Wendy’s Chili just can’t be beat. Wendy’s makes this classic recipe fresh every day, and you can do the same. You can make Wendy’s Chili Recipe just like they do.
Tomato juice really enhances the flavor of this chili, as does the chili powder, though you may want to start off with a little less chili powder. I find that 1/4 cup isn’t too hot, and is still very flavorful.
Table of Contents
Wendy’s Chili
Now, it is said that Wendy’s chili is made from grilled hamburger patties that didn’t make it into their burgers. You don’t have you start out with hamburger patties, but the fresh ground beef.
We think it is easier to start out this way when you make your own chili. We suggest that you brown the beef very thoroughly before making your chili.
If you are a die-hard Wendy’s Chili fan you can start out with about 2 pounds of ground meat, fry it up as hamburgers, but you must cook them until they are very well done.
Did you know??
- Wendy’s Chili is gluten free.
There are lots of fresh ingredients in this chili, and you can put this recipe together in no time. This recipe has onions, celery, green bell pepper, two types of beans, beef, and chili seasoning.
You won’t be disappointed when you make a delicious bowl of this amazing chili from scratch.
Wendy’s Chili Recipe Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need:
- Ground beef
- Tomato juice
- Tomato puree
- Canned red beans
- Canned pinto beans
- Onion
- Celery
- Green bell pepper
- Chili powder
- Ground cumin
- Garlic powder
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
- Oregano
- Cayenne pepper
- Sugar
How does Wendy’s make their chili?
Wendy’s makes their chili in a big pot with leftover hamburger patties and chili ingredients. All you need is a skillet to brown some ground beef and a big pot to cook the chili. Here are the easy steps:
- In a skillet, brown the ground beef.
- Drain the browned ground beef.
- Put the drained beef and the remaining ingredients in a 6-quart pot. Stir to combine.
- Cover the pot and let it simmer for 1 to 1½ hours, stirring every 15 minutes.
It is important to cook this chili for the entire time as listed in the recipe. The flavors mellow and change over the cooking time.
I understand that some people also feel that 3 tablespoons of chili powder are too much. I think if you stick with standard brands of chili powder this is best.
Chili powder is a combination of several spices, there isn’t a chili powder plant. Stick with a well-known brand, and if you naturally like foods that are less spicy consider using less. Again, I fully stand behind the 3 tablespoons as listed in the recipe below.
Can you make Wendy’s Chili in a slow cooker? Yes, you can!
Can you make this delicious chili in a slow cooker? Of course! Simply brown the ground beef, draining the beef, and then pouring everything into a slow cooker, and then cook on low for about 4 hours.
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Garlic parmesan buffalo wings would go great with this chili.
Check out my other Wendy’s copycat recipes
- Wendys Taco Salad
- Wendy’s Breakfast Baconator
- Best Ever Instant Pot Chili (Wendy’s)
- Berry Chicken Salad Recipe
- Apple Chicken Pecan Salad
- BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad Recipe
- Cheese Fries Wendys
More Beef Recipes
- Insta Pot Beef Stew
- Rib Eye Roast Recipe
- Southern Country Fried Steak Recipe
- Ikea Meatballs Recipe
- Stroganoff Hamburger Helper
- Hamburger Bean Casserole
- Spicy Beef Jerky
Be sure to take a look at more of the best recipes with beef and homemade soup.
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Wendy’s Chili
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh ground beef
- 1 quart tomato juice
- 1 (29-ounce) can tomato puree
- 15 ounces canned red beans drained
- 15 ounces canned pinto beans drained
- 1 large onion, chopped (about 1½ cups)
- ½ cup diced celery
- ¼ cup diced green bell pepper
- ¼ cup chili powder (you may want to use less, as some people find this is too much)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
Stovetop Directions
- In a skillet, brown the ground beef.
- Drain the grease from the browned ground beef.
- Put the drained beef and the remaining ingredients in a 6-quart pot. Stir to combine.
- Cover the pot; let it simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes.
Slow cooker Directions
- In a skillet, brown the ground beef.
- Drain the grease from the browned ground beef.
- Put the drained beef and the remaining ingredients in a slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 4 hours.
Dawn
I have been making this chili from your recipe for the past 10 years and my family loves it. I just wanted to note that it does freeze very well.
Danny
I’ve often wondered why there are so many “copycat” recipes out there and none of them are all the same. Hmmmm…
Stephanie
Sorry, I don’t understand your comment. My recipe has been online since the late 1990s.
Laurie
I understand her comment. There are several copy cat recipes & none are the same? It’s very odd. So many variations. I don’t think she meant anything rude.
This one is my fave!
Tammy
Do you have Wendy’s chili recipe
Stephanie
My recipe is on the page here.
Laura Sloss
I also used V 8 instead of Tomato juice and a 14.5 ounce can of RO*TEL Diced Tomatoes and green Chilies.
Love it!!
Janice brown
I use a can of tomato soup instead of juice. It gives the chilly a greater taste. Next time I’m going to use baked beans instead of kidney beans and see what that tastes like.
Don
We grabbed V8 by accident the last time we made it and it took the flavor up a whole other level. I highly recommend V8 instead of tomato juice.
Stephanie
V8 works very well!
Rhonda DeVito
Glad I saw ur comment because I was wondering about using v8 I am going to use a little 9f both v8 and tomato juice
Shelby
Just made the chili. Yum Yum. Love the taste. Now we just letting it cook a little.
Connie Cervantes
This is a wonderful recipe! My whole family loves it! Even my picky husband!
Riva Aravjo
Excellent chili!
Richie
This chili is a favorite in my house now!
Bianca
I liked this better than Wendy’s.
Candice
I was a bit skeptical of the amount of chili powder, I used McCormick’s brand and it was great!
alejandra
My new favorite recipe for chili, I added some leftover burgers in there, and it was great.
leticia
We made frito pies out this and tried making a taco salad just like wendys.
Kenton
First recipe I tried from your site, it was good. I will try more.
Mathew
It was a good chili recipe, I added some hatch peppers to it to make it a little different.
tyrell
Thanks for sharing this recipe, I haven’t been out to eat for months.
fernado
I was surprised the tomato juice made such a big change to the flavor. I will be making this again.
Ember-Leigh Hamilton
This is my go to chili recipe. Family loves it.
As I do not like hunks and chunks of vegetables, I put the onions, green pepper and celery in a mini blender and then toss the mixture in.
ED DAVIDSON
We live in New Mexico, USA. There most certainly is a chili plant! Our state is famous for our “Hatch” green Chile from Hatch NM. The Chile peppers start out green, then as they ripen they turn to a dark red. The red pods are usually dried and ground up to make chili powder. The green pods are usually used fresh, frozen, or canned (green is spelled “chile” & red is spelled “chili).” Hope this helps!
marilee botos
Good to know–I love learning things!
Dolores Herrera
The red chili is dried whole which are turned into ristras or loose which are made into red chili molido rojo or ground red chili is used to make chili and used in recipes
Kerrie
That’s so funny. My mom is from New Mexico and she always said that chile is the plant for any color and chili is a spice blend or a dish. I’d never heard of the color distinction until now. Thanks for sharing!
Mark Weber
I decided to give this recipe a try because I’ve always enjoyed Wendy’s chili. I made a double batch today (1/25/20) using 92% ground sirloin. I multiplied the quantities for all ingredients by two (i.e., 4 lbs ground beef, etc.). My only changes to the recipe were I used crushed tomatoes (SMT brand) instead of puree, I reduced the quantity of garlic powder by about half and added about 4 cloves of garlic that I squeezed thru a press. I bumped up the quantity of ground cumin a bit as recommended in the video and I added some extra diced celery and green pepper to make sure it didn’t disappear in the mix. I chopped the onion a bit on the coarse side, and added about 25% of it to the ground meat as it finished browning to “sweat it” a little as shown in the video (I drained the ground meat first although the video didn’t show that happening). The rest of the chopped onion was added along with everything else. The result tastes exactly like Wendy’s chili in my humble opinion. Thank you and keep up the good work!
Stephen D Reamer
Great recipe! I have made twice, 1at time exactly like recipe. The second time I reduced the tomatoes puree by half(I thought it too thin) and I replaced the cayenne pepper with hot Hungarian(Szeged) Paprika, settling on 1\4 tsp when finished. Very happy with this change!