The Truth About Chili and Cinnamon Rolls

For most Americas, crackers or cornbread is a common accompaniment served with a bowl of chili. In the states of Indiana and Ohio, a peanut butter sandwich is also an acceptable and normal side with a bowl of chili. Surprisingly, to several Midwest states, a bowl of chili is usually served with a cinnamon roll on the side.

Try our favorite recipes for Contest Winning Chili Con Carne and Perfect Cinnamon Rolls!

While chili and cinnamon rolls may seem a strange paring to most of the nation, this food combo is Midwestern cold weather comfort food. For the past couple years, rumors have been floating around the internet on popular discussion strings, such as Reddit and social media site Twitter, about this mystery food combo. Inquiries keep popping up to find out if it is a crazy myth or true. Even the trendy news site Buzzfeed picked up on the question and introduced this concept to a global audience. According to a lengthy discussion string in a popular Instant Pot® Community Facebook group, a roll call of users hailing from the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, rural Washington, and Wyoming claim a bowl of chili served with a cinnamon roll on the side is indeed a favorite food pairing!

History of Chili and Cinnamon Rolls:

This regional meal combination of chili and cinnamon rolls has been served as a school hot lunch favorite for many Midwesterners that goes as far back as the early 1960’s. Many adults fondly recall the excitement they felt when it was Chili and Cinnamon Roll day at school! The school lunch ladies always made their chili and cinnamon rolls homemade from scratch. They recall walking by the lunch room in the afternoon to see the lunch ladies sorting and soaking the dried beans the night before. The next morning when school started, they would be rolling out the dough for the large batch of cinnamon rolls.

Kemper Catholic elementary school in Iowa reports that Chili and Cinnamon Roll day is the most popular day for parents to come eat lunch with their children. One Midwesterner quoted, “It would be very disappointing to eat chili without a cinnamon roll.” Also a quote from a Reddit discussion string, “It’s about as common as eating fries with a burger, not required, but almost assumed.”

Cinnamon rolls served at Chili Suppers and Chili and Cinnamon Roll Cook-Offs are common fundraisers hosted by churches and local community groups.

1949: Post World War II, a Chili Con Carne recipe was introduced into the smaller school lunch programs by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics into the National School Lunch system.

1960’s: The states of Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska, and Washington school systems all want to claim they started serving Chili and Cinnamon rolls in the early 1960’s. The menu item became institutionalized by several school systems and stayed as regular menu item.

The School Lunch guidebook by Marion Louise Cronan published in 1962, features chili con carne and cinnamon roll recipes for school lunch menus. Schools in Spokane, Washington also list a planned menu for Chili and Cinnamon Rolls served together.

2007: A popular fast food chain In Nebraska, called Runza, offers a Chili and Cinnamon Roll meal combo on their menu. Cinnamon rolls were added to the menu in 2007 after they purchased the licensing rights to a famous cinnamon roll recipe from now defunct department store called Miller and Paine in Lincoln, Nebraska. Runza even runs local commercials to promote Chili and Cinnamon Rolls combo meals during winter time.

How to Eat Chili and Cinnamon Rolls:

The most popular question on internet and social media discussions strings is “How do you eat chili and cinnamon rolls?”

Many wonder if the two foods are supposed to be mixed together in the same bowl? The most common reply by well experienced chili and cinnamon roll connoisseurs is to enjoy the cinnamon roll for dessert right after the bowl of chili has been finished off. There is much nostalgia and debate on the different methods for enjoying this combination.

Eat the cinnamon roll for dessert after finishing your bowl of chili

Tear off sections of the cinnamon roll to dip or use as a scoop for your bowl of chili.

Take a bite of chili then alternate with a bite of cinnamon roll and repeat.

Eat the top half of the cinnamon roll first, then dunk the bottom half in the chili.

A few renegades even admit to putting the cinnamon roll into the bowl first and pouring the chili right over the top of the roll!

Whatever the eating preference, It is the salty, sweet, and spicy flavor combination that works well together. Many Nebraska natives claim that the smell of chili on the stove and cinnamon rolls baking in the oven is a heavenly aroma in the home during Fall football season.

Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to find out for myself what chili and cinnamon rolls taste like when eaten together. I first tried dipping cinnamon roll bites into the chili, but for me I found that alternating a bite of chili first then cinnamon roll next was where the flavor magic happens! Take a bite of chili, then when you still have some chili flavor lingering in the back of your mouth and your chest starts to warm, take a bite into a strip of heated up cinnamon roll. It’s like being wrapped into a cozy blanket!

Try this meal combination out for yourself with our recipes for Contest Winning Chili Con Carne and Perfect Cinnamon Rolls and make your own judgement.

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