Get the hot sauce ready! We are looking for Cincinnati’s FAVORITE mom-and-pop chili parlor, and your votes alone will decide the winner.
We all know Skyline and Gold Star are the unquestioned king and queen of Cincinnati chili, so we tip our hats to them. But we’ve filled our beefy bracket with 16 other parlors that do Cincinnati chili juuuust right. These smaller operations will compete against each other in round-by-round matchups Sept. 15-18 until only one chili rules them all. So, don’t forget to come back each round to vote for your favorites.
– VOTE FOR ROUND 1 MATCHUPS at bit.ly/cincychili25 Monday, Sept. 15 –
In 2025, Cincinnati.com will crown a Cincinnati’s Favorite (other) Chili champion. Check out the bracket. Voting takes place Sept. 15-18 at bit.ly/cincychili25.
Our four top seeds are all tried-and-true staples: Camp Washington, Blue Ash, Dixie and Price Hill. Would your top four be different? Or did we leave off your favorite hidden chili spot? Let us know by emailing rtodd@enquirer.com.
Each round will be open for 24 hours. Round one matchups begin Monday, Sept. 15, at 12:01 a.m. and last through 11:59 Monday night, when the next round of matchups will commence with the winners from the previous round. So on, so forth for four rounds total, with the final matchup on Thursday, Sept. 18.
All official voting will take place at bit.ly/cincychili25.
The dates:
Round of 16: Monday, Sept. 15.
Round of 8: Tuesday, Sept. 16.
Final 4: Wednesday, Sept. 17.
Final 2: Thursday, Sept. 18.
Take a seat as we battle our way to the crown of Cincinnati’s Favorite (other) Chili.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What’s the best Cincinnati chili? 16 parlors face off for the crown