Love Wendy’s Chili? Here’s Our Copycat Keto Chili Recipe!
A low-carb keto chili copycat recipe that is similar to Wendy’s and total comfort food in a bowl.
If you’re a Wendy’s chili fan, you’re in luck with this recipe!
This killer keto knock-off hits the spot! Wendy’s chili is a menu staple that many adore. It feels almost within the low-carb reach with all that meaty goodness, but the beany badness really ruins everything!
Our keto test kitchen went into full swing to create a no-bean version that reminds us of the Wendy’s chili we love and long for… and it’s been a favorite ever since!
Love Wendy’s but not sure what’s okay to eat? Check out our Wendy’s Keto Dining Guide!
I learned something unusual about Wendy’s chili recipe along the way.
While researching all the deets on the real Wendy’s chili ingredients, I stumbled upon some interesting information. Supposedly, the trademark flavor of Wendy’s beloved chili comes from… drum roll please… left-over, already-cooked hamburger patties! WHAAAAT?!
In 2017, an employee reported that the ground beef used in the signature chili comes from leftover hamburgers. The patties are left on the grill until a burger order is placed. If the burgers aren’t used in a certain amount of time, they’re “discarded” and placed in a container to be refrigerated. Then they’re boiled down and chopped up to be used in good, old (pun intended) Wendy’s chili.
Wendy’s states that everything it does follows health and safety procedures and that using leftover hamburger meat cuts down on food waste. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being economical—after all, our landfills aren’t getting any smaller.
You’ll love the taste of our keto knock-off chili over the original!
Yep, that’s right, this Wendy’s copycat keto chili tastes fabulous, even without the added flavor of griddled hamburgers and carb-laden beans. Who needs ’em!
I recently loaded leftover Wendy’s low-carb chili on top of an enormous hot dog covered with cheddar cheese, and I must say, I certainly didn’t miss the beans or the bun! Mmm, mmm… This is some serious, stick-to-your-ribs home-cookin’!
Wendy's Copycat Keto Chili
yield: 8 SERVINGS
prep time: 15 MINUTES
cook time: 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES
total time: 1 HOUR 45 MINUTES
A low-carb version of Wendy's famous chili that really curbs the craving!
Ingredients
- 3 pounds ground beef (I use 85/15), drained, reserving 2 tbsp of fat
- 1 1/2 cups yellow onion, finely diced
- 2/3 cups celery, finely diced
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely diced
- 1/2 cup green bell pepper, finely diced
- 1 cup fresh tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups tomato juice
- 15 oz can crushed tomatoes in puree
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons monk fruit, granular (I use Lakanto)
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
1
In a large pot, brown the ground beef until just done. Drain most of the fat, leaving about two tablespoons.
2
To the pot with beef, add the onions, celery, bell peppers, and chopped fresh tomatoes. Cook over medium-high heat for another five minutes.
3
Now add the tomato juice, crushed tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, monk fruit, and all the seasonings. Cover the pot and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4
Uncover and remove from heat for 10 minutes before serving. If desired, top with shredded cheddar cheese and finely diced onions. Enjoy!
Nutrition Information
Yield: 6 cups, Serving Size: 3/4 cup
Amount Per Serving:
483 Calories | 34.9g Fat | 11.8g Total Carbs | 3.5g Fiber | 5.8g Sugar | 1.1g Sugar Alcohol | 31.3g Protein | 7.2g Net Carbs
Tips for making the best keto copycat Wendy’s chili recipe:
- If you’re looking for a bit more oomph in your chili, take the heat up a notch by adding a 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to the mix or spice up your individual bowl with a healthy splash of hot sauce.
- Think outside the bowl! If you’re stuck in a dinner rut, you can get a little creative! Use your leftover chili to make “loaded broccoli”—steam the broccoli, top it with this chili, and add cheddar cheese and sour cream. Voila!
- The chili is on the thicker side. If it’s too thick for your liking, simply add some beef broth to make it more of a broth-like soup.
If someone served you this at a Wendy’s drive-thru, I bet you wouldn’t realize it was missing the beans!
This Wendy’s copycat keto chili recipe has become a weeknight go-to in my house. The kids love it (they don’t realize it’s missing the beans either), the leftovers are versatile, and it’s an easy-to-fix, all-in-one-pot meal!
Here’s what my teammate Lina had to say about my copycat keto Wendy’s chili recipe:
“I consider myself a chili enthusiast. I love a good chili cookoff, chili burger, chili dog, and anything chili related including the famous Wendy’s version. This recipe is so darn GOOD! I love the bit of sweetness it has. There’s lots of flavor without being too spicy and it’s ultra-filling with all the ground beef. I added cheese and sour cream and was a happy camper! You’ll love this Wendy’s copycat recipe so much!”
Try this Taco Bell naked chicken chalupa that’s totally keto-friendly!
Actually Wendy’s hamburgers that are 12-15 minutes old are put in the chili. Who doesn’t have a hamburger on a plate at home that is 12-15 minutes old when we are frying them. They are not OLD OLD OLD. I think this is a good use of a product, rather than throw them out. Good for them to recycle ad not ad to the throw away nation. I would have posted this on Hip2 but couldn’t find the spot to reply.
Hi Helen! I totally agree with you. I recycle food all the time, leftovers in my house NEVER go to waste! ?
I love their chili over a baked potato. I wonder how this would be over riced cauliflower.
Good idea! Let me know if you try it. ?
Will do.
Hi! What is the serving size? Thanks a bunch!
Hi Maggie. It’s 8 servings per batch. ?
I’m curious too… I understand there are 8 servings, but how much is in a serving? Is that like, 8 x 1 cup servings? Is a serving 1/2 cup?
We measured serving size to be 3/4 of a cup. There were 6 cups divided by 8.
It was delicious! We Added some Cayenne pepper to give it some heat!
Hi there! That sounds delicious ❤ I’m from Texas so we love a little kick too! I will have to try it your way. Thank you for the feedback.
We have been on the keto diet for quite a few weeks. This Wendy’s keto knock off gets credit for part of our success. We absolutely love it. The only changes we made was to leave out the celery and green bell peppers, and we add a bit of beef broth to make it a bit more soupy. It tastes so close to Wendy’s that we feel like we are cheating! We don’t even miss the beans. Thanks for such a great resource.
Yummmm! Made this tonight and this is a recipe to keep.
Yay!! So happy to hear that you enjoyed it! ??
One of the best chili recipes, period!!
Woohoo! Super glad you have been loving it as much as we do! Thanks for the sweet feedback!
So so good, even my kids love it. I’ve been craving Wendy’s chili and I’m thrilled to have this! Thanks so much for the awesome recipe!
You’re very welcome! Enjoy!
Love the recipes thank you
Yay! That’s great to hear, Brenda! You’re SO very welcome! Thanks for the feedback!
Great recipe. The spices are spot on! I will definitely keep this recipe!
Wow! That’s awesome that you liked it so much, Cheryl!
When it says *tomatoes* is that fresh tomatoes, or canned?
Those mean fresh, Jacqui!
Can this be converted to a crockpot recipe?
Yes! You would have to do step one, and then add everything else to simmer on high for a couple hours in the slow cooker. Hope that helps!
I’d like to attempt this in my instant pot. Have you ever tried it instead of stove top?
We haven’t tried the yet, Beth! You may be able to search for some tips for that online. Let us know how it turns out if you decide to give it a try!
This recipe is spot on!
Yay! SO glad to hear that! Thanks for taking a moment to let us know what you thought of it!
Thank you so much! We enjoyed this Chili SOOOO much!
Aww, You’re most welcome, Courtney! SO glad to hear it was a hit!
Made this recipe and loved it. I played around with the spices a bit, added more Chili Powder for example, but easy to adjust to your liking.
Oh awesome! Good to know you enjoyed it with a bit more seasoning! Thanks so much for the feedback!
I used less, because I used Rotella tomatoes for chilli
Hi Jean! That sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing.
I made this in my InstantPot this evening and it was so easy! I browned the beef on sauté then added the remaining ingredients, set the InstantPot to Chili for 30 min and it came out prefect. This is a delightful and simple recipe.
SO awesome!! Happy this was easy to make in your Instant Pot! Thanks a TON for sharing with us, Stephen!
Hi…first how do you get your chop meat so fine and 2nd how can i cook this in the instant pot?
We love using this tool to chop up the meat. if you’ve browned the ground beef, then you can combine everything and cook on high for 14 minutes in the instant pot.
We have always “boiled” our ground beef in just enough salted water to not quite cover the beef. As the pot starts to heat up I chop the beef into small pieces with either a frying pan turner, spatula or a Pampered Chef Mix ‘n Chop. I continue to do so as it cooks u til it resembles a very fine texture. When meat is fully cooked, drain and either discard or reserve “broth”. Makes for very moist and fine meat texture.
My recipe turned out dry. There’s no ‘sauce’, ‘juice’. It’s just seasoned ground beef. I added more tomato juice and more tomatoes. Neither helped. How can I fix this? Thanks.
Hi Debra! Darn I’m so sorry to hear that. Did you use the can of crushed tomatoes as well? Is it possible you may have grabbed lower fat beef? I would suggest adding more crushed tomatoes to get it to the right consistency. Let us know if you need any more help❤
I don’t know the fat content of the ground beef, as I used repackaged beef from my freezer. I added water and, because I didn’t have beef fat, I used bacon fat. It’s better. It’s a tasty recipe and I will try again, paying closer atttention to the beef. Thanks for your help.
No problem ❤ Hope it works out better for you next time!
Totally delicious!
In used more tomatoes rather than tomato juice–less carbs that way, I think. Delicious.
By the way, this is NOT a pun : “good, old (pun intended) Wendy’s chili.”
Wendy’s was my first job. The burgers start on one side of the grill and are flipped very few minutes. Once they make it to the other side of the grill they are ready to eat. If they aren’t used it’s chopped on the grill and added right into the chili.
Oh cool! Thanks for taking a moment to share that with us!
Great chili!!!! I made a couple substitutions because I didn’t have any tomato juice or tomatoes on hand. I used canned petite diced tomatoes, and blended them because my kids don’t “like” tomato chunks. And I used Zing Zang Bloody Mary mix instead of tomato juice. Turned out GREAT!!!
Your substitutions were great! I love it!
I haven’t made this yet but I love chili and I have eaten my share of Wendy’s and Steak and Shake chili. I consider both of them ok in a pinch but nowhere as good as the homemade stuff. I believe this version of chili will be better than Wendys.
Hope you enjoy it!
So what do you do with the 2 teaspoons of fat reserved?
Hi Rick! Sorry for any confusion. It seems you’d drain most of the fat, but leave about 2 tablespoons. Hope that helps!
What brand of chili powder do you use? Thanks
Hi Tracy! Any brand will work!
Holy smokes just made this today. It tastes identical. I decided to slow cook it on high for 4 hours in the crockpot.
That’s awesome to hear DC! Thanks for letting us know how yummy it turned out for you!
This chili is great, this is the only chili we’ve made for over a year now and love it. Others have tried it and loved it too and didn’t even notice there wasn’t any beans, another great recipe!! Keep up the creativity, youre awesome!!
YAY! SO happy to hear that you love and continue to make this chili recipe! ❤️
I made this chilli and its great. I the nutrition content says “483” calories per 3/4 cup. I’m wondering where this is coming from? Considering the ingredients it seems a little high.
Hi Danielle! SO glad you enjoyed it! 💖 We did check the values again and it seems the majority of the calories are from the ground beef.
Can this recipe be done on the crock pot or maybe instapot?
Yes! We haven’t made it that way, however it seems that should work well too! Let us know how it turns out if you decide to try it! 💖
This was very good! I only used 2.5 lbs of ground beef. I left out the fresh tomatoes. I will definitely make this again!
Very happy to hear it was a hit, Kelli! 🙌 Thanks for letting us know about the adjustments you made on this recipe. 🥣💞