Chili.
Who doesn’t like chili? It’s perhaps one of the classic winter comfort foods – hearty, meaty, and flavorful.
You can also do so much with it (with the help of some cheese) – add it on a hot dog and you get a chili cheese dog. Add it to some fries and make some chili cheese fries. Or just eat it by itself with shredded cheese, sour cream, and some oyster crackers and you get a hearty meal all by itself.
Now, here’s something else you can add chili to: spaghetti.
Apparently “chili + spaghetti = “Cincinnati chili”. Why is it called Cincinnati chili? I have no idea. I’ve never been to Cincinnati before, but I love chili and I love spaghetti, so it automatically sounded like a delicious combo.
Turns out Cincinnati did create something great. We had friends over for dinner last night and everyone said it was amazing. If you love spaghetti and you love chili, this is definitely a must-try.
As always, I tweaked the recipe to make it a little bit healthier for everyone without sacrificing taste.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 1-1.25 pounds ground turkey
- salt and black pepper
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 15-oz can of tomato sauce – I used the “no salt added” kind to decrease sodium intake
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 16-oz spaghetti, cooked
- a variety of toppings – pinto beans, extra onions, shredded cheddar cheese, oyster crackers…
Directions:
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Brown the ground turkey, breaking it up into crumbles, then add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Cook until turkey is no longer pink.
- Stir in the garlic and cook for an additional minute or two.
- In the mean time, combine the tomato sauce, vinegar, chili powder, paprika, cinnamon, cumin, allspice, cloves, and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl.
- Add sauce mixture along with 1 cup of water into the meat mixture. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, then turn heat down to medium-low and cook until the chili is slightly thickened, about 1 hour.
- Serve the chili over the spaghetti and top with desired toppings.
We chose to keep it simple and only topped it with some shredded cheddar cheese.
Note: My husband, who helped me combine all the spices/tomato sauce ingredients together, secretly added twice the amount of cayenne in the mix. This is a great idea for those that love their chili with a kick (he didn’t tell me until I made a comment about how spicy it was). However, for those that aren’t a fan of the heat, keep it at 1/4 teaspoons – or none at all.
Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine
