The 47+ Best Toppings for Chili

A hearty ground beef chili has to be one of the best comfort food options ever. Few dishes beat that bowl of perfectly sweet and spicy chili, but that’s only half the recipe. Your delicious chili deserves to be served not only with the best side dishes but also with the best chili toppings! A chili bar or charcuterie board calls for all the must-try chili toppings, and we have them all listed here!

If you’re having a chili party or making a chili charcuterie board or chili bar, you’ll want to offer as many optional sides and toppings for chili as possible so everyone can customize their bowl. Choose from classic chili toppings ideas and more unusual ones.

Hosting a party with friends? Learn all the details for putting together the ultimate chili bar or chili charcuterie board, and try my hearty beef chili recipe.

Tips for Deciding on Chili Toppings

If you’re wondering what to put on chili or serve up with it, the following tips might be useful. It’s a great idea to mix and match your chili toppers from several different categories. For example, offering both sour cream and Greek yogurt probably isn’t necessary – they’re both creamy and taste very similar.

And you probably want to make sure you’re including something crunchy, something creamy, something spicy, something salty, and at least one type of cheese.

If you’re feeding a crowd, it’s worth making more than one kind of chili, for example, one mild and one hot, or one beef and one vegetarian. That way, everyone gets the homemade chili they prefer and then they get to take their pick of lots of toppings too!

Classic Chili Toppings

These items are traditional chili toppings, so you’ll almost definitely want to include all or most of them:

• Diced onions
• Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• Sour cream
• Hot sauce
• Cornbread cubes
• Cilantro
• Lime wedges

Cheese Chili Toppings

Next up, consider what cheese or cheeses you want to offer. Hard or medium cheese can be shredded while softer options can be served crumbled. Popular options include:

• Cheddar
• Monterey jack
• American cheese
• Queso or nacho cheese
• Pepper jack cheese
• Applewood smoked cheddar

Crunchy Chili Toppings

Next up there are crunchy toppings for chili to consider, such as the following:

• Tortilla strips and/or tortilla chips
• Oyster crackers
• Ritz crackers
• Saltine crackers
• corn chips
• Cheeto dust

Spicy Chili Toppings

Some people like their homestyle chili mild while others love a savory and spicy chili. The following will allow the spicy food lovers to dial up the heat:

• Dried ancho peppers
• Hot sauce
• Jalapenos
• Red pepper flakes
• Serrano chili peppers

Meaty Chili Toppings

Even if ground beef, stew meat or another protein is at the heart of your chili recipe, you might like to offer some additional meat items as well:

• Mexican chorizo
• Bacon crumbles

Vegetable Chili Toppings

Don’t forget about your 5-a-day! The following vegetable options might be good on your chili topping bar:

• Corn and/or corn salsa
• Diced yellow, green or red onions
• Shallots
• Crispy fried onions
• Avocado slices
• Banana pepper rings

Although beans are technically a legume rather than a vegetable, you might also like to offer those. Kidney beans, black beans and pinto beans are all good with chili and offering them as chili toppings means those who don’t like beans in their homemade chili don’t have to pick them out of theirs!

Salsas and Sauces

There are lots of different salsa and sauce ideas, and you can either make or buy them depending on how much time you have:

• Tomato salsa
• Avocado salsa
• Pico de gallo
• Corn salsa
• Tomatillo salsa
• Sriracha
• Hot sauce
• Chili garlic sauce
• BBQ sauce
• Honey
• Maple syrup

Creamy Chili Toppings

Don’t forget something with a smooth, creamy flavor to counter the spicy toppings! Any of the following ideas would work:

• Sour cream
• Ranch dressing
• Guacamole
• Greek yogurt

Even More Topping Ideas

The above lists should have you covered, but there are plenty of other items you might like to offer, such as fresh chives or parsley along with the cilantro, or maybe some pitted black olives.

Don’t forget the skillet honey cornbread muffins or cubes of your favorite cornbread recipes! Along with the rice, you might like to offer baked potatoes, sweet potatoes or even pumpkin or butternut squash.

Toppings for Non-Beef Chili

A lot of the above suggestions would work just as well for a poultry-based chili recipe. Since some white turkey or chicken chili recipes are already creamy, you might like to omit the sour cream and instead offer more vegetables, herbs and sauces, along with crunchy components.

A Texas chili is naturally bean-free (but you can offer the beans on the side!) and typical toppings include shredded cheese, diced red and green onions, crispy tortilla strips, cilantro, avocado slices, and jalapenos.

Choosing what to offer at your chili bar depends on how many people are coming, if anyone has food sensitivities, what type of chili you are making, and what you personally enjoy with Mexican food.

But, as you can see, there are plenty of wonderful chili fixings to choose from!

You Might Also Like

• The Ultimate Chili Bar (or Charcuterie Board)
• Slow Cooker Chunky White Chicken Chili
• Hearty Beef Chili
• Tomatillo Red Chili Salsa
• Sweet Skillet Cornbread Recipe