I have won chili cook-offs in Indiana using this fantastic chili recipe. It’s a hearty, fiery, and award-winning chili that will definitely warm you up on a chilly winter night. Your buddies won’t figure out that Campbell’s tomato soup is the hidden ingredient. Alternate brands shouldn’t be used because they don’t produce comparable outcomes.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 teaspoons ground cumin, divided
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
- 2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup (such as Campbell’s®)
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 5 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 (15.5 ounce) cans pinto beans, drained (Optional)
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- Crumble ground beef into a soup pot over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until evenly browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Drain off all but 1 to 2 tablespoons grease.
- Add onion, 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin, and red pepper flakes; cook and stir until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Pour in chicken broth, condensed soup, and tomatoes; season with chili powder, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Pour in pinto beans, season with remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin and cayenne pepper, and simmer for 30 more minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 385 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 47 g |
| Cholesterol | 46 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 11 g |
| Protein | 24 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 1585 mg |
| Sugars | 9 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
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This is the best chili I’ve ever made. Only changes I made were I used 1/3 cup chicken broth, a little less salt and added 4 cloves of crushed garlic. It’s not too thick, which I like. I hate thick pasty chili.
Won chilli cook offs with it in Illinois
Best chili I’ve ever had!
The first time I made this it was a bit thin for our liking. Now the only thing I change is using half the broth. We love it. It’s a staple in this house
Delicious! (And dairy/soy free!) Next time I make it I think I’ll try doubling the meat and chopped tomatoes to make it thicker, but it really is delicious all on its own.
This recipe is very simple to make, and most people will have all ingriedents in their pantry. The spices were perfect as the recipe was written, the only addition I made was to cut back on the chicken stock and add red wine. I will make this chile again and again, very good. Thank you to whoever submitted it.
Served it at a party and many asked for the receipe.
I really liked this. I used a chuck steak I cut up and grilled and purposely kept it thin like a soup.
This was sooo good. I did put a can of rotel and chili seasoned diced tomato’s instead of the crushed toms. I used two pounds of burger and extra beans for a large pot. Not to thick not to thin, just perfect. My new go to chili recipe.
I owned a Deli for 20 years…. This is how I made my chili… It is the best!!! Who would think living in Florida that people would want chili everyday when it was 98 degrees outside, sold out everyday. My mother taught me this recipe, she was making it 55 years ago. Thank you for posting it.. I’m sure it will get many 5 star ratings.
I have to say that although I’m from Indiana, I had never heard of making chili with tomato soup, so I tried it. It was great. I used ground bison because of personal preference and decreased the chili powder a bit. Some people commented that it was too thin but I liked that it was more of a soup consistency. It may not be authentic or gourmet but I liked it and that’s what matters.
This chili was pretty good, but not a favorite of ours. I thought it had too much of a tomato taste, or at least more than I like. All three of my boys did eat it without complaining though. Thank you for the recipe!
This was good, but I tweaked it. I only added 1 cup of chicken broth/soup and I cooked the large, chopped onion in the chicken broth/soup before adding that to the Crock Pot. Two cans of chicken soup would have made this soup – not chili. I added 2 T. Chopped Jarred Garlic and extra Cumin. I did not add the salt and it doesn’t need it! It was good. Hubby wanted more heat, I thought it was fine as written. This would be a good chili recipe to take on a cabin trip where traveling with canned goods makes things easier. It was a good dinner. Thanks for the recipe!
I’ve made this recipe for years. It is the best chili I’ve ever tasted. I don’t add cayenne but nothing else is changed about it.
This is my favorite chili recipe. I am always asked for the recipe. My entire family loves this chili and requests it often. Thank you Booman!
couldn’t eat it as written – had to add brown sugar, honey, instant potato flakes and lime juice to tone down the heat!
Ive made some adjustments to this chili and how thick I make it… the addition of the chicken broth really makes it more “soupy” style, and we like our chili pretty thick so I add very little, if any. However, this has become our household’s go-to recipie for chili! Added bonus is that it is Gluten Free, which is big for our home!
This is a very “safe” chili w/ lots of potential. I ommited the broth & added garlic w/ the onions – great consistency. I like a little kick & thought this recipe was missing that (did only use 4 Tbsp. chili powder, next time stick w/ 5). Overall, “family-friendly” recipe but not for your die-hard chili fan’s.
This recipe has become “my recipe” for chili. I tried a lot of recipes before I settled on this one. This is not really a thick recipe, but my favorite part of the soup is the broth part anyway. We cut way back on the chili powder because the kids were having a hard time eating it. Other than that, keep the recipe the way it is.
EXCELLENT !!! I use 2lb of ground beef because its a little soupy otherwise. But I like mine a little soupy. And diced tomatoes instead of crushed. Best Chili Ive ever had !!!!!