Chili is a popular dish in many countries, and every person who enjoys making chili has their favorite chili recipe, but every bowl of chili is complimented by good bread. There are many bread varieties, but only a few are perfect for pairing with chili. If you are looking for excellent bread to serve with chili, you have come to the right place!
The best bread for chili is any bread that is dense, absorbent, and tasty or bread that can add texture to the dish. Bread such as cornbread, sourdough, garlic bread, tortillas, ciabatta, sweet rolls, naan, breadsticks, and even rye bread are all good bread types for chili.
All bread is delicious, but the wide variety of bread can make it challenging to determine which bread to serve with which dish. In this article, we will identify and explore some of the best bread types to serve with chili and why they are so good with this dish.
The Best Bread to Serve with Chili
Chili is a wonderful dish with intense flavors. A chili recipe can contain anything you want, making it a highly versatile dish. Regardless of what you have in your fridge, you can always make a good chili.
However, chili can be challenging to eat on its own, and it can be quite loose, which means that the perfect food item to complement any bowl of chili is bread. Bread helps to soak up the sauce in chili, helps to keep the flavors mild, amplifies certain flavors within the dish, and is a great way to eat the dish overall.
Choosing the right bread to serve with your chili is challenging because there are so many options to choose from, but the good news is that almost every type of bread will go well with chili. You only need to base the bread on the flavors you have chosen for your chili recipe.
Let’s take the time to explore various bread types that complement chili well, what makes them good for chili, and briefly explore the flavors of the bread to help you determine the best bread to compliment the flavors in your favorite chili recipe.
Cornbread
Cornbread is a chili staple. This type of bread is the traditional bread to serve with chili and compliments almost every chili recipe very well.
There are many cornbread recipes, but this simple bread is mild, delicious, and has a sweetness that can calm down even the spiciest bowl of chili.
Cornbread soaks up sauce well, it can be crumbled into the chili to add texture, and the flavor of the bread is delicious with even the most potent flavors in chili, including the flavors of the chili, green onions, tomatoes, and even strong-tasting beans.
There is almost no better bread to serve with chili than cornbread.
Garlic Bread
Garlic bread is somewhat unconventional to serve with chili. However, this jewel of bread is among the very best options for this dish.
Everyone loves garlic bread. The incredible flavor of this bread adds something special to chili, and it can be made from any type of bread you like.
Choose your favorite white bread, cover it in garlic butter and herbs, toast it in the oven, and take your chili to the next level. This bread is ideal for chili and can make any bowl of chili significantly better, even if the chili is already excellent.
Ciabatta Bread
Ciabatta is an excellent bread for chili. This bread has a firm crust and a very soft interior while also being light and fresh-tasting.
Ciabatta tastes somewhat similar to sourdough but only milder. This bread is ideal for scooping up chili, it can be made into delicious bread bowls for serving the chili and eating out of, and it is firm enough to handle even the loosest chili.
This bread is delicious, compliments the flavors of chili well, and can be used in creative ways with this dish.
Sourdough Bread
Sourdough bread is another delicious option for serving with chili.
This bread is dense, rich, and firm, with a distinctive flavor and texture that pairs very well with almost any chili recipe.
Sourdough bread is dense with a thick crust, making it ideal for eating chili. This bread can be made at home easily if you have a sourdough starter and can be made with various flavors and herbs baked into it to further compliment the dish.
Few bread types pair as well with chili as sourdough, and the density and crust of this bread also make it ideal to use as a bread bowl.
Breadsticks
Breadsticks are an unconventional match with chili. Yet it adds texture and flavor and makes the meal fun to eat.
Breadsticks are simple to make at home and can be flavored any way you like. They are perfect for soaking up sauce.
If you have never tried breadsticks with chili, do yourself a favor and add them to your next bowl, and you will find that breadsticks are excellent with chili.
Baguette
Baguettes and other French breads are ideal for chili.
French bread, such as the baguette, can be toasted, flavored, softened, or very crispy. These options mean that this bread can be used with any type of chili to elevate the dish to a new level of flavor and texture.
Rye Bread
Rye bread is unique among bread; there is simply nothing like it.
This type of bread may not be your first thought to serve with chili. Though the strong flavor makes it ideal for some chili recipes.
Use rye with a robust meaty chili, with spicy notes or intense flavors of garlic. This bread will not be overwhelmed by the dish’s intensity and will instead serve to round the dish out and complete the flavor profile.
Rye bread is simply delicious with strong chili.
Naan Bread
Naan bread is a form of unleavened bread from southern Asia and is an excellent pairing with dishes such as chili.
This bread is usually served buttered with garlic and is made to be eaten with saucy dishes. Use naan to scoop up your chili, soak in some sauce, use it as a spoon, or simply pour your chili over it and use it as a base for the dish.
Naan is ideal for chili because it has a mild flavor but adds good texture and saltiness to the meal without overpowering any of the dish’s flavors.
Pita Bread
If you are craving something a little different, try using pita bread with chili.
Pita is mild but dense and unleavened, which means it will not fall apart easily, making it ideal for saucy chili. This bread is made to be split open and filled with sauce-based dishes, making it ideal for chili.
Pita bread is simple to make and uses very few ingredients. Form the bread into discs when baking, cut the discs in half when ready, split them down the middle, and fill them with chili for a wonderful taste experience.
Biscuits
Biscuits, the kind you would find on a dinner table in the USA, are another delicious form of bread that goes very well with chili.
The best way to use biscuits in chili is to let them sit in the bowl and soak up some of the sauce or break them up to add texture and crunchiness to the chili while absorbing wonderful flavor.
Biscuits like this are excellent for chili because they are firm and rich-tasting, which can add some delicious butteriness to chili without compromising on the flavor or texture of the meal.
Sweet Rolls
Sweet rolls take many forms, but every sweet roll is a delicious addition to chili.
They are soft and absorbent. Cut the buns open and add some chili to the roll. The sweet flavor pairs well with the heat of spicy chili. The texture of sweet rolls is soft and smooth, which adds something special to every bowl of chili, regardless of the recipe.
Cottage Loaf
Cottage loaf is an uncommon bread, but if you have the time to make it or if you happen to find it in a bakery, it is well worth using for chili.
This bread is thick and doughy and is the perfect density for chili. Cottage loaf is a delicious white bread. It has a string crust and is ideal for absorbing the sauce in a bowl of chili.
It adds a good flavor to chili and has the perfect texture and consistency for this dish. Try the classic English cottage loaf for yourself, and you will find it to be the ideal bread for most spicy chilis.
Dinner Rolls
The simple dinner roll is another ideal bread to serve with chili. This type of bread is straightforward to make and easy to manage.
Eating chili with dinner rolls makes the meal more filling. It can make spicy chili milder, and it can be used to make sloppy-joe-style rolls with chili.
Dinner rolls are straightforward and are considered a basic form of bread, but they are ideal for eating with dishes that have an intense flavor, especially slow-cooked chili, which is full of strong flavors.
Tortillas
Tortillas are among the most versatile types of bread that go well with chili.
Tortillas can be eaten with chili to scoop up the meal, used to form chili wraps and quesadillas, or baked into tortilla chips that add a delightful crunch.
There are several ways to use tortillas with chili, and they can drastically elevate the dish without much effort, as this type of bread is exceedingly easy to make in any kitchen.
Tortillas are ideal and can be used in many ways to complement the dish.
What is the Best Bread for Chili?
Many types of bread are perfect for chili, but a few are better than others.
What should you look for when choosing the best bread for chili? What makes a type of bread a good addition to this dish?
A bread that is good for chili should either add texture to the meal or be a good vehicle for eating the meal. It should soak up sauces well, be dense and able to handle the looseness of chili without falling apart, and add flavor to the dish rather than detract flavor from it.
Bread that fits this description is simple, flavorful and dense, and firm. Any bread that meets these criteria will be excellent with chili.
Conclusion
Many forms of bread complement chili well. Experiment with different bread types. Try baking some yourself and adding flavors, spices, and herbs to bring your chili experience to the next level.
