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No chili dog is complete without the Best Hot Dog Chili! Quick and easy, this homemade hot dog chili sauce is better than anything you’ll ever buy at the neighborhood hot dog cart. Sweet, tangy, meaty….this recipe has a secret ingredient that just makes it explode with epic flavor.
Everyone has their favorite comfort foods, the food that you turn to which makes you feel good from the inside out. Mine is a Chili Cheese Dog. I don’t know why but I kind of have a love affair with hot dogs and have since as far back as I can remember.
This Hot dog Chili recipe is somewhat of a viral sensation. It’s not like regular chili in that it’s more of a chili sauce and less of a stew. The Best Chili Recipe is always #1 in our book but this hot dog chili sauce is definitely a close second and which makes it the perfect topping for every hot dog in all the land or a pile of French fries.
Key Ingredients for Hot Dog Chili
- Ground Beef – Choose a lean ground beef like 80/20. This will give you the best flavor because it’s lean but not too lean. You can substitute with ground turkey or even ground chicken for a leaner chili recipe.
- Italian Sausage – You can make it spicy by substituting mild sausage with hot sausage.
- Onion – Diced sweet onion or yellow onion adds a nice caramelized flavor to the chili.
- Spices – Garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, cayenne and smoked paprika add great flavor without overpowering the chili.
- Tomato Sauce – We use canned tomato sauce but homemade tomato sauce would make this even better.
- Espresso Powder – The secret ingredient! It adds another level of rich flavor, you can skip it but everyone who doesn’t raves about this chili.
For a full ingredient list, see the recipe card at the bottom.
How To Make Hot Dog Chili
Homemade Hot Dog Chili sauce is pretty simple to make with easy to find ingredients you may already have in your pantry. To level up my hot dog game, I threw in a few extra things to amp up the flavor like never before.
- Brown the ground beef and sausage in a large pot or large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up into small pieces with a fork.
- Add the onion and cook until softened. Stir in the garlic.
- Add the spices and tomato paste continuing to cook until a dark burgundy color.
- Stir in the tomato sauce, brown sugar, espresso powder and vinegar being sure to scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen all the browned bits.
- Season and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Serve on your favorite hot dog in a fluffy hot dog bun or make a chili cheese dog!
Make sure you find good, premium quality hot dogs and use our method for how to boil hot dogs to ensure perfect dogs.
Make it spicy by adding 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper with the other spices. You can also skip the seasonings and add 2 tablespoons of our Homemade Chili Seasoning.
Why This Hot Dog Sauce is the Best
I LOVE a good chili cheese dog but what makes a chili dog seriously amazing is the actual hot dog chili sauce that’s blanketed on top. It can seriously make or break your dog so it’s best when you take matters into your own hands.
Sure, I’ve topped my dogs with the canned stuff in the past and I have to say I’m not really a fan so I came up with the very BEST Hot Dog Chili recipe so you, too, can have a seriously epic homemade chili cheese dog. And never leave the house again.
A chili dog is just a hot dog topped with a simple chili sauce, also known as chili con carne. It’s, basically, a chili made without beans. You can top your hot dog with additional toppings like shredded cheddar cheese, raw onions, relish, pickles and peppers but classic cheese sauce is my favorite. We love making a Coney Dog with this easy hot dog chili recipe, too.
How to Store Leftovers
Transfer any leftover hot dog chili to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. To reheat, transfer to a saucepan and heat over medium heat until hot.
To freeze, transfer to freezer bags or a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.
Hot Dog Chili Recipe
Equipment
- 1 large skillet or large pot
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 4 ounces sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
- 1 cup chopped sweet onion
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the ground beef and sausage to the pot breaking it up into small pieces with a fork. The smaller the pieces, the better your chili will be!
- Continue cooking the meat until browned and no longer pink, approximately 7-8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the meat from the pot and transfer to a large bowl. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of fat.
- Add the onion to the pot with the reserved fat. Cook the onion for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Stir in the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute.
- Add the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne, paprika and tomato paste to the onion mixture stirring to combine. Continue to cook the onions until the tomato paste turns a deep Burgundy color, approximately 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato sauce, brown sugar, espresso powder and vinegar. Return the beef and sausage back to the pot and stir to combine.
- Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Check for seasoning again adding salt and pepper, if necessary. Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
More Hot Dog Topping Ideas
When it comes to topping hot dogs, the possibilities are endless. You could just make your epic chili cheese dog with the very BEST Hot Dog Chili Sauce or you can go classic New Yorker with a pile of this New York Style onion sauce. And learn How to Boil Hot Dogs, the right way, before topping with your chili.
We also love adding homemade ketchup or top it with a dill pickle!
- Homemade Corn Dog
- Italian Style Hot Dogs with Broccoli Rabe, Provolone and Roasted Red Peppers
- Coney Island Hot Dogs
Our Favorite Chili Recipes
- Turkey Chili
- White Chicken Chili
- Turkey and Black Bean Chili
- The Best Chili Recipe
- Chili Cheese Dip
- Chili Mac
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Looks like the chili two restaurants in my town make only theirs is smoking hot. 3:00 a.m. after the bars closed can’t get in either place. Great on hot dogs, hamburgers, cheese steaks and fries. So I will be making yours and compare it. I’ll let you know thank you.
Where is your hometown??? That’s interesting. I suppose you could make it much spicier if you want.
Will be making this for Father”s Day. By “lean” I’m guessing you man 90/10 not 80/20? Thanks in advance if you able to get back to me.
Hi Steve! Correct, it’s 90/10 lean ground beef.
Very bland, IMO. Was not impressed. ☹️
Hmmm, you’re the first person that ever said that. Sorry you didn’t like it. It’s definitely not bland to us!
Best I’ve ever had in sauce
Thank you so much!
I’ve been using coffee and kahlua in my chili for years. It adds a complexity that compliments the beef very well. Italian sausage (hot or mild) mixed with the beef is also a must. If you don’t have espresso powder (which I’ve never tried) go with about 4 oz of strong brewed coffee and 1 oz of kahlua with this recipe and you won’t go wrong. With hot dogs, I like to really mince my meat finely and certainly no beans added to the hot dog chili unless I am making it for serving the chili also as a side dish or entree. Dr. Pepper Baked Beans (google search for recipes) makes a fine side dish to add for these no-bean chili dogs.
I’ll be making this recipe tomorrow kind-of-as-is, except with my above substitute for the espresso powder and also will most likely reduce the brown sugar a bit since the Kahlua is also fairly sweet. Looks like a winner to me since it is very close to how I normally make my base chili. Not so sure about the apple cider vinegar, but will add to taste. I guess I can’t rate the recipe as-is since I am substituting, so I won’t, but I am sure it is very close to 5 stars.
Great tips! I’ll definitely give your version a try.
Some good chili and it’s all so better the next day
Thank you so much!
I love french fries topped with good chili, and this sounds like it would work amazingly well with a mound of fries!
This would be amazing….we do use it on Tater Tots!
The third type of bean out there that you might want to look into is called the “large-mouth” bean. These are often sold as “little bean-shaped chilies” and are very popular with many of the people who are making chili for those who cannot eat too much meat.
Ok, thank you!
What can be subbed for espresso powder? I don’t want to buy it for just this recipe.TY
I’m wondering the same thing.. I’m making it tonight and don’t have that so I’ll just minus it, I guess.
You can just skip it….it’s not imperative that you add it, it just adds extra oomph. BUT you can use Espresso Powder in so many things like our Chocolate Chip Cookies!
We LOVED this! I am a stickler for natural ingredients – so we NEVER buy canned chili or seasoning packets. All of these ingredients are already in my house, so I proceeded. And it was GREAT!!! Really tasted like a commercial chili.
I’m so glad you loved it! It’s a favorite of our’s, too.