Community Pick
Wendy's Chili Clone
"I have been using this recipe exclusively for the last 9 years. It's from the April 8, 1993 Phil Donahue show featuring Gloria Pitzer, the recipe detective. It's easy and delicious in a variety of ways. We serve it at home as well as made ahead to take camping. Serve it the classic way, with cornbread or on hot dogs. Or try some of our family favorites, Cincinnati style (served over cooked spaghetti noodles) or taco salads (a bed of lettuce and corn chips, topped with chili and sour cream)."
photo by KateL
- Ready In:
- 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 10
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
- 1 1⁄2 - 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 (10 ounce) can French onion soup (not creamy)
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 3 drops Tabasco sauce
- 1 (21 ounce) can red kidney beans (undrained)
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
directions
- In large saucepan or dutch oven, over med/high heat, brown beef.
- Puree french onion soup in blender and pour over cooked beef.
- Cook and stir until mixture is consistency of rice.
- Stir in spices.
- Add undrained beans, tomato paste and sauce and stir well.
- Reduce heat to Low and simmer for 20 minutes or until piping hot and flavors have blended.
- Add additional salt and pepper, chili powder or Tabasco to taste.
Questions & Replies
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Reviews
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As prepared. I was not impressed. Bland as is. -
Tasty chili in a flash. Not a veggie to be peeled and chopped, just open cans. I added like 1/4 cup diced green chilies. -
Not Wendy's chili but good. I believe that Wendy's chili has peppers in it and is a lot more soupy. This chili was thick, more like for topping hot dogs. I added more seasoning and some chicken bullion. This is easy and tasty, its a keeper. Thanks for posting!
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Very very very good chili! Not Wendys, but great! I added a can of chili beans as well.
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Oh wow....the family's new favorite chilli recipe. DH love Wendy's chili and so I just knew this would go over in a big way for him. I"ve never made chilid using french onion soup and so this must..it just must be the secret ingredient. I"m not a meat eater, but the smell was heavenly while this was simmering away on the stove-top. A real keeper Tink. Made for HolidayTag.
see 16 more reviews
Tweaks
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First let me say this is a great recipe...most of us sometime tweak things for own preference or with what we have on hand and I did just that. I used 2 lb gr. beef and did not puree the onion soup. instead of kidney beans I used a mix of chili bean and no beans chili. all else same. simmered a while and froze half. served with toasted cheese. thanks for a quick flexible recipe. oh so good! -
So easy and quick to make! and tasty too!!! I used 2 16 oz cans of kidney beans instead of 21 oz, and I didn't have tomato sauce so I used a 16 oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained. Everyone loved it! This is my chili recipe from now on! -
I was skeptical about using canned French Onion soup, but was very pleased with the results of this chili. I did not have tomato paste, so I used crushed tomatoes w/ puree, and it was great. I loved the cumin flavor, but did substitute Cayenne pepper for the black pepper, and also added a touch more chili powder as well as a TBS of salt (liquid from the tomatoes probably diluted it a bit). Keeper recipe. I'll make this when I don't have 4 hours to simmer my other recipe.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Tinkerbell
Boise, 51
Hi! I am happily married with two children, 26 and 12. For nearly 10 years when this site was Recipezaar and then Food.com I hosted several different forums. I enjoyed making, creating, reviewing, and photographing recipes, but what I miss the most are the friendships I made here. I was Food Editor for the Mill Creek View Newspaper in Mill Creek, WA. for about 4 years during that time. Currently I am the office manager at a small mental health clinic. I'm not on this site much anymore, but I do continue to appreciate and respond to all reviews posted to my recipes.
