What to serve with chili?

Question

I tried searching the thread, but "chili" brings up every other post, so apologies in advance if this has already been discussed.

We're (BF and I) hosting a Super Bowl party and a good friend has asked if he could bring his chili. It's delicious and a tradition whenever he hosts a football-watching party. We're planning on supplementing the chili with other dishes and sides. However, I'm drawing an absolute blank as to dishes that would compliment chili. He'll also bring cornbread, so that's covered.

Any suggestions? Bring 'em on, easy or difficult. Thank you!

Answer

I'm making chili Fri night and plan to make corn bread. I use my grandmother's recipe and it is more like a corn cake because it uses a lot of eggs, sour cream and creamed corn. Not a traditional southern corn bread but it gets rave reviews. Goes great with chili. For other side dishes think along the lines of a southwestern theme.

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Quesadillas are a great, if heavy, accompaniment.
On the lighter side, I always like to offer raw veggies for something crunchy and cool alongside - we've always traditionally served carrots, celery, and sweet pickles. I have no idea why the sweet pickles - my family has just always served cold little sweet gherkins with chili. Seems to go pretty well.
I always also like crackers or tortilla chips. It's nice to have something crunchy.
Fresh pineapple tossed with chopped cilantro is also a nice side.

For dessert - mexican brownies!

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rice and/or tortillas

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Fritos for Frito Chili Pie

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Beer. That's about the only side I need when it comes to Chili.

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Not Chowhound fare but in ~95 to accompany a "bowl of chili and pan of cornbread" I made: cocktail weenies in "tube" crescent rolls, mini cheeseburgers, 
salami & cheese w/ crackers and bread platter, mixed nut bowl, dungeness crab louie salad.

A mixture of; danish, muffins, and scones, fruit, fruit juices and coffee, w/Brandy and Kaluha for early arrivals.

Add: Bonnie's Buffalo Wing Dip and two small bobolis for snacks.

Answer

Lots of dips.

Chili is great with tortilla chips some different dips would be in order. Make some salsa, guacamole, multi layer dip with refried beans, tomatoes, cream cheese, etc. I would also get some taquitos which are available frozen just about everywhere.

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how about hot dogs... chili dog option -- yum!

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I say cole slaw...green, refreshing, cool...there are so many great ways to make it, too! I've seen Yucatan style slaw, Texas Slaw, Asian slaw, etc. Many have no mayonnaise.

Answer

"Cheese bread"

purchase a loaf (or two if you have a crowd) of good Italian or French bread. Cut down the middle lengthwise. Place on foil covered baking sheet.

Mix 3/4 c mayo with 1/2 c grated cheddar, 1/2 c grated Jack cheese(or your favorites)

add to this 2 minced green onions, glugs of hot sauce to taste, S&P, 1/2 c minced parboiled broccoli, 1/2 c ch. raw cabbage, 1/2 c ch. red bell pepper. You can embellish further: olives, capers, ch. pepperoncini, etc)

Slather the mayo/cheese/veg mixture on each 1/2 of the loaf. Bake at 375 till bubbly- 15 min or so. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes before cutting into serving slices. Arrange on platter.

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do u happen to have a good chili recipe?

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maybe not for your superbowl party, but my absolute favorite with chili is Mashed Potatoes... The ultimate comfort food!!

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Another thread about what to serve with chili; some good ideas there too:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/461659

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One person did mention crackers but this needs to be emphasized. What is the point of chili without crackers?? If you don't set some out, people will be rummaging through your kitchen looking for crackers. (Not water biscuits, not Sesame Wafers, nothing from the gourmet shop: just plain old soda crackers aka saltines.) Also, set out an assortment of hot sauces for people who want their chili hotter.

Answer

I got it down to a regular routine for our feminist strategizing meetings 30+ years ago at Casa Sharuf. Everyone expected it, so I had to make Sharuf's Famous Chili. It was accompanied by guacamole with veggie dippers -- jicama, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, and radishes. Also, hand-made (fresh today) tortillas from our Mexican mercado and tortilleria. Since the tortillas were rather thick, I cut them in half after heating them up. There would be hot sauce too, of course. And butter for the tortillas. Dessert would be either fresh melon or pan dulces from our nearby panaderia.

Answer

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! Keep them coming. At this point, I'm probably going to use most of the suggestions. Of course, there will be beer.

I also thought of making some sweet corn pudding. I'll sheepishly admit that I picked that idea up from Chevy's, the faux-Mexican chain, which serves an amazing side called sweet corn tomalito. From what I could research on the interweb, it has Tex-Mex origins. I have a recipe for it that comes pretty close to Chevy's version and thought it would compliment the chili well.

Answer

I had a dinner party last weekend that featured chili with optional toppings of black olives, scallions, cilantro, sour cream, and grated cheddar. We had a skillet of cornbread and a salad of avocado, blood orange, and red onion over baby salad greens. The salad may be too frou frou for a Super Bowl party. But one thing that goes great with chili is tamales. If you make your own, you'll blow them away with how delicious they are.

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Chili and rice sounds mighty nice.

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My boyfriend has to have a peanut butter sandwich on white bread. He grew up eating the two together, and still enjoys the combination today.

We had a chili party a couple of months ago and the toppings we had were onions, green onions, jalapenos, oyster crackers, fritos, different types of cheeses, sour cream, and cilantro.

I would recommend something chocolate for dessert, we had cupcakes.

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Chips and Queso!

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Good flour tortillas. As much as I like chili, I can't take eating a big bowl of it. But I do like making soft tacos using flour tortillas: chili, cheese, onion, lettuce. Delish and it's filling.

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I owuld serve guacamole and chips with the chili

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crackers, cheese, potatoes, sour cream, you name it!

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My favorites: I second good corn tortilla and salad, I am a veggie person and need them, I also love roasted sweet potatoes (citrus glaze always goes over very well) and roasted parsnips with chili, or spaghetti squash is really good with chili. Or roasted potatoes too (I grew up on potatoes in Idaho, so unlike others on this thread, my husband had to teach me to eat rice!)

Answer

I too like rice. White, wild, or brown is yummy. How about...
Salad or a cooked green--escarole, spinach, broccolini with garlic and olive oil
Pizza bread
Garlic bread
Plain old homemade bread (Mark Bittman's No Knead is a good companion to chili)
Homemade corn chips
Brauts, white hots or good old fashioned hot dogs
Mac and cheese
Sweet potato fries

Answer

Thanks again for your suggestions, everyone! In the end, this was our Super Bowl menu:

Chili
Cornbread
Sweet corn tomalito
Fried chicken
Jalapeno poppers
Chips/queso/salsa/guacamole
Pigs in a blanket (using kielbasa and Italian sausages)
Chopped salad (lettuce, cabbage, tomato, jicama, cilantro, scallions, corn)
Pita/baba ganoush/hummus
Brownies
Chocolate cutout cookies with icing and sprinkles
Coffee-walnut cookies

Mr. Geeky and I had a really busy week leading up to Sunday, so we opted for easier dishes. We told our guests that we had drinks on hand, but if they had a personal preference, they were more than welcome to bring more drinks. In the end, we had a pretty eclectic mix of beers.

Thanks again!

Answer

I make a lot of chili and have tried most the suggestions and they pretty well cover it. Except the #1 way it's served in the UK- over spaghetti! I tend to put it over rice with sharp cheddar cheese and pickled jalepenos, but often do it the UK way just because it's so fast, good and easy. Makes the chili go further too! Shiner Bock as lager accompaniment . (Having some nice wild boar and venison chili tonight!)

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Corn bread with cheese, kernels of corn, and green chilies, beer, and if it is hot Texas chili, a mango cream cheese gelatin mold...seriously. Learned this from an El Paso friend many years ago.

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Can I just say that I have never heard of the alleged UK way to serve it over Spaghetti. Only ever had it in this country with Rice, taco shells or tortilla's. Are you sure you aren't mixing it up with Spaghetti Bolognaise?

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I sometimes like to serve chili over polenta/grits with some crushed Fritos. It makes a tamale like dish. Real tamales are of course better, but this is a quick and dirty substitute.

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Dice onions, dill pickles, tomatoes and pickled hot peppers and even cooked boars head beef franks.

Serve all these as individual condiments, as well as mustard, so people can assemble a bowl of chili dog. 

I did this once when I went to make chili dogs but forgot to buy buns. It was so good and easier to eat.

Answer

Hi, I'm from the UK and was looking for something a friend did as an accompaniment to Chilli here in the UK some years back (probably circa 1998/99). 

I haven't come across it, but, given this is a US site, I'm not surprised!

We even spell Chilli differently :)

The dish my friend made was something like crushed frozen peas with some mint... it was a really refreshing accompaniment and I was just after the 'how to' - I can probably try a few things until I work it out for myself, so no problems :) Probably something like whizzing some frozen peas in a blender with fresh mint leaves (I have them in the garden, so no problem on that front). If that works, I'll post the 'how to' later

Just wanted to say though (having read through the entire thread) that chilli in the UK generally includes kidney beans (red beans) and we mostly use the canned / tinned variety as the dried ones carry such a risk of poisoning unless you get it right!

Sometimes, other things are added too such as sweetcorn (nibs, not cobs) and peas (usually frozen) for sweetness and, for those with kids, to get them to eat vegetables disguised in something they will eat :)

I've also been known to add chopped sweet potato (works well with the heat of the chilli) and other beans such as borlotti / haricot - that's a good way of making a small amount of meat go a really long way when finances are tough but you still want something hot & tasty :)

To be honest, I don't think chilli is treated in the UK with the reverence it seems to get in the US. Here, it's a kind of spicy minced beef dish, usually with kidney (red) beans but has so many variations, it probably doesn't bear any real relation on the whole to what you in the US would call chili. 

For info, it's often served (in a mildly spiced form) over baked potatoes (jacket potatoes in the UK) as common 'pub grub' and that format has worked itself into many homes with baked potato skins topped with chilli & cheese being quite common. 

{Baked potato skins are basically potatoes cooked in their skins on a low heat, then allowed to cool, then cut so that they're mostly skin but with some of the potato flesh (sometimes fluffed up a bit) and then re-cooked in a hotter oven so they become a bit crispy - often with cheese or cheese & bacon or a cheese, bacon & spring onion (scallions in the US) mix} 

My chilli almost always has some unsweetened plain (dark) chocolate added towards the end of cooking. One of my friends always adds some cola and stirs just before serving...

So many variations on supposedly one dish...

Answer

I serve either homemade apple sauce or stewed apples and also, dill pickle wedges.

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I see little mention here of common soda crackers (saltines)---either regular square ones or little teensy round ones. Does that omission actually mean that chili can be eaten without crackers??

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I always serve cheese toast and carrot sticks, along with everything needed for Frito pie.

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I like to serve a grilled cheese sandwhich with my chili. I like to make them with a sharp cheddar or pepperjack cheese.

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Definitely warm corn tortillas!! The rice is a good idea, though!

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Chili cheese fries...fries can be a great addition!! OR Nachos?!
I couldn't agree more with that rice comment!

Great apps:
(1) Guac, salsa & chips 
(2) hummus & a veggie plate
(3) Fruit plate

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