Chili cheese dog chili takes classic chili and stirs in the beloved ball park hot dog flavors. Loaded with ground beef, sliced hot dogs, and chili beans cooks right up in your slow cooker and will have the whole family counting down the hours until supper time so they can pile on their favorite toppings and dig in!

Some people wait until fall to start making chili.

Not me.

There is never a ‘right’ time for chili for me because there is never a wrong time to make it!

It’s a food group unto itself with so many different versions and varieties.

While I’d be happy making a huge pot each week, my kids went through a phase where all they ate was hot dogs.

Why not combine their favorite with mine?

That’s exactly what this chili cheese dog chili is.

It’s hearty chili combined with those state fair/ball park flavors my kids loved.

Better yet?

Because you make it in the slow cooker, there’s virtually no effort on your part.

Ingredients

To make this you’ll need:

Ground beef– Brown it on the stove and drain the grease off.
Veggies– Chopped white onion and minced green bell pepper.
Garlic– Minced
Diced tomatoes– 2 14 ounce cans.
Beans– 2 15 ounce cans of chili beans.
Tomato paste– For richness.
Ketchup– To give it that sweet tanginess.
Barbecue sauce– Your favorite kind
Yellow mustard– For a little of that hot dog flavor.
Spices– Chili powder, cumin, and dried parsley.
Cheese– Shredded cheddar.
Hot dogs– 16 all beef hot dogs, thinly sliced.
Toppings– Extra cheese, minced white onion, etc.

How to Make

This chili cheese dog chili is very easy to make.

To do it, brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat.

Drain off the excess grease.

Then transfer the drained, cooked meat to the bowl of your slow cooker.

Add the onion, green pepper, garlic, tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, ketchup, barbecue, mustard, chili powder, and cumin to the crockpot.

Stir everything together until the mixture’s combined.

Cover the slow cooker and cook the chili on LOW for 6-8 hours or HIGH for 3-4 hours.

30 minutes before serving, stir in 3/4 of the cheese and all of the hot dog slices.

Ladle the cooked chili into bowls and top them evenly with the remaining cheese and additional minced onion, and sprinkle of dried parsley.

Let the bowls rest for a few minutes to melt the cheese and serve warm.

Enjoy!

Topping Ideas

You can really have fun with toppings for this chili because both chili dog toppings and chili toppings would be delicious.

Options include:

sour cream
yellow mustard and ketchup
relish
diced onions
jalapenos
cilantro
crushed tortilla chips

Storing

Store this chili right in the covered bowl of your slow cooker or transfer it to air tight containers in the fridge.

It will keep in the fridge for 4 days.

Reheat individual portions in the microwave or reheat the entire leftover chili in the slow cooker until it’s warm.

Freezing

Chili freezes very well.

To do it, let it cool to room temperature and then ladle it into airtight, heavy duty freezer bags or freezer safe tupperware containers.

If you’re using freezer bags, squeeze out all the excess air.

Freeze it for 3 to 6 months.

Thaw it overnight in the fridge before reheating in the microwave.

Tips and Tricks

Use leaner ground beef so it doesn’t cook down as much.
Omit the pepper in the chili if you don’t like it or add extra if you do.
Make sure you are using hot dogs your family likes. We use all beef because that’s our preference.

Other Chili Dog Recipes

Slow cooker chili dog chili is a delicious mash up of ball park flavors and stick to your ribs chili.

Make it and enjoy!

Looking for other chili dog recipes?

Try these:

If you’ve tried this CHILI CHEESE DOG CHILI, or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and whatever else we’ve got going on!