Walt's Chili Recipe -Award Winning Chili Recipe Disneyland Recipe! (2025)

Sharing Walt’s Chili recipe today inspired from Disneyland! The best chili recipe I’ve made! So delicious for chilly nights at home.

Best Chili Recipe

If you ask me, Walt’s Chili is absolutely an award winning chili! This is a version inspired by Carnation Cafe on Main Street, U.S.A. I tested it today and let me tell you, it’s perfect! In all honesty, I probably won’t ever need to make another chili recipe. It’s that good! I love to enjoy Walt’s Chili from Carnation Cafe on Main Street, U.S.A. The best!

Be sure to also try Loaded Baked Potato Soup from Disneyland too! Follow Picky Palate on Instagram for daily recipe inspiration!

What You’ll Need

• extra virgin olive oil– You’ll use the olive oil for sautéing vegetables.
• onion– Finely chop the onion before adding to chili.
• green bell pepper– Finely chop and de-seed green bell peppers in advance.
• jalapeños– Optional, but adds a nice kick. Mince jalapenos.
• garlic– Mince fresh garlic for the chili.
• parsley– Fresh chopped parsley adds a nice freshness to the chili.
• pinto beans– Rinse beans before adding to chili.
• diced tomatoes– Any diced tomato brand you prefer works great.
• water– Water gets added to chili.
• chicken broth– Use reduced sodium chicken broth.
• butter– I generally use salted butter for my recipes, but unsalted works fine too.
• ground beef- Use a 80% lean or higher beef.
• ground sausage– Jimmy Dean mild or regular sausage works great here.
• kosher salt– Kosher salt is a coarse salt commonly used in cooking and baking.
• black pepper– For best tasting results, use fresh cracked black pepper.
• ground cumin– Cumin adds a nice smoky flavor, just a touch.
• chili powder– Gives the chili it’s traditional chili flavor.
• sour cream– Use full-fat sour cream for best results.
• diced fresh tomatoes– Adds a nice garnish for top of chili.
• green onion, chives or chopped parsley– Options for garnishing each bowl of chili.

How To Make The Best Chili

1. Heat oil in large soup pot over medium heat. When hot, saute onions, green bell pepper, and minced jalapeno. Cook for about 10 minutes until tender. Add pinto beans, diced tomatoes, 3/4 cup parsley and water.
2. In a separate medium pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add ground beef and sausage. Season with salt and pepper, cooking until browned. Drain most of fat, leaving a little still in meat. Season with chili powder and cumin, stirring to combine.
3. Transfer cooked beef/sausage to vegetable pot, carefully stirring. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
4. Place chili into soup bowls and top with shredded cheddar cheese, fresh diced tomatoes and sour cream drizzles. Add additional chopped parsley on top if desired.

Once vegetables are sautéed, add beans, tomatoes and chopped fresh parsley.

Add water and chicken broth. Let simmer.

In a separate pot or large skillet, melt butter and brown ground beef and sausage. Season with salt and pepper, stirring until cooked and browned.

Once the beef/sausage has cooked, drain and add cumin and chili powder. Stir to combine.

Add cooked beef/sausage to the vegetables and bean pot, stirring to combine. Cover and let simmer for 30 minutes to an hour before serving.

For each bowl of chili, top with shredded cheese, fresh chopped tomatoes…and to get the sour cream drizzle, I put a scoop of sour cream into a ziplock baggie, snip an end and drizzle over soup.

Garnish with either chopped green onion, chives or chopped parsley.

How To Serve Walt’s Chili

Enjoy this bowl of chili with a side of saltine crackers just like it’s served at Carnation Cafe. A soft roll is another great option. We also serve our chili with a big chopped salad.

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