Cincinnati Chili 3-way
intro
Iconic spiced savory meat sauce layered over al dente spaghetti and mounded with melted cheddar: Cincinnati’s beloved, cozy regional comfort food.
Ingredients
Steps
Sauté the aromatics
Heat 15ml (1 tablespoon) neutral canola oil in a large 5-quart Dutch oven over medium heat (175°C/350°F). Add 150g finely diced yellow onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent. Add 10g minced garlic and 32g tomato paste, stirring constantly for 1 minute until the tomato paste deepens to a rusty red color and smells fragrant.
Build the chili base
Pour 480ml low-sodium beef broth and 240ml cold water into the pot with the aromatics, stirring to combine. Add the full 450g of raw lean ground beef, using a potato masher or wooden spoon to break the beef into extremely fine, sand-like crumbles as the liquid heats. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer over medium heat, about 4 minutes, ensuring no large clumps of meat remain.
Simmer the spiced chili
Stir in 14g chili powder, 7g unsweetened cocoa powder, 2.6g ground cinnamon, 1g ground allspice, 2.5g ground cumin, 15ml Worcestershire sauce, 5ml apple cider vinegar, 6g (1 teaspoon) of the kosher salt, and 1 whole bay leaf. Reduce heat to low (95°C/200°F) to maintain a slow, steady bubble, partially cover the pot, and simmer for 60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to prevent sticking. The finished chili will be thick but pourable; remove and discard the bay leaf once simmering is complete.
Cook the spaghetti
During the final 10 minutes of chili simmering, bring 4 liters (1 gallon) of water to a rolling boil over high heat, add the remaining 18g (3 teaspoons) kosher salt to make the water as salty as seawater. Add 340g dried spaghetti, stirring immediately to prevent sticking, and cook for 9-10 minutes until al dente (tender with a slight firm bite at the center). Drain the pasta thoroughly without rinsing, reserving 60ml (1/4 cup) of starchy pasta water to thin the chili if needed.
Layer pasta and chili
Divide the hot, drained spaghetti evenly between 4 warmed dinner plates, creating a loose mound of pasta on each plate. Ladle 180ml (3/4 cup) of hot chili over each spaghetti mound, spreading the sauce gently to cover most of the pasta, leaving a 1cm (1/2 inch) border of exposed spaghetti around the edge. Do not mix the chili into the pasta for traditional service.
Top with cheddar cheese
Pile 85g (3/4 cup) of freshly shredded sharp yellow cheddar directly on top of the hot chili on each plate, mounding the cheese into a loose, fluffy pile. The heat from the chili and pasta will gently melt the bottom layer of cheese, creating the classic 3-way texture. Serve immediately, without stirring the cheese into the dish.
Tips
2.Do not brown the ground beef before adding it to the broth: cooking raw beef directly in simmering liquid creates the signature fine, crumbly chili texture, rather than the chunky, seared meat pieces found in Texas-style chili.
3.If your chili thickens too much during the 60-minute simmer, thin it with small splashes of the reserved starchy pasta water instead of extra broth; the pasta water adds silkiness without diluting the warm, spiced flavor profile of cinnamon, cocoa, and allspice.
OMG I grew up outside Cincinnati and have been chasing that perfect Skyline taste for YEARS since I moved to Chicago. This recipe is dead on! The spice blend is exactly right — that hint of cinnamon and cocoa doesn’t taste weird at all, it’s that signature depth I missed. Served it over spaghetti with a mountain of shredded cheddar for my roommates last night and they begged for seconds. 10/10 no notes!
Total game changer for weeknight meals! I was worried the 80 minute cook time would be too long for a school night, but most of that is just simmer time where you don’t have to stand over the stove. Made a big batch on Sunday, portioned it out over spaghetti for lunches all week, and my 8 year old asked if we can have this for dinner every single week. SO good, way better than the canned chili I used to buy.
Wait a second, is there a way to make this gluten free? My whole family eats GF and I’ve been dying to try Cincinnati chili since I saw it on that food travel show! Do you just use GF spaghetti and make sure the Worcestershire is GF? I don’t want to mess up the flavor by swapping wrong ingredients.
I brought this to my neighborhood block party potluck last weekend and people were lined up for seconds! I was a little nervous serving something with cinnamon in it to a bunch of Texans who are used to traditional no-beans chili, but everyone was asking for the recipe. Pro tip: shred your own cheddar instead of buying the pre-shredded stuff, it melts so much better!
I was so skeptical about chili on spaghetti with cheese, no beans? No tomato chunks? But my boyfriend is from Ohio and begged me to make this for his birthday. Let me tell you — I get the hype now! The flavor is so warm and complex, it’s nothing like any chili I’ve ever had. We did 3-ways on Saturday and then made coneys with the leftover chili on Sunday for football. 10/10 will be in our regular rotation
Super easy even for someone who burns toast half the time! I’m a sophomore in the dorms and made this in my little slow cooker (browned the beef first in a pan in the common kitchen) and let it cook on low for 4 hours instead of simmering on the stove. Turned out perfect! My whole floor smelled like it and people kept knocking asking what I was making lmao
I’ve been making Cincinnati chili for 40 years and I have to say, this recipe is right up there with my own! The only thing I do differently is add a tiny pinch of allspice, but that’s just my family’s preference. My grandkids demolished a whole pan of 3-ways when they came over for Sunday dinner. Great recipe, even for us old pros!
How well does this freeze? I like to make big batches of meals to freeze for nights when I don’t feel like cooking, but I’ve never frozen chili that has spaghetti in it. Should I freeze the chili separate from the noodles?
Made this for my kid’s soccer team dinner last night and it was a home run! I set out a little topping bar with extra cheese, onions, oyster crackers for anyone who wanted to do a 4-way or 5-way, and all the kids (and coaches!) went back for seconds. So easy to make for a crowd, and the cook time is totally hands off once you get the beef browned and spices in. Will absolutely be making this again for future team events!