The Super Bowl (Of Chili): We Asked For Your Best Tricks And You Gave Us Your Spiciest Secrets

It’s Super Bowl weekend and we’ve got chili on the brain! But it’s easy to get lost in the sauce when trying to make a memorable bowl.

We asked you (our readers), LAist staff, and professional chefs for their best hacks to make the hefty crowd-pleaser.

Ranging from beans to no beans (shout out to Texas), ground beef to prime cuts, and wild card ingredients such as chocolate, beer, and miso, it seems anything goes when it comes to flavor.

Here is what you had to say:

Beans or no beans?

Chili, no beans.

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Caryl Chinn, Mid-City

I’m a Texas chili fan, so no beans allowed 😉 Plenty of spice, and all the fixin’s (cheese, onion, scallions, jalapeños, sour cream, etc) but especially Fritos! I follow a recipe from Elizabeth Karmel (former chef of Hill Country BBQ) Also — and this is not in the recipe — to get the consistency I prefer, I use an immersion blender to blend the finished product and break up big chunks of ground beef

Ale Gomez Tanner, Bellflower

I make a mash-up between chili and frijoles charros (Mexican-style stewed pinto beans) with chorizo and cilantro 😁

Matthew McIvor, Redondo Beach, owner of Proudly Serving

I make Texas-style chili, as we do at the restaurant and guests can make their Frito pie.

Gail Chabran, (mom of Gab Chabran, associate food editor), Whittier

I like to make it with black beans and ground turkey. Then I have the usual stuff like onion, various sauces or chiles, maybe canned tomatoes. I have been known to make it with garbanzo beans.

Vegetarian chili

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The spice must flow

Nick Roman, host of LAist 89.3’s All Things Considered

My mom was a fabulous cook and taught me how to make chili in college, along with spaghetti sauce and Texas hash. She said you'll get by if you know how to make these things.

I’ve used Lawry’s seasoning, but I also use cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic cloves. I prefer to use ground beef at an 80/20 ratio for more crumble. I’ll add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, green bell peppers, Ortega green chilies, corn, red kidneys, and pinto beans, and for Sunday's Superbowl, I'll start it in a crockpot in the morning.

Oakley Boren, Los Alamitos

I use Gochujang for heat. It sneaks up on you, that one. 😉

Robert Haleblian, Pasadena

Whole dried chilis > powders

Josh Hernadez, Los Angeles

A little mustard in the chili gives it a good zing 🔥

Monica Bushman, Producer, How To LA

My mom often uses the Chilean spice merkén / merquen in place of chili powder. And usually whatever the recipe calls for, she cuts it by half, because at least the Chileans in my family are not big on anything spicy.

Merkén, a spice commonly used in Chilean cooking

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Jonathan Burton, Long Beach

It’s the early and the late steps that matter most to me. Early on it’s blooming spices in the rendered fat and then throwing in minced chipotles in adobo. Later, add a malty beer and some dark chocolate for the simmer.

Aiddee Robles Tellez, Montebello

Adding fresh ingredients like diced onions, cilantro, and jalapenos will level up chili. (Even canned chili) The new burst of flavor will add great texture and crunch.

Nate Perez, LAist Associate Producer

A tiny bit of liquid smoke! I would use a smoker if I could.

So meaty

Chili con carne, chocolate added.

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Ron Reeder, Whittier

I use stew meat instead of ground round.

Rod Chrolon, Los Angeles

Use a li'l chorizo.

Choco-tastic

Chef Teresa Montaño, Chef and Owner of Otoño in Highland, Park

My grandma used to make a green chili with ground pork, onion, garlic and beans. It was stewed like Texas-style but all New Mexico green chile. It was like crack. I like to put a little dark cocoa powder in Texas-style chili.

Malina Syvoravong, food stylist and recipe developer, L.A.

Someone told me to put in cocoa powder and chicory coffee! It feels very cowboy-y to make it that way.

The wildcard ingredients

Matthew Cisneros, La Mirada

I used some bone marrow once and it was 😋 🤤 … roast the bone with marrow then add to chili. Wasn’t for the Super Bowl but should have been!

Laura Dux, LAist events intern

My dad only knew how to cook chili when I was a kid. He would add brown sugar and a whole stick of butter.

Tiffany Luong, owner of Vegan Bánh Mì Thảo, Long Beach

Miso!!

Neal Hirtzel, El Segundo

Fish sauce.

Brian Hidalgo, Whittier

I once sliced up tamales and put them in a chili. Wasn’t that bad.

Sionnan Wood, Burbank

My tip is to sit in the back and crack feminist jokes, and giggle to myself over a cool beer and chips.

Kevin Ferguson, Highland Park

Always add masa harina. Ground-up Fritos works great as a substitute in a pinch.

When in doubt, grab some takeout

Nicole Martin, Compton

Going through the Louis Burger drive-thru for them chili cheese fries or buying the enormous ‘homemade’ Costco container and putting it atop a baked potato.

Jairo Bogarin, owner of Hamburgers Nice

My best friend Tony used to LOVE chili cheese fries at Tom’s/Tommy’s/Tams/Jims/ etc. He would eat all of it! The bottom of the styrofoam plate resembled a Japanese garden after he was done forking it🍴

Khristian Diane, Long Beach

Chili John’s in Burbank is one of the oldest — The Hat in Alhambra is so good — and Louis Burger here in Long Beach is top-notch! I love chili cheese fries. One alternative is the chana masala fries from Badmaash. They are a vegetarian Indian version of chili cheese fries.