Poll of the Day > Nothing on the web about using no bean chili for pasta sauce?!!

(+) Yeah! (+)

So today I was making some chili dogs because somehow I got to talking about wineir snitzell on here awhile ago and have been jonesing for them since.

I always use no bean chili for chili dogs, and this time I had natures valley no bean chilli. The dogs were yummy.

But it got me thinking. I'm about to make a full on slow cooked pasta sauce tomorrow. Already have the ground beef, sausage, bell peppers, onions etc to make it, but I have half a can of no bean chili left over (didn't take that much for the chilli dogs even though I made it for a friend as well.

Anyway while I was putting away the chili and wondering what I would use it on since I don't have any hot dogs left, I thought about how the last little bit tasted (ate if with a spoon) and it's basically spiced ground beef in a yummy sauce.

So why doesn't ANYONE just add that to canned pasta sauce to make a more realistic, fresher tasting, meat sauce?

I almost wish I didn't have to use the ground beef tomorrow so I could try it, but I will just do it later this week I think.

Anyway I did a search on the internet, trying to find anyone with a recipe that called for using jarred/canned tomato sauce + no bean chili for pasta. There are tons of responses for different ways to use the chili and make chili, but I could not find ANYONE that actually used it to add to pasta sauce.

I can't wait to try it, as making my own sauce is a long process, makes a mess etc. If I could just combine a jar + a can and BAM have a yummy meat sauce for my pasta? OMG. The HOURS freak that, DAYS I have wasted not thinking of that before now. I have literally cooked pasta sauce from scratch thousands of times over the years.

Nobody seems to do this, maybe it will suck, maybe there is a reason , but honestly people post horrible ideas all the time that taste disgusting but are still all over the place and tons of college students do it etc.

How is it that college students are not just doing this with microwaves etc? I mean it basically could let you make a really hearty pasta sauce just using a microwave (although a stove top just to brown some onions/bell peppers (and maybe mushrooms if you like them) before adding the sauce chili would prob be better).

Can't wait to try this!!

I just put chili (with beans) on the pasta, I don't mix it with anything. And I add cheese, of course. Plus diced onions if I have any. It's kind of like a Cincinnati five-way, except Cincinnati chili usually has weird stuff like cinnamon and cloves.

wolfy42 posted...

So why doesn't ANYONE just add that to canned pasta sauce to make a more realistic, fresher tasting, meat sauce?

Since I don't like beans this is kinda how I always did it

I know people add chili to pasta to make like a mexican dish of some kind (or pasta to chili), alot of soups are like that etc.

But yeah, I'm mainly talking about making a good spagetti (or rigatoni etc) with a traditional pasta sauce (from a can/jar) but add some no bean chili to it to give it the meaty flavor taste of a meat sauce.

Seriously can't find anyone that does this but it seems so obvious now. It must be done, just.....nobody makes videos etc of it.

I like, might have to make one and put it out there if it works cause it's world changing!!

Make mac and cheese
Add chili
????
Boom, Chili Mac

Here in Cincinnati, we have you covered:
https://www.skylinechili.com/

I mean, no-bean chili is pretty much just meat sauce with different spices. You don't really need a recipe to substitute one for the other, you just need to be okay with the fact that it'll taste different because of the seasoning differences.

If you wanted to, you could make up a batch of sauce/chili without seasonings (or using only the seasonings that are common between them, like salt, pepper, and garlic), freeze portions of that, then make up concentrated seasoning (crushed tomatoes, add several batches' worth of seasoning, simmer that down over a couple hours to blend the flavours and thicken it, then freeze in an ice cube tray) to add and turn it into whichever one you want for a given meal.

not chili w/o beans

Krazy_Kirby posted...

not chili w/o beans

If there ain't beans, it ain't chili!

(But it's an awesome idea none the less, will try one day)

I like both chili with beans and without. For fry dunking I love it without, on a hot dog, without for sure.

Yeah, I get that it's basically just a meat sauce with different spices, but you can't buy a good meat sauce for pasta anywhere (I mean trader joes has a frozen turkey based one, but never can find good bolgonese meat sauces sadly frozen etc.

Best bet has been to just buy the sauce from a restraunt like olive garden but they charge rediculous amounts for a pint of it....not cost effective.

That leave you with making your own, even if you use a jar sauce as a base. You gotta brown the meat + other ingrediants and let it slow cook for at least an hour to meld the flavors.

But with a can of good no-bean chili that actually tastes good all by itself (generally better then browned plain ground beef), you could just add some of that to a jar of prego and suddenly have a real meat sauce that can just be combined into a container and microwaved.

Gonna make my normal sauce today, but I am so trying that out later this week.

Welp, I browned about 5oz of meat, added a can of chili and threw in some left over tomato sauce to thin it and popped all that on some spaghetti

Pretty easy and tasty stuff! What a time saver too, 2lb of mince, maybe 3 cans of chill and a bag of spag and you've got yourself lunch for the week