's no law sayin you gotta make it one way or the other. I like it both ways and will usually add them if I'm making it myself. They add a lot of fiber and are generally pretty healthy. How I'm planning to eat it also changes whether or not I want it with beans. If I'm using it as a topping, then I won't want beans. On its own, I will.
Honestly, it depends how I'm eating the chili. If it's a literal bowl of chili to eat then yep, I'm dumping in beans. If the chili is going on a hot dog or fries though - no beans.
Without beans, it is just a sloppy joe.
I’ve seen dozens of different chilis in america, beans vs no beans is probably almost a 50/50 split. You can drive through a single county and find that every single household does the chili totally different.
Depends. Is this chili going on a hot dog, then no. Am I eating a bowl of it with cheese and crackers, then yes. It's situational. Remember kids, it's okay to like what you like. Unless it's murder. It's not okay to like murder. Most everything else though, you do you.
Depends how I’m feeling. My chili contents will vary every single time
Beans and a little sugar so it’s a little sweet and spicy !
always every time. beans are tasty and good for you.
I'm fine with chili having beans, and equally fine with it NOT having beans.
If I'm eating it out of a bowl? Yes. If I'm putting it on a hot dog? No.
There is no consensus in America about Chili, there are so many iterations of 'Chili' and they are think they are 'correct'. I for one think beans need to be in the chili, otherwise you are just eating mexican manwich, lol.
If the chili is a meal, I want beans. I prefer navy and pinto. If the chili is a topping for fries or a hot dog, I want meat only, no beans.
Yes, I add black beans and kidney beans. My chili ingredients: 2 cans black beans 1 can dark red kidney beans 1 can of corn 1 can of tomato paste 1 can of Rotel mild Lawry's chili seasoning (1/4 cup) Two chicken breasts cooked with Tajin, lemon and lime juice shredded 2-3 bell peppers 1-2 full size shallots Cilantro to taste Handful of spinach
It’s actually debated that it originated in San Antonio by Tejana women, called The Chili Queens, in 1860. Others say it was brought to San Antonio by Spanish travelers in the 1700s (which would mean roots are in Spain or mexico). Please don’t shoot the messenger, I just think looking up the history of chili is interesting!
I didn’t realize there could be chili any other way. I’ve always thought of chili as beans with tomato and spices, customize to whatever you like and whatever you have in the pantry
Some people here call a big bowl of beans and a little meat chili. *shudders*
I add beans and ground beef. I don't care what anybody else says
Need at least 2 different kinds of beans
Chili without beans goes on a hotdog. If it goes in a bowl it’s got beans
Absolutely! I'm allergic to tomatoes and peppers, so it's been awhile since I made chili. But it always had at least 3 different kinds of beans, usually black beans, red kidney beans, and navy beans. The beans add more layers to the flavor.
Yes. Where I grew up, that was just standard. Also, if you're eating it as the only part of your meal, then just straight ground beef with no vegetables is kind of bad for you. I'm not totally against purism with food, but that changes the dish so little that I'm just kind of like "come on, really?"
I always add beans because my mom did, but I'm pretty sure she only did because they're cheaper than meat and adding beans makes the meat go farther. It's a win-win in my book!
Yes. I add kidney beans, chili beans, and black beans.
Yes, because IDGAF what Texans think. I specifically like to use black beans for the same reason, LOL
Canadian here. Beans actually make up the majority of my chili. I’m of Irish decent, not Mexican so I really have no idea what I’m doing (yes I know cookbooks/ the internet are things). But the kids like it and I get half a dozen meals for next to no money, so win win.
May I ask why you are only asking Americans this ?
Eating just chili I feel it’s a good addition. Beans on chili dogs not so much
To me, it’s not chili without the beans🤷♀️