Chili vs Chile, What’s The Difference?

What’s the difference? Is it Chile, chili or Chille?

Quick Answer

Cartoon credit: Ricardo Cate, New Mexico Cartoonist.

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There are a lot of Mexican and Southwestern recipes that come out of my kitchen and when searching my recipes, you’ve more than likely noticed the words chili, chile and maybe even chilli. Are they the same thing? Do they each mean something different?

Here in Colorado, we’re proud of our Pueblo Chile Peppers, and we can’t get enough of neighbor’s crops to the South, New Mexico Chile peppers. The grass is always greener?

We also like to eat Chili style soup. In this article, I’m going to explain how I use the words chili or chile in our Colorado culinary arena.

Chile with an “e”

The word “chile” with an e, in reference to food (rather than the country) refers to a capsicum pepper. A capsicum pepper, red or green chile peppers, or chiles for plural. Here in Colorado we acquire chile peppers grown in Southern Colorado and throughout New Mexico.

In addition, any hot pepper I refer to in recipes, such as Poblano, Jalapeno, Ancho, Pasilla, Serrano, Chile de Arbol, etc. are all chile peppers.

You’ll also find the word chile in recipe titles describing Southwestern dishes that use a lot of chile peppers like, Red Chile Sauce or Enchiladas with Red Chile Gravy. These dishes will feature a particular type of chile pepper, therefore the use of the words chile with an “e” appears in the title of the recipe.

Another great example is this recipe for Green Chile Stew, which is made with lots of green chile peppers, beans and potatoes It’s a stew, but not a “chili-style” soup.

Chili with an “i”

When we speak of “chili” with an “i”, I’m referring to a thick and rich chili soup style dish. Most people are familiar with Chili con Carne, (Spanish for Chili with meat) which is customarily made with ground or chopped beef. It can also include beans and spices. The blend of spices used to make chili type soup is called Chili (with an “i”) Seasoning.

However, New Mexico has a Chile Con Carne made with dried red New Mexico chiles or with a single red chile powder, herbs and spices. I’ve seen it spelled both as chili con carne and chile con carne.

Spelling Variations

There are other spellings you can see for chile peppers, such as chilli, chilly and chillie, chillies, chillies and of course, chili. From what I can tell, the spelling appears to be a cultural thing. For example, the spellings “chilli and chillies” are commonly used in the U.K., Europe and India to describe a capsicum pepper.

Chile Powder vs. Chili Powder Seasoning

Chile powder with an “e” refers to a powder that’s been ground from a single variety of chile pepper. while Chili with an “i” refers to a seasoning blend used in chili soups. I use these two products frequently in my recipes, so much that I’ve created an entire reference post What Is Chile Powder.

In Conclusion

Is it normal to get so obsessed with chile peppers? For us here in Colorado, it's completely normal.

Each Fall, we celebrate the arrival of Hatch Chile peppers and our locally grown Pueblo Chile Peppers. Parking lots and roadside stands fire up their chile roasting drums and the aromas of New Mexico chiles fill the air.

We evangelize and we obsess. We talk constantly about them, we dig out our hatch green chile recipes, and we add chile peppers to almost everything we cook.

And we stock our freezers with baggies full of the roasted chile peppers.

With all of that information, I hope I’ve whet your appetite for recipes using Hatch Chile Peppers or Pueblo Pueblo Peppers in recipes. To learn more about recipes using chile peppers please reference my Southwest New Mexican Category.