Cold weather is always better with hearty meals, like a warm bowl of chili.
In search of the best one to make on repeat all fall and winter, I tried recipes from celebrity chefs Ina Garten, Ree Drummond, and Giada De Laurentiis.
Here’s how the dishes turned out, and which ended up being my top picks.
I started with Garten’s recipe, which didn’t feel familiar to me at all
Garten’s chicken chili recipe, which I found on the Food Network website, seemed fairly straightforward.
I needed easy-to-find ingredients like yellow onion, minced garlic, red bell peppers, yellow bell pepper, chili powder, cumin, dried red-pepper flakes, cayenne, basil, chicken breasts, and cans of whole peeled plum tomatoes in puree.
I simmered the onions and garlic until translucent, added the spices and herbs, diced bell peppers, and whole tomatoes, and cooked for about half an hour.
This mixture was very similar to a chunky pasta sauce.
Instead of roasting the chicken breasts, I sautéed them in a pan
Though the recipe said to split olive oil-covered chicken breasts and bake them in the oven, I decided to sautée them in a pan since it seemed more efficient.
I sautéed them for about 12 minutes on each side, diced them, and combined them with the tomato-and-pepper sauce.
I let the chili simmer for another 20 minutes.
Garten’s recipe didn’t quite satisfy my chili craving
This recipe wasn’t as hearty as a typical chili and had a strong tomato flavor and a lot of bell-pepper chunks.
The chicken was juicy but could have benefited from a different, more potent seasoning blend.
Topped with shredded cheese, it was filling, but not what I would want if I were in the mood for a traditional chili.
A few of my Filipino relatives tried this chili and loved it on top of white rice without cheese, though.
The next recipe I tried was Drummond’s, which felt like a traditional chili
I followed a recipe for Pioneer Woman’s “simple, perfect chili” that I also found on the Food Network website.
Its ingredients seemed very classic for a chili with things like ground beef, chopped garlic, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, and canned beans.
I was surprised to see masa harina, a dried maize-based flour often used as a thickening agent, as an ingredient.
Drummond’s recipe was super easy, though I made a substitution
To start, I browned ground beef in a large pot with minced garlic and drained the fat.
I added chili powder, cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper to the meat and incorporated the tomato sauce.
After stirring, I let the chili simmer for an hour, adding a half cup of water when the mixture looked a bit dry.
I didn’t have masa harina, which needed to be turned into a paste for this recipe, so I substituted it with corn grits.
To do so, I mixed the grits with water and stirred them into the chili. Then, I drained and rinsed my cans of pinto and kidney beans, and added them to the mixture along with more seasonings and salt to taste.
I let all of that simmer for about 10 minutes.
Drummond’s recipe made an excellent traditional chili
Drummond’s easy-to-make recipe was meaty, hearty, and filling.
It was nice and thick, and I liked the ground beef and texture from the pinto and kidney beans. The cumin and spices added a warm flavor, too.
For me, it checked all the boxes for a tasty chili.
De Laurentiis uses ground chicken in her chili recipe
Next, I tried De Laurentiis’ recipe for white bean and chicken chili as found on the Food Network website.
The ingredients were fairly simple, including ground chicken, onion, cumin, chili powder, Swiss chard, canned cannellini beans (or other white beans), frozen corn, fennel seeds, chicken stock, and red-pepper flakes.
For serving, she suggested topping the chili with Parmesan and chopped parsley.
To start, I simmered chopped onions and minced garlic until translucent and added ground chicken, salt, cumin, fennel, oregano, and chili powder.
After the meat cooked through, I added the roughly-chopped Swiss chard, beans, corn, and chicken stock.
Per the recipe, I made sure to scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pot
I let the mixture simmer for about an hour, added chili flakes, and cooked for about 10 more minutes.
When plating, I sprinkled Parmesan and parsley on top.
This chili had some great flavors
De Laurentiis’ chili wasn’t particularly conventional — with the Swiss chard, ground chicken, and Parmesan — but I thought it was tasty.
I enjoyed the savory flavor of the crunchy corn, tender white beans, and vegetal Swiss chard. The stock and ground chicken gave this a rich, meaty taste, too.
I thought this was the perfect, comforting bowl of chili.
For me, the recipes from Drummond and De Laurentiis tied for first place
I loved both Drummond’s traditional chili and De Laurentiis’ chicken version for their hearty, savory, and complex flavors.
They were different types of chili, but equally delicious for game day.
Though Garten’s recipe wasn’t bad, the chunky texture wasn’t my favorite, and it just didn’t do it for me in terms of what I look for in a chili.
Check out the other celebrity-chef recipes we’ve put head-to-head so far.
This story was originally published on February 11, 2022, and most recently updated on October 19, 2026.
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The post I tried chili recipes from 3 celebrity chefs to find the best. My top pick even beat Ina Garten’s take on the dish. appeared first on Business Insider.
