Fall is my favorite season of the year to make this healthy hot dog chili! Family gathering by the fire, roasting their hotdogs and gathering around the table for a healthy version of this classic dish. Buns from scratch in an hour! Chili from scratch in an hour. No need to overcomplicate homemade, made from scratch foods.
Simple is better. Especially in motherhood. But simple doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy it just as much! I’m so excited to share with you our family’s favorite healthy hot dog chili. I hope your family loves it too.
Ingredients you will need:
- 2lb ground geef
- 1 large onion, diced small
- 1&1/4 cup ketchup
- 2tsp mustard
- 2 tsp salt
- 1tsp pepper
- 2 tablespoons worchesterire sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder or 1 clove
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 2 Tbsp paprika
- 2 Tbsp oil
- water
How to make healthy hot dog chili from scratch:
- Heat oil over medium high heat in your skillet.
- Brown the ground beef with the finely diced onion, chop it all together while it’s cooking in the pan (so the meat in your sauce is small and not chunky. But hey, if you prefer chunky chili, let the chunks roll girl!) and add about 1/4 cup water.
- Add the rest of the ingredients, including another 1/4 cup of water. simmer for about 55mins or so to thicken. add more water if needed to create the consistency you desire.
- Taste it and adjust for salt or ketchup. Adjust per your taste.
Tips for making healthy hot dog chili from scratch:
- Double the batch and you can freeze it to keep 6months or more! Pull it out and reheat when needed. I like to freeze mine in ziplock bags, flat.
- Save the leftovers for chili sandwiches (think sloppy Joe style) and chili cheese fries/nachos for an easy & fast next day lunch!
- Get this going the day before or earlier in the day and let it simmer all day. it’ll develop even more flavor & be all the more delicious for the next day.
- add a little honey or brown sugar for a sweeter sauce
More ideas:
Make our family’s favorite home made hot dog buns while the sauce simmers (read in under a hour!).
For more fun fall family ideas check out this post.
Another great fall go-to staple recipe in my home is this apple cobbler recipe! It can be used any season of the year to make ANY fruit cobbler of your choice. Such a great multi-purpose dessert recipe to have handy. Dessert from scratch in 30 minutes with less than 5 mins hands on time? Yes please! Those are my favorite kind of mom-friendly recipes.
Easy Hot Dog Chili
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Heat the oil in skillet over medium high heat.
- Brown the ground beef with the onion (diced small) until mostly browned. Chopping it as you cook it to avoid any large clumps from forming.
- Add 1/4 cup of water. The water will help keep the meat from clumping as well and begin to create a good base for your sauce.
- Add in all other ingredients (the ketchup, mustard, Worchestershire sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika and water) and simmer uncovered for 55 minutes to thicken the sauce.
- Stir occasionally. Add more water as needed to achieve the consistency you desire.
- Taste. adjust for more salt or ketchup as per your taste.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Double the batch and you can freeze it to keep 6months or more! Pull it out and reheat when needed. I like to freeze mine in ziplock bags, flat. (note: if using gallon sized ziplock bag, make sure your bag remains thin enough so when you go to pull it out of the freezer, you can just break it in half and skip the thawing process. however, to thaw, it only take a few minutes in hot water. I’ve just found it alot easer to snap in half an throw in the pot. Alternatively, freeze in quart size bags!)
- Save the leftovers for chili sandwiches (think sloppy Joe style) and chili cheese fries/nachos for an easy & fast next day lunch!
- Get this going the day before or earlier in the day. It’ll develop even more flavor & be all the more delicious the longer it cooks. Just be sure to add more water as needed to maintain the consistency you desire if you choose to simmer it for hours.