Poppa’s Hot Dog Chili
When I was growing up, my dad made this fabulous hot dog chili. He would start it in the morning and let it simmer away for hours before we had it for lunch. It was a thick and meaty sauce with just the right amount of kick from the hot sauce and a sweetness from the tomato sauce and ketchup. As an afternote, you had the slight taste of hops from the beer.
My dad claimed to have learned to make this chili when he was living in Texas. If you had any leftover (which we never did) you could use it to make chili with beans with the addition of pintos or red kidney beans and some chopped jalapeño. This is the go to chili whenever we have a beer in the refrigerator.
- 3 lb Ground Beef
- 6 oz Can of Tomato Paste
- 1/4 cup Ketchup
- 1 tbsp Chili Powder
- 2 1/4 cup Water
- 1 tsp Hot sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 6 oz beer
- Brown ground beef in a large pot and drain well.
- Return ground beef to pot and add tomato paste, ketchup, water, salt, pepper, and chili powder. At this point, it should smell like chili. If not, add more chili powder.
- Add hot sauce and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat.
- Once mixture begins to boil, add in beer. Mixture will foam together. Continue to stir and turn to simmer/low and add a lid.
- Stir occasionally. If mixture becomes too thick, add a little more water and stir.
- You will want the mixture to simmer for at least an hour. It can be simmered longer. This will allow all of the flavors to fully develop.
Serve over your favorite hot dogs.
If you have leftovers, turn it into spaghetti sauce or chili beans.