Wendy's Chili
Ditch the drive thru and make some homemade Wendy's Chili without having to leave the house. Hearty, filling, and super easy to make, you won't go back!
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 510kcal
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef 80/20
- 2 stalks celery small diced
- 1 small sweet onion small diced
- 1 green bell pepper small diced
- 2.50 ounces (2 1.25 packages) chili seasoning
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup water
- 16 ounce can dark red kidney beans undrained
- 16 ounce can pinto beans undrained
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 43.5 ounces (3 14.5 ounces cans) stewed tomatoes
- 10 ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef, breaking it up into crumbles, 8-10 minutes. Drain any excess grease.
- Add the celery, onion, and bell pepper to the pan, stir it in to mix with the beef, and cook until the veggies have softened, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the chili seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Add the water to the pot and scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
- Add the kidney beans, pinto beans, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, diced tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel), and sugar, stir until combined. Try to break up any large pieces of stewed tomatoes if you can.
- Bring the chili up to a simmer, cover it and simmer for one hour, occasionally stirring to make sure nothing burns on the bottom of the pan.
- Before serving, take off the heat and stir in the white vinegar.
Notes
- Like I mentioned before, I build the flavors to make this recipe outstanding. To do that, I like toasting the spices as it helps make them nice and bold.
- I used 80/20 ground beef and I feel that's closer to what meat quality Wendy's uses, but you can use a lower fat percentage if desired.
- You can freeze leftovers for later, see my tips above.
- I like to double this recipe and make a large batch to enjoy all throughout the week.
- You can easily add other toppings than the classic sour cream and cheese, see some ideas above.
- This chili is fantastic by itself, but would really jazz up some other recipes.
- If you don't have canned beans, you can use dried ones, just use appropriately.
Nutrition
Calories: 510kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 81mg | Sodium: 1126mg | Potassium: 1503mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 4961IU | Vitamin C: 33mg | Calcium: 164mg | Iron: 10mg