Chili for a Crowd Calculator: how much chili, meat, beans and pot size

How it works

servings = (people − ½ × children) × (1 + extra %) · volume = servings × cups per serving · per gallon of classic chili: 2.16 lb cooked beef (= 3 lb raw 85/15 at 72% yield), 3 cans (15 oz) beans, 2 cans (28 oz) tomatoes, 1.5 onions, 4 tbsp chili powder, 2 tbsp cumin · raw beef = cooked ÷ yield · pot = volume ÷ 0.8, rounded up to a standard size

Chili scales well because it is a stew: the ratio of meat, beans and tomatoes holds at any batch size. The calculator first works out how much finished chili you need from the head count and bowl size (½ cup for a cook-off taste up to 2 cups for big eaters), counting young children as half a serving and adding any extra for seconds. It then scales a per-gallon recipe for the style you choose. Ground beef is entered as cooked, drained meat and converted to the raw weight to buy using the browning yield for its lean ratio, so fattier beef needs more pounds. Canned items round up to whole cans. The pot is sized so the chili fills no more than about 80% of it, leaving room to stir and simmer without boiling over; a 6-quart slow cooker holds about 4.5 quarts. The quick-reference table shows the same recipe for other crowd sizes, and the toppings line budgets ½ oz of cheese and a tablespoon of sour cream per bowl.

Worked example

20 people as a main dish at 1½ cups each is 30 cups: 7.5 quarts or 1.88 gallons. Classic chili uses 1.88 × 2.16 = 4.05 lb of cooked beef, which is 4.05 ÷ 0.72 = 5.63 lb of raw 85/15 beef, so buy 5.75 lb. It also takes 1.88 × 3 = 5.63 → 6 cans of beans, 1.88 × 2 = 3.75 → 4 large cans of tomatoes, 3 onions and 7.5 tablespoons of chili powder. 7.5 ÷ 0.8 = 9.4 quarts, so use a 10-quart pot or larger, or 2 six-quart slow cookers.

Sources: FoodSafety.gov: safe minimum internal temperatures · Institute of Child Nutrition: USDA chili con carne with beans, 50 servings · Miss Vickie: beef per person for chili (lean-ratio yields)

Frequently asked questions