Brookdale Original Chili

Last Updated on July 9, 2023

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The fall months — in the Northern Hemisphere, think September, October, and November — mean shorter days and cooler temperatures. They also mean fire pits, fall decor, and hot comfort foods. For us, nothing says hot comfort foods like chili.

Our favorite pastime is to cook homemade chili in a slow cooker. If you can’t for some reason, Aldi sells a couple of varieties of chili under its old Brookdale label: a Brookdale Original Chili With Beans, and a Brookdale Original Chili No Beans.

Brookdale Original Chili

Both are Regular Buys, which means you can find them in stores every day. They each come in a 15-ounce can. At the time of this post, the chili with beans was 89 cents, or 6 cents an ounce, while the chili with no beans was $1.09, or 7 cents an ounce. Both are a lot less than most other stores I’ve seen.

Oddly, the one with beans has a pop-top lid, while the one without beans does not.

They both heat up about the same as one another, and about the same as most canned foods. You can use the stovetop or microwave. On the stovetop, you pour in a saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The chili with beans says cook 5-8 minutes until hot, while the chili with no beans says until bubbling, but since this is precooked the important thing to do is to just make sure it’s at the temperature you want to eat it at.

To microwave either of them, put them in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 2-3 minutes or until hot, stirring before serving.

Nutritionally, they’re a little different from each other. While both claim to be preservative-free, they’re a little different from one another on the label. The chili without beans is higher in fat and cholesterol, while the chili with beans is higher in carbs thanks to the beans. Both are equally high in sodium, which is to say they both have close to half your daily sodium content in a single can.

Brookdale Original Chili

Nutrition info for chili with beans. (Click to enlarge.)

Brookdale Original Chili

Ingredients for chili with beans. (Click to enlarge.)

Brookdale Original Chili

Ingredients and nutrition for chili with no beans. (Click to enlarge.)

Brookdale Original Chili

Ingredients and nutrition for chili with no beans. (Click to enlarge.)

They also taste distinct from one another. To no one’s surprise, the chili with beans has a more bean-flavored taste, while the no-bean chili has a beefy flavor. To me, the chili with beans tasted a lot like what I’d expect from chili — it was better than I expected from a can. I didn’t like the one without beans as much, but it may also be the fact that it wasn’t what I expected.

They’re both pretty thick, which makes either of them a pretty good chili if you’re looking to top a hot dog. (We did.)

The Verdict:

If you don’t want to make your own homemade batch of chili, Aldi sells a couple of options for you. I found the chili with beans to be surprisingly decent, and while the chili with no beans tasted different, it wasn’t necessarily bad. Both would work either as a standalone or on top of things you like to put chili on, such as hot dogs.

About Joshua

Joshua is the Co-founder of Aldi Reviewer. He is also a writer and novelist. You can learn more about him at joshuaajohnston.com.

11 Comments

  1. Does Aldi make a gluten free chili?

  2. My first try with Brookdale Chili w/beans. This is one of the best canned Chili’s I’ve found in Florida. Typically, I skip any canned Chili’s here bcuz it’s pointless. They’re all pretty bad. But when I visit Virginia I purchase a case of VanCamps Chili & back with me
    As long as they don’t change anything Brookdale/Aldi has gained a lifetime Chili buyer. It’s by far the closest & equally as tasty as VanCamps. Excellent!

  3. Brookdale original chili with beans Beats hormel chili. I have had them both. But the best canned chili is Wolf Brand chili. From Texas of course.

  4. Although Stagg chili is good, too. And Campbells chunky chili is good, too.

  5. Thomas M. Edmonds

    I thought they were both very good, and a very good value!
    They are also very concentrated and pack a whollop of flavor. Actually, too much for me. I diluted them with a can of water, and it is about right!

    • The original recipe that was used in 2020 was much better than what is currently used today.
      I preferred the Brookdale chili over wharf or Hormel but not anymore!

      Today’s recipe has no beef! and extra sugar,… it’s too sweet and not medium enough. I guess Brookdale chili had to cut costs somehow? 🤦🏻‍♂️

  6. I used to buy Brookdale Chili in mass quantities because it was great. But then a couple of years ago the recipe changed to something so bad I could not eat it, which is pretty bad because I am not a picky eater at all. Everyone else in my family also found the new recipe extremely bad to the point that they refused to eat it.
    I tried buying a few cans in January 2023, with the hope that I had previously just bought a bad batch. I found that it still had the same horrible smell. My best guess is that, among other things, they drastically increased the amount of cumin. I like cumin, but not when it totally overpowers the food. I compared the strong odor of the new chili to straight cumin, found that the new smell does have a lot of cumin, but there is something else too, perhaps “essence of staleness”.
    As said by another reviewer, Wolf chili is pretty good. Brookdale used to be a lot like Wolf, but now Brookdale is horrible. It is pretty incredible that Brookdale would intentionally destroy their product with a taste that almost nobody likes. The ingredients of chili are very inexpensive. The few cents of savings from cutting corners is probably greatly outweighed by the loss of business.

    • Absolutely ditto! The new recipe of Brookdale chili with beans is absolutely awful and I didn’t know it had and bought about 8 cans and now can’t eat it. Huge waste. Bring back the original recipe Aldi!

  7. what has happened to the Brookdale chili no beans ????? it is not the same as it was month ago. We loved the former recipe with the real chunky meat.

  8. I just cooked a can of Brookdale Original Chili with Beans and there’s nothing chili about it except the spelling. Yuck! Back to Hormel or Stagg I go!

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