[1] Frito Chili Pie from Frito-Lay.

[2] Country Living Magazine suggests making individual servings in Mason jars (photo © Country Living Magazine).

[3] RealMomKitchen.com made the prettiest version (photo © Real Mom Kitchen).

[4] In Pillsbury’s elegant version, the chili pie is baked as a casserole. Here’s the recipe (photo © Pillsbury).

Back in 2012, Fritos set the Guinness World Record for the largest-ever Frito Chili Pie: 1,300 pounds of Fritos, chili and cheese. For February 28th, National Chili Day, consider recreating the recipe, scaled down here to human size.

The date varies by year. National Chili Day was founded by Rich Kelly of Arlington, Virginia in 2006. You can enjoy your favorite chili recipe, but we’re taking it one step further, turning the traditional ingredients of a bowl of chili into a “pie.”

Prep time for this Easy Frito Chili Pie is just 5 minutes. It’s comfort food you can make during the commercial breaks during tonight’s Oscars.

If you want to make your own chili, great; but you’ll be spending more than 5 minutes. Here’s a delicious from-scratch recipe from Pillsbury (photo #4).

A bonus for corn chip lovers: There’s also a National Tortilla Chip Day on February 24th; National Corn Chip Day is January 29th. Here’s the difference between tortilla chips and corn chips.

> Fritos History

 
 
RECIPE: EASY FRITO CHILI PIE

If you want to make Frito Chili Pie from scratch, here’s a great recipe from Pillsbury.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F.

2. SPREAD the corn chips evenly over the bottom of an oven-safe serving dish or pie plate (preferably glass). Heat the chili and pour it evenly over corn chips.

3. SPRINKLE the cheese over the top and pop the pie into the oven to melt the cheese. Remove from the oven, add the garnishes and serve immediately with a serving spoon. Give soup spoons to the participants as well as forks.
 
Want a vegetarian or vegan recipe? Use all-bean chili, or try this recipe, which substitutes tofu for the beef.

 
FRITO CHILI PIE HISTORY

The Fritos brand was born in 1932 when Elmer Doolin of San Antonio, Texas purchased a corn chips recipe from a local producer. He made the first Fritos brand chips in his mother’s kitchen.

The popularity of the corn chips snack was catapulted in 1961, when Doolin joined forces with H.W. Lay & Company to create Frito-Lay.

To help sell more product, Doolin’s mother, Daisy Dean Doolin, created recipes using Fritos as a recipe ingredient. She created the now-famous Fritos Chili Pie.