Chili gets me out of bed.
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Regional styles

What is chili? Depends where you are.

Nine families of chili, each with its own rules, rituals and partisans.

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaColorado: Chili VerdeFloridaGeorgiaIndiana: Coney SauceKansas: Midwest ChiliMaineMassachusettsMinnesotaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOklahoma: Coney SaucePennsylvaniaSouth DakotaTexas: Texas RedWyomingConnecticutMissouri: Spaghetti RedWest VirginiaIllinois: Springfield ChilliNew Mexico: New Mexico ChileArkansasCaliforniaDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiIowa: Midwest ChiliKentuckyMarylandMichigan: Coney SauceMississippiMontanaNew HampshireNew YorkOhio: Cincinnati ChiliOregonTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonWisconsin: Midwest ChiliNebraska: Midwest ChiliSouth CarolinaIdahoNevadaVermontLouisianaRhode Island
  1. A stoneware bowl of dark red chili made of cubed beef with no beans, three saltine crackers beside it.

    No. 1Texas, especially San Antonio

    Texas Red

    Beef and dried chiles. No beans.

    Texas red is a stew of beef and dried red chiles, the bowl most people picture when they hear the word chili. It grew up in San Antonio’s plazas and became the official state dish in 1977. Competition cooks in Texas hold it to strict rules, and beans are the famous line in the sand.

    Beans: NeverTomatoes: OptionalPasta: Never
  2. An oval plate of spaghetti topped with thin meat chili and a heap of finely shredded yellow cheese, oyster crackers beside it.

    No. 2Cincinnati, Ohio

    Cincinnati Chili

    Spiced meat sauce over spaghetti, ordered by number.

    Cincinnati chili is a thin, warmly spiced meat sauce created by immigrant restaurateurs in the 1920s. It goes over spaghetti or hot dogs, almost never alone in a bowl. Locals order it by number, and the numbers matter.

    Beans: OptionalTomatoes: ExpectedPasta: Expected
  3. An earthenware bowl of green chile stew with pork, potato and strips of green chile, a roasted green chile beside it.

    No. 3New Mexico, from the Hatch Valley to Chimayó

    New Mexico Chile

    Red or green chile, stewed with pork.

    In New Mexico, chile with an e means the pod and the sauce made from it, and it goes on nearly everything. Red is dried ripe chile; green is roasted at harvest. The state even has an official question about it.

    Beans: OptionalTomatoes: OptionalPasta: Never
  4. A white bowl of chilli with ground beef and kidney beans under a glossy sheen of red fat.

    No. 4Springfield, Illinois

    Springfield Chilli

    Spelled with two Ls. Graded by heat.

    Springfield, Illinois spells it chilli, and has since at least 1909. The local style is rich and saucy, built on finely ground beef and often beef suet, with beans usually added at the counter. The city calls itself the chilli capital, and the state agreed in 1993.

    Beans: OptionalTomatoes: OptionalPasta: Optional
  5. A hot dog in a bun topped with a line of meat sauce, chopped white onion and yellow mustard.

    No. 5Michigan, especially Detroit, Flint and Jackson, and coney towns elsewhere

    Coney Sauce

    A meat sauce for the hot dog.

    Coney sauce is a fine, beanless meat chili made to top a hot dog with mustard and onion. Greek and Macedonian immigrants built coney stands across the Midwest in the early 1900s. Michigan argues with itself over wet sauce versus dry.

    Beans: NeverTomatoes: OptionalPasta: Never
  6. A stoneware bowl of elbow macaroni topped with tomato-red chili with ground beef and kidney beans.

    No. 6The Midwest, from Indiana to Nebraska

    Midwest Chili

    Beans, tomatoes and ground beef. In the Plains, a cinnamon roll on the side.

    Across much of the Midwest, chili means ground beef, beans and tomato, often stretched with pasta. It is home and cafeteria food more than competition food. In some states it comes with a cinnamon roll on the side.

    Beans: ExpectedTomatoes: ExpectedPasta: Optional
  7. An oval plate holding a burrito smothered in pale green chili flecked with diced green chile, a folded flour tortilla beside it.

    No. 7Colorado, especially Pueblo and Denver, and New Mexico

    Chili Verde

    Pork and roasted green chile, ladled over the plate.

    Chili verde is pork stewed with roasted green chiles. In New Mexico it is usually eaten as green chile stew. In Colorado it is thickened with a flour roux and poured over burritos, rellenos and hamburgers, an order called smothered. The International Chili Society judges it as a separate competition category.

    Beans: OptionalTomatoes: OptionalPasta: Never
  8. A white bowl of spaghetti under ground-beef chili with red beans, a little shredded cheese and chopped onion, oyster crackers beside it.

    No. 8Joplin, Missouri, and Tulsa, Oklahoma

    Spaghetti Red

    Parlor chili over spaghetti, on Route 66.

    Spaghetti red is chili ladled over a plate of spaghetti, the signature of Fred & Red’s in Joplin, Missouri, since the 1920s. Down the road in Tulsa, Ike’s Chili has offered chili on spaghetti since at least 1913. Both parlors keep their recipes secret, and neither chili uses the sweet spices of Cincinnati.

    Beans: OptionalTomatoes: OptionalPasta: Expected
  9. An oval plate of three rolled enchiladas under dark red chili gravy with melted yellow cheese and chopped onion, Mexican rice and refried beans beside them.

    No. 9Texas, from San Antonio to Dallas and Houston

    Chili Gravy

    A chili roux for enchiladas.

    Chili gravy is the brown-red sauce on Tex-Mex enchiladas and combination plates. It is a roux of fat and flour seasoned with chili powder and cumin and loosened with broth. Robb Walsh, the historian of Tex-Mex, calls it the lifeblood of the old-fashioned cuisine.

    Beans: NeverTomatoes: OptionalPasta: Never