Steak ‘N Shake chili is my all-time favorite restaurant chili! It’s got a really specific THICK texture – almost a sauce – that is unlike any other. And – after three tries – I FIGURED IT OUT!! I finally made the perfect Copycat Steak ‘n Shake chili!
The texture was the unique thing about Steak ‘n Shake chili that I loved and why it was so hard to replicate – but the key is in the beans! I can’t wait to share this secret with you! It’s so easy too! You’ll also want to make sure and have your favorite toppings on the side like diced onion, grated cheese and oyster crackers.
I have a lot of great memories of Steak ‘N Shake. Once a year, we would drive to the Quad Cities to go school shopping and that would be our treat lunch. We were poor – so it was a day my Dad saved up for every year.
More recently, quite a few of the Cincinnati-area Steak ‘n Shakes have closed – leaving me worried I wouldn’t be able to get that awesome chili! I bought six cans of the chili so I would have ample tasting opportunities.
How do you make Steak ‘n Shake chili?
It’s a fairly “normal” chili recipe – with a couple of differences. First off – there’s very little tomato – just a small can of tomato sauce. Second- it’s a double down on the BEANS! Here’s how you make it:
First, brown the ground beef in a dutch oven-style pan (high sides). While that’s browning, you’ll take a can of French onion soup (not mix – the actual can of soup) and 1/2 can of the kidney beans and put them IN THE BLENDER! Yes – the blender. Boom! Mind. Blown.
Once the hamburger is browned, add the soup & bean puree, the rest of the beans and all of the remaining ingredients to the pot. Bring to a simmer and turn heat to lowest setting and simmer for an hour.
Finally top the chili with diced onion, shredded cheese and oyster crackers for an authentic Steak ‘n Shake experience. You can also serve it on Spaghetti for a Steak ‘n Shake 3-way!
Does Steak n Shake chili have beans in it?
Yes. Doubled down actually! This was the key to the texture. I knew it was a thick texture but it wasn’t tomato-based. That’s also the key to the color – it’s lighter than regular chili.
The first time I made the chili, I started with a copycat recipe I found online. It was not even REMOTELY like Steak ‘n Shake chili! But it was a place to start. From there – I kept tasting the canned chili realized there was a “sauce” and then it hit me! I took some of the beans out of my first batch and put them in the blender and voila – that was it!
I actually don’t even own a “real” blender – just one of those little pulsing smoothie blenders – but it worked perfectly!
Steak ‘n Shake Chili vs Skyline Chili
Steak ‘n Shake serves a 3-way with their chili on spaghetti and you might think – hmmmm is it like Cincinnati chili? Nope. It’s not. I will say – it has some of the same ingredients – but they aren’t really similar flavors. Steak ‘n Shake has much more traditional chili flavors. I guess if you have Wendy’s on one end of the scale and Skyline on the other end – this would be in the middle.
What to serve with Copycat Steak ‘n Shake Chili?
Copycat Steak ‘n Shake Chili
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1 can French Onion Soup
- 1 can dark kidney beans
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp Liquid Smoke
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup cola (coke, pepsi, etc)
Instructions
- Brown ground beef and salt in oil in a dutch oven style pan (high sides)
- Pour soup and 1/2 can of kidney beans (some liquid from beans is fine – do not drain) into mini blender. Blend for 1 minute – pulsing until completely pureed.
- Drain ground beef
- Add soup & bean mixture and all remaining ingredients to pot with beef
- Bring to a simmer, then turn heat to the LOWEST setting and simmer for an hour
- Serve with diced onion, grated cheese and oyster crackers
- You can also serve on top of spaghetti for a Steak 'n Shake 3-way!
I am not quite sure why the cinnamon was added to this recipe. That is all you could smell while it was cooking and all you could taste when it was done. I even tried to add some additional cumin and chili powder to mask the taste, but that did not help. The cinnamon was overpowering. I ended up throwing out the entire pot. I may try this recipe again without the cinnamon as the chili does seem to have the color and texture of Steak and Shake Chili. Perhaps it was just too much cinnamon, so if you decide to try this recipe, I would recommend omitting the cinnamon and possibly only adding it a little at a time at the end if you feel it adds something to the taste.
It was 1 teaspoon – i’m not sure how that can overwhelm a potfull of chili. But oh well. I’m from Cincinnati – our chili always has cinnamon and they serve theirs on top of spaghetti a lot. I don’t think S&S chili has much traditional “chili” flavor.
While I have yet to try your recipe (you may be on to something in blending the beans and Onion soup!) I have tried both cinnamon and cocoa as others have suggested, and they do not offer a similar taste to the S&S taste. I’m tempted to try dark Karo syrup or molasses, along with a small amount of brown sugar. I’ve tried so many recipes and none have the “it” factor. Could it be a brand of product that stymies us? I have a sneaky suspicion it lies in the meat used….not just ground beef??? I had a friend who would use cuts of beef AND pork in her Spaghetti sauce, and it was out of this world good!!!
it’s the beans – blending them was the key. i knew the color and thickness was the key – once i blended 1/2 the beans – that did it
We recently moved and I haven’t unpacked my blender. I mashed the beans to death but couldn’t quite obtain a puree. I wish I knew to what extent it affected the sauce as it was quite soupy. The taste was great and the soupy sauce wasn’t terrible as I served it over elbow macaroni.
Thanks for the recipe! I’ll try it again when I unpack my blender.
First – love your name! I love Daisies! The thing I love about SS Chili is the thickness of the “sauce” and the beans really help that and yeah – a blender is kind of needed. I actually don’t even own a REAL blender! I just have one of those little smoothie makers and used that! It’ll be even better when you find that! haha
1/2lb of ground beef seems like a very small amount of meet for 6 servings. I’m going to make this today, but just wanted to make sure that’s all I needed?
Yup! You can add more if you like – never a bad thing. I was just making it so it seemed like the same amount as in their chili but go ahead and add a whole pound!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I also have an inexplicable love for Steak n Shake chili and this was a perfect copycat – it gets everything right about the original AND makes it better. It came out perfect. Next time I will double it for more leftovers!
Oh I’m so glad you liked it – i’m the same and had to figure out how to make it myself with so many of the closing. It’s the blending of the beans that is the key!!!!
Haven’t made chili in a year or two and forgot my recipe, so I found yours…I later overheard ‘the chili was SO good’, multiple times!
I basically doubled or tripled everything, including the meat (used 1.5 lbs). I added a dash or two of cayenne pepper, and also 3 cloves of minced garlic because I’m Italian and it’s a sin to eat any dish without garlic, ha. Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad your crew liked it!!!
Hi, this sounds so good!
I saw the comments about cinnamon. Thing is, I see no cinnamon in the ingredient list. Has the recipe been changed? I’m eating a cup of chili from Steak n Shake right now as I write and I detect not even the least hint of cinnamon. Does the can list cinnamon as an ingredient?
i remade the recipe and removed the cinnamon and it tasted the same to me – I didn’t find it offensive in any way – but others did. The thing is – it’s a twist on the idea of cincinnati chili – with chili on spaghetti so i added a tiny bit – but it’s the same without it.
The texture is there but it’s definitely on the sweet side. I’m not real sure why. I made the exact recipe, no tweaks. Maybe the coke was a bit much? Maybe the type of cumin or chili powder? Hmmm.
Maybe the coke…glad you liked the texture – that was the toughest part to figure out!
Made this tonight and everyone loved it!! I actually worked at steak n shake for 10 years. High school and college and a little after. This is a tad sweeter than sns but pretty spot on.
I doubled the recipie and added an extra can of beans bc sns has more beans then what was in my pot. Also I used an emerging blender and blended the beans, soup, and meat. I like my meat in smaller chunks.
Thank you so much for this recipie!!
Glad you like it – I’ll re-examine the ingredients next time I make it and see if i can pull back on the sweetness – thanks!
You have provided the secret to a clone of SS chili, the puréed beans! Never would have thought of that. Otherwise, I tripled the beef and salt, and doubled the seasonings, spices, and tomato sauce, used 3 cans of beans, and subbed a can of beef consume for the coke. I puréed a whole can of beans with the soups. I think I will add another can of whole beans next time, and drain all the beans as I wound up with too much liquid, which I cooked off. Close as heck to the real thing! Thank You!
hahahaha – glad you liked it – it’s got such a thick texture – it’s so different than any other chili!
Oh my goodness! I could not believe how much it tasted like Steak and Shakes recipe. I was so excited! I cooked some spaghetti to go with it. Please give this recipe a try. I doubled the ingredients and used Bush’s mild chili beans instead.
Thanks!!!! I made a fairly small batch since i live alone – but glad you like it!
Tried this last night. Haven’t been to SNS in awhile due to COVID so don’t have a recent comparison memory but I loved the texture of this chili. It is a little too sweet for our taste, so next time I’ll reduce the amount of cola and I was scared of so much cumin, but didn’t need to be! Otherwise, it was very good and even better leftover at lunch today. I will definitely make this recipe again!
So glad you liked it!!!!! The texture is the key to that chili and I loved it too!
My Dad knew the original founder and in fact he helped build the first Steak and Shake. I added 1/3 cup ketchup and it is truer to the original. Mine seems a little runny so next time I’m using half can soup.But it was good.
Thank you for sharing. Oh the sauce that is on chi mac is Worcestershire sauce and ketchup. Also it’s name comes from a guy named Mac that came in everyday and the founder put it together and ask Mac what to name it. 🙂
Fun stories!
Just made a double batch. It is good but My wife and I both agree it’s too sweet. I’ll try 1/3 cup of Coke next time or leave it out all together. I gave up on sodas years ago and probably why this tasted sweet.
BTW: Steak n Shake servers in St Louis were never consistent with the amount of beans in your bowl.
This seems to be right on track.
Glad you liked it and yes – that’s the nice thing about making at home -you can tweak as needed. I gauged the amount of beans off the canned version because I had some to see/taste side by side. 🙂
I have made steak n’ shake chili from a recipe I combined a few years ago and it tasted very similar. Maybe with the addition of pureeing the beans I can have it almost exactly. I always read the comments before I make a recipe. Usually copy cat recipes almost always have someone that worked there and give advice. The advice I found was ketchup and Worchester sauce. Also it is said the founder of steak n’ shake used ingredients he already had on hand in the restaurant. At the time they used RC Cola, chocolate syrup-not powder, ketchup instead of paste. Also they used ground steak and when I made mine I used chuck roast and very little amounts of hamburger/pork mixture. I cannot wait to try it with your idea with the beans.
What kind of Liquid smoke did you use
Colgin Liquid Smoke brand
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I agree that the texture is right. The taste came out a little bit too sweet, though. The only thing I can blame might be the French Onion soup? Which brand(s) do you normally use? I’m living in Thailand so my options are rather limited; I used Baxter’s which I believe is from the UK. Still a perfectly good chili, but I’d like to figure out how to get rid of the sweetness.
You might reduce the cola – I think i’m going to try that next time i make it
I re-read the recipe 2 times, I did not see where it called for cinnamon It talked about Cincinnati Chili. Perhaps that was mistaken for cinnamon.
I remade the recipe and left out the cinnamon and i think it tasted fine – so it’s something you can add if you want to – it’s definitely an ingredient in cincinnati chili.