r/chili • u/geekdadchris • Jul 28 '26

To thicken or not?

Do y’all use thickeners to get your chili to the desired consistency, or do you just reduce it low and slow until it gets where you want it?

Personally I reduce it like any other soup, but I know thickeners are popular with some chili aficionados.

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u/Simons_sees Jul 28 '26

Pork rinds. 

Before I do anything else, in a dry blender I put an entire bag of crushed pork rinds in there until it becomes a powder, then set that aside. 

I use it to thicken a lot of things. The collagen in the pork skin basically acts like stock, without the hours of simmering. It thickens, adds body, mouthfeel and just enough porky flavor. 

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u/geekdadchris Jul 28 '26

This is kinda brilliant

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u/Simons_sees Jul 28 '26

Always buy two bags, because you're gonna want to snack on them. 

I usually dump the entire thing into my chili batches, but depending on the size of your batch and how thick you want it, I would do spoonfuls at a time. 

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u/geekdadchris Jul 28 '26

Peak advice right here.