Not Just Like Wendy's Chili

I love Wendy's chili. While my husband doesn't eat chili much as he struggles with spice and beans, I decided I wanted to make a big pot like I do with soups. I would then package in 2 serving containers and pull one out every other day for lunch. In a brainstorming moment I decided to look for recipes that were labelled as close to Wendy's.

Most I knew wouldn't taste similar based on the ingredients. After cooking as long as I do, you get a feel for some of the flavor combinations. One I found on All Recipes looked the most promising. I knew I would have to make a few changes, but it was a good starting point. I added a can of chopped green chiles. I also added a larger can of  black beans instead of kidney beans. And in their recipe they used stewed tomatoes which I didn't like working with. Next time will use diced tomatoes. All changes are in the recipe below.

Overall, while the taste was not "just like Wendy's" I did like the chili. I  now have quite a few 2 serving containers in the freezer for my lunches. I will be assessing as I eat them if there are any more adjustments I want to make. And I will keep searching to see what other "just like Wendy's" recipes include to see if I can get mine recipe closer to the ideal. Hence the recipe below might change some in the future. 

Enjoy!

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Not Just Like Wendy's Chili

Ingredients -

2 T                    Olive oil
2 lbs                  Extra lean ground beef
2                       Stalks celery, chopped
1                       Onion, chopped
1                       Yellow or orange bell pepper, chopped
3                       14 oz. cans diced tomatoes
1                       14 oz. can tomato sauce

1                       7 oz can chopped green chiles
1                       10 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies (such as RO*TEL)
1 C                   Water
2                       Packages chili seasoning (1.25 oz each)
1                       19 oz. can kidney beans, undrained
1                       14 oz. can pinto beans, undrained
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 T                    White of Cider vinegar, or more to taste

Directions -

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Press ground beef into the hot oil to form one large patty; let the bottom brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir and break browned beef into crumbles. Continue to cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes longer. Stir celery, onion, and bell pepper into beef and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Pour in stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes with green chiles, water, chili seasoning, black beans and pinto beans. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour. Mix vinegar into chili just before serving.