I’ve developed what I believe to be the best Wendy’s chili recipe after experimenting with numerous copies and tailoring them to my preferences. Serve it with shredded cheese and/or finely sliced white onions on top. Enjoy!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 35 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 3 (14 ounce) cans stewed tomatoes
- 1 (14 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chiles (such as RO*TEL)
- 1 cup water
- 2 (1.25 ounce) packages chili seasoning (such as McCormick® Mild Chili Seasoning Mix)
- 1 (14 ounce) can kidney beans, undrained
- 1 (14 ounce) can pinto beans, undrained
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar, or more to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Press ground beef into the hot oil to form one large patty; let the bottom brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Stir and break browned beef into crumbles. Continue to cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes longer.
- Stir celery, onion, and bell pepper into beef and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Pour in stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes with green chiles, and water. Break apart large chunks of stewed tomatoes. Stir in chili seasoning. Stir in kidney and pinto beans. Season with salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour.
- Mix vinegar into chili just before serving.
- To adjust the heat, feel free to add cayenne pepper. The original Wendy’s chili has more beans in it, so you could double the amount above if you prefer that style.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 326 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 29 g |
| Cholesterol | 55 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 8 g |
| Protein | 23 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 1521 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 15 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Absolutely delicious. I, like others, will consider this my go to chili recipe. I used 90% ground beef and it was absolutely perfect. Shredded white cheddar topped it off beautifully.
Made exactly as written. Excellent, flavorful. Topped with some cheese. Will be my goto chili recipe.
This is absolutely the best chili! I’m new to cooking, so everything for me is trial and error. I’ve made this three times, my only change is adding one additional can of kidney beans and some chili powder. Oh, and I drained the ground beef. The white vinegar at the end makes a difference, so don’t skip this.
The Ingredients Are correct. I used to work at Wendy’s how theirs is prepared is. They use old refrigerated hamburger patties and boil them on the stove. Once they are hot and have a light color, they then drain them and then chop them. I would suggest doing this the day before. That way you have little to no grease. They also cook on the stove 4-6 hours using a double boiler method.
Made this recipe.but made some minor adjustments. Added half a cubanelle pepper, and extra can of green Chiles and used one can of Chile beans. Also, used on hot Chili seasoning and one regular. Came out EXACTLY like Wendy’s chili!!! Awesome!! Family loved it!! Will definitely make again!!
Even though I loved it, I still have a few negative comments. My preference would have been for the veggies to be cooked more. Also, there was more liquid left than I would have preferred. I at least tried to follow the recipe. I’m a total amateur cooking so it took a lot longer to prepare than what it says at the top of the recipe. Oh, and I wanted to try this recipe because I really like Wendy’s chili. If it isn’t exact, it is amazingly close!
I love this chili! I made some minor alterations: added 2 cans of each bean to be more like Wendy’s (as suggested somewhere in the reviews), draining one of each of the cans , I didn’t add any water because there was enough liquid without it (I like my chili thick, not soupy) and honestly forgot the vinegar at the end – I don’t know if adding this makes a huge difference but the chili was awesome without it. I used a cast iron skillet to prepare the hamburg mixture. Brown the hamburg and yes – flatten it and just let it cook for about 8 minutes before crumbling – this is going to give it a nice, seared side that’s going to stand up and carry through the dish. I also drained the majority of any fat at this point because as one big patty, it was easier to do, then added the celery, onion & pepper. I put everything in a slow cooker and let it cook on low for 6 or so hours. Served with shredded cheddar and a side of cornbread. It was even better the next day after “setting” up in the fridge overnight! I gave some to my friend who loves Wendy’s Chili so I consider her a taste expert on this: she agreed that it was as good as Wendy’s and passed her taste test with flying colors! This is definitely becoming a go-to recipe, especially for those cold New England winter days! I can’t wait to make it again 🙂
Made this Did not drain the meat. The only thing I drained was the kidney beans everything else was used as I opened it. My family really really liked it. I did not add salt and I used Mexican style stewed tomatoes. I would make it again.
Perfect taste better than Wendy’s. We loved it so much we Don’t need to buy at Wendy’s no more. I cooked some and freezed for future dinner. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!
Great way to incorporate more vegetables into the family diet! My husband hates celery and he didn’t even realize it is in this receipt. Delicious!
Absolutely delicious !! My go-to recipe
I have made this recipe SO MANY TIMES! My family and I absolutely love it. ❤️ it tastes perfect, so close to wendys chili. The only thing I do differently is I only add 2 cans of tomato not 3. Too much for my liking but this recipe is perfect ! Thank you.
I have made this several times. It’s the only way I fix chili now. The family loves it. I have read where it’s greasy in reviews. I don’t use olive oil and I drain hamburger.
I made it for Christmas, and put it in my Crock-Pot. I used two cans of each of the beans. My family LOVED it!!! K.B.
I have made this chili exactly as the recipe calls many many times and have never gone wrong. This chili is AMAZING!!!!!
This was a family favorite. I doubled the recipe and used my biggest pot. Instead of pre-mixed chili seasoning, I used the suggestion of another reviewer and used 1 Tbsp. cumin, 1 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 1/4 Tbsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. oregano, 1 tsp. basil and doubled them. I used heaping amounts of the cumin & chili powder and salt & peppered to taste. I was too afraid to add the vinegar at the end. I thought the tomato products had enough zing to them. Next time I will add a little vinegar and see how we like it. Will be making this again and again.
Love it
I made exactly per the recipe except used red beans in place of kidney beans, personal preference. It was similar to Wendy’s but WAY too spicy for me. I think I would’ve liked it better with about half as much seasoning.
It was good.
I loved it! Made it with ground turkey and it was perfect! Definitely making it again!
I cook the hamburger with the onion celery and green pepper in a fry pan then add the meat mixture with along with the rest of the ingredients and cook it in the crock pot for about 8 hours I dont add water at all I use 1 mild 1 spicy chili mix Add lots of garlic and 2 cans of drained mushrooms and it’s absolutely amazing