This post may contain affiliate links.
Hot Dog Chili is the finely ground, sweet and savory New York style chili sauce that turns a plain hot dog into a coney dog worth craving. I make a big batch every *cookout season* and freeze it, and it is just as good as our Coney Island hot dog sauce spooned over a grilled dog.
Finely ground beef, warm spices, and a quick simmer cook down into the best New York style hot dog chili for topping dogs all summer.
Hot Dog Chili Quick Look
- 🕐 Prep Time: 5 minutes
- 🍴 Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- 🍽 Serving: 24 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 164kcal
- 🌶 Flavor Profile: Savory, lightly sweet, and warmly spiced with a fine, saucy texture
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, on par with our Coney Island hot dog sauce
Quick Answer
Brown ground beef with finely chopped onion in a Dutch oven, breaking the meat into fine crumbles, then drain. Stir in chili powder, mustard powder, onion and garlic powder, allspice, nutmeg, garlic salt, cumin, celery salt, and cinnamon and cook until fragrant. Add ketchup, tomato sauce, water, soy sauce, and Worcestershire, then simmer covered for 20 minutes and uncovered about 40 minutes until thick. Serve over hot dogs.
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Breaking the beef into fine crumbles is key. New York style hot dog chili has a fine, almost smooth texture, so crumbling the beef as small as possible while it browns gives that signature saucy consistency that clings to a hot dog.
- Warm spices set it apart. Allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon are the secret. These warm baking spices give hot dog chili its distinctive, slightly sweet flavor that regular chili does not have.
- Toasting the spices blooms the flavor. Cooking the spices with the beef for a couple minutes before adding the liquids wakes up their oils and deepens the whole pot.
- Ketchup and brown sugar bring the sweetness. A little sweetness balanced with tomato and savory soy and Worcestershire is what makes this chili taste like the classic stadium and street cart version.
- The long uncovered simmer thickens it. Cooking off most of the liquid concentrates the flavor and gives a thick, scoopable chili that stays on the dog instead of running off.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Tastes like the real deal. Sweet, savory, and finely ground, this is authentic New York style hot dog chili, just like our Coney Island hot dog sauce.
- Makes a big batch. One pot tops a whole party’s worth of hot dogs and freezes beautifully for later cookouts.
- No beans, all flavor. A smooth, saucy chili built for topping, not a bowl chili, so it spoons perfectly over every dog.
Key Ingredients
- Ground beef: Three pounds, broken into very fine crumbles, is the base. A standard 80/20 gives the best flavor. Drain the fat after browning.
- Sweet onion: One large onion, finely chopped, melts into the chili for savory sweetness.
- Warm chili spices: Chili powder, mustard powder, cumin, garlic and onion powder, plus allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, garlic salt, and celery salt. The warm baking spices are the New York style secret.
- Ketchup and tomato sauce: Together they bring the tomato base and a touch of sweetness that defines hot dog chili.
- Soy sauce and Worcestershire: A splash of each adds deep, savory umami that rounds out the sauce.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
- Use ground turkey. Swap the ground beef for ground turkey for a lighter hot dog chili.
- Make it spicier. Add cayenne, hot sauce, or a diced jalapeno for a kick.
- Add a Cincinnati twist. Lean into the warm spices for a Skyline style sauce, like our cheese coneys.
- Halve or double it. Scale the batch up or down easily. It freezes great, so doubling is smart for cookout season.
- Serve it loaded. Spoon it over fries for chili cheese fries, like our chili cheese fries.
How to Make Hot Dog Chili
- In a Dutch oven over medium high heat, brown the ground beef and onions, breaking the meat into fine crumbles, about 10 minutes. Drain off the excess liquid.
- Add the chili powder, mustard powder, onion powder, garlic powder, allspice, nutmeg, garlic salt, cumin, celery salt, and cinnamon.
- Stir to combine and cook about 2 minutes until fragrant, stirring constantly.
- Add the ketchup, tomato sauce, water, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine.
- Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Uncover and simmer about 40 minutes more until most of the liquid cooks out, stirring occasionally.
- Spoon the hot dog chili over cooked hot dogs in buns and top with diced onion. Serve warm.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Crumble the beef fine. Use a potato masher or a meat chopper as it browns to get the signature smooth, fine texture of New York style hot dog chili.
- Do not skip the warm spices. Allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon are what make this chili taste authentic, not like regular chili.
- Toast the spices. Cook the spices with the beef for a couple minutes before adding liquid to bloom their flavor.
- Simmer to thicken. The long uncovered simmer is what gives a thick, scoopable chili. Do not rush it or it will be runny.
- Taste and adjust. Add a little more brown sugar for sweeter or a pinch of cayenne for heat to suit your taste.
- Make it ahead. The flavor deepens overnight, so this chili is even better the next day.
- Freeze in portions. Cool and freeze in meal sized containers so you always have hot dog chili ready for a quick cookout.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Hot dog chili is born to top a grilled dog. Spoon it generously over hot dogs in toasted buns and finish with diced onion, shredded cheddar, and a squiggle of mustard for a classic coney. It is the perfect partner for our crockpot hot dogs at a backyard cookout.
Go beyond the dog and ladle this chili over fries for our chili cheese fries, or over tater tots and nachos. It also makes a great topping for burgers and baked potatoes when you want that coney flavor.
For a full cookout spread, serve the chili dogs next to our smash burgers and all the classic sides. Keep the chili warm in the pot or a small slow cooker so everyone can build their own loaded dogs.
Hot Dog Chili FAQs
New York style hot dog chili is a finely ground, smooth, sauce like chili made for topping hot dogs, not eating from a bowl. It has no beans and uses warm spices like allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon for its signature slightly sweet, savory flavor.
Hot dog chili is different from regular chili. It is finely ground and saucy so it clings to a hot dog, it has no beans, and it leans sweeter with warm baking spices. Regular bowl chili is chunkier, often has beans, and is spicier and more savory.
Yes, hot dog chili freezes really well. Cool it completely, then freeze in airtight containers or freezer bags for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat on the stove with a splash of water if needed to loosen it.
The secret to New York style hot dog chili is warm baking spices. Allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon, along with chili powder and cumin, give it that distinctive slightly sweet, deeply spiced flavor you cannot get from a standard chili seasoning packet.
This hot dog chili is meant as a topping, but you can serve it as a thicker bowl chili if you like. Simmer it a little less so it stays saucier, and top with cheese and onions. For a true bowl chili, you may want to add beans.
Store leftover hot dog chili in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat on the stove or in the microwave with a splash of water to loosen it. It also freezes well for up to 3 months, so make a big batch and stash some away.
Other Recommended Cookout Recipes
If this Hot Dog Chili turned your cookout into a coney stand, drop a star rating and let us know how it went. Photos of your loaded chili dogs on Pinterest always make our day.
Love a coney dog? Our Coney Island hot dog sauce is another classic finely ground topping sauce that makes the perfect chili dog.
For a Cincinnati spin, our Skyline chili cheese coneys pile that sweet spiced chili and a mountain of shredded cheese on a dog.
Make the dogs the easy way with our crockpot hot dogs, then load them up with this chili for a hands off cookout.
Spoon this chili over our juicy air fryer bubba burgers for a quick chili cheeseburger.
New York Style Hot Dog Chili
Ingredients
- 3 pounds ground beef
- 1 large sweet onion finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon celery salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ¼ cup ketchup
- 8 ounce can tomato sauce
- ¼ cup water
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Place a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and onions, breaking up the beef into fine crumbles. Cook, stirring occasionally until the meat is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Drain off any excess liquid.
- Add the chili powder, mustard powder, onion powder, garlic powder, allspice, nutmeg, garlic salt, cumin, celery salt, and cinnamon. Stir to combine, cook for about 2 minutes, until fragrant, stirring constantly.
- Add the ketchup, tomato sauce, water, soy sauce, and worcestershire sauce, stir to combine.
- Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Take off the cover and continue to simmer for about 40 more minutes, until ¾ of the liquid cooks out, stirring occasionally.
- Serve over hot dogs.
Notes
- Nutritional value is for hot dog chili only.
- There are a ton of spices in this, which makes it unique and more of a “New York Style” hot dog chili. Even though there are small amounts of ingredients it is essential to add them all to get the right flavor.
- This can be frozen, see above on how to do that.
- You can easily double or halve this recipe.
- This can be served over various other dishes or alone, see above on some ideas.
- This would be perfect for a party, you can keep it warm in a slow cooker and guests can serve themselves.
- Use a lean ground beef to reduce the grease amount, we like to use at least 85/15.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
Follow @ThisSillyGirlsKitchen on Instagram and @danadevolk on Pinterest for more!
Very confusing to call it a “chili”. More accurately it is simply a meat sauce.
If you are in NY and order a chili dog, you will get a dog with chili on it. Probably has beans in it for some reason.
Anywhere North of Albany to Canada and parts of Vermont it is a “Michigan” (derived from the Detroit Dog]. Elsewhere it is commonly known as a Coney.
It is a great regional item with everyone’s own version. Some recipes call for chili and some don’t. There are businesses in the Plattsburgh, NY area that are only open during the summer and this is all they do.
Your Dad’s recipe sounds fantastic and this is definitely one that needs a loong sloow cook. All those spices have this in the same category as a Mole.
It is certainly tasty but it’s more like sloppy Joe meat than New York style hot dog chili.
Tastes great! Even after it’s been frozen. My hot dogs are gourmet now!