What is the Original Texas Chili Recipe?
Nov 4th - Nov 7th, 2026
The original recipe for Texas chili is Tolbert’s Original Red Chili Recipe by Frank X. Tolbert, from his book, A Bowl of Red, which was published at Texas A&M University in 1953. Frank founded the Terlingua International Chili Championship in Terlingua, Texas.
The main thing that cooks agree on is that Texas chili has no beans or tomato sauce. This is the main difference between other chili recipes.
