Ranked on what’s actually in the bowl, how often it’s on the menu and what makes it different. Hours and prices are each place’s own, as of October 23, 2026.
1Scratch soup shop, southeast Bend
Central Oregon Soup Company
The chili House chili: ground beef and tri tip, black and pinto beans, jalapeños
The standout bowl in Bend, on the days it’s in the pot. Get the cornbread too.
Bend’s soup-only shop makes every stock from scratch, and its house chili is the best bowl we’ve had in town: ground beef and tri tip with black and pinto beans, jalapeños, bell peppers, chiles, onion and garlic, finished with cheese, sour cream or green onion if you want them. The catch is that chili isn’t a daily soup. It comes around about once or twice a week, so check the online menu before you drive out to SE 27th Street. When it’s on, it’s also the only place in Bend that posts a quart price. And don’t skip the cornbread. It isn’t on the online menu, so ask at the counter.
What to order
- House chili, cup $8 / bowl $15 / 32 oz $28, with cheese, sour cream or green onion
- Cornbread, when they have it (ask at the counter)
- Grilled cheese dipper, $6, for dunking
- Where
- 62070 SE 27th St
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; closed Saturday and Sunday.
- Price
- Chili $8 cup, $15 bowl, $28 for 32 oz.
- When
- About once or twice a week. Check the online menu for today’s pots.
Checked October 23, 2026: Online menu, chili prices and hours
2Free-range fast food on Century Drive
Life & Time West
The chili Elk chili: ground elk, beans, tomato and cumin
Best everyday bowl: elk chili for $6.50, on the road home from Mt. Bachelor.
Life & Time’s elk chili is a real bowl of chili: ground elk simmered with tomato, cumin, kidney beans and black beans, topped with cheddar and diced onion if you want them. It sits in the soup section of the menu every day, it costs less than most cups of soup in town, and the west-side shop is on SW Century Drive, the road you come down from Mt. Bachelor. It opens at 7 a.m. and stays open until 7:45 p.m., so it works for a first-chair breakfast stop or a late après bowl.
What to order
- Elk chili with cheddar and onion, $6.50
- Loaded fries smothered in elk chili, cheddar and onions, $13
- Add a burger or a smoothie if the chili alone won’t cut it after a long day
- Where
- 320 SW Century Dr (west side)
- Hours
- Daily 7 a.m.–7:45 p.m.
- Price
- Elk chili $6.50; chili loaded fries $13.
- When
- Every day, on the regular menu
Checked October 23, 2026: Menu, prices and hours (official ordering page)
3Sausage house and craft beer pub, west side
Bangers & Brews
The chili Beef chili, by the bowl, on fries or on a sausage
Chili and a beer: beef chili on fries, in a bowl, or under a house-made sausage.
Bangers & Brews is the place for chili with a pint. The beef chili shows up three ways: chili cheese fries with cheddar, onion and garlic aioli; a chili cheese bowl as a side; and as a base, because you can build any sausage meal on a chili bowl instead of a bun. Chili is also one of the toppings, so a smoked Polish or a wild boar, cheddar and hatch chili sausage can become Bend’s most serious chili dog. It is on SW Simpson Avenue, a minute off Century Drive.
What to order
- Chili cheese fries, $7 small / $11 large
- Chili cheese bowl (beef chili and melted cheddar), $6.50
- Any sausage “on a chili bowl,” or on a bun with chili as one of your two toppings
- Wild boar, cheddar and hatch chili sausage, $13.95
- Where
- 1288 SW Simpson Ave, Suite A
- Hours
- Mon–Sat 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; closed Sunday.
- Price
- Chili sides $6.50–$11; sausages about $12–$15.
- When
- Every day it’s open, on the regular menu
Checked October 23, 2026: Food menu · Hours and address
4Smokehouse deli and Bend Brewing bar, Box Factory area
The Way West
The chili Campfire chili, plus white chicken chili at dinner
Chili, cornbread and a Bend Brewing beer under one roof.
The Way West brings together Sisters Meat and Smokehouse and Bend Brewing Co. in the Jackstraw building next to the Box Factory. The market menu has Campfire Chili ($13, with chips or a small salad), and the dinner menu adds a white chicken chili. The cornbread is the other reason to come: warm Southern buttermilk cornbread with house-smoked butter, $8, or $6 at happy hour. Pour a Bend Brewing porter and you have the best chili-and-beer table in town.
What to order
- Campfire Chili, $13, with chips or a side salad (+$2); add pulled pork, tri tip or bacon
- White chicken chili from the dinner menu, $12
- Warm Southern cornbread with house-smoked butter, $8 ($6 at happy hour)
- A Bend Brewing porter or pilsner from the bar
- Where
- The Jackstraw, 310 SW Industrial Way, Suite 114
- Hours
- Daily from 10 a.m.; happy hour Mon–Fri 3–5 p.m.
- Price
- Chili $12–$13; cornbread $6–$8.
- When
- Campfire chili on the market menu; white chicken chili at dinner (it sells out)
Checked October 23, 2026: Online menu and prices · Address and hours · Menus
5New Mexican food truck, Galveston Avenue
Sol Verde
The chili New Mexico chile verde, red and green chile, carne adovada
Best green chile in Bend: Hatch Valley chile, by the bowl or by the jar.
Sol Verde is the answer if “chili” means New Mexico chile. The owner brings all of her chile from New Mexico, and the green is grown in the Hatch Valley. Everything comes with green (medium), red (hot) or “X-mas” (both). The order that eats most like a bowl of chili is the soup bowl: chile verde or carne adovada with Mexi-slaw and tortillas. It is also the one place on this list that sells chile to take home, in 8-ounce jars.
What to order
- Soup bowl, chile verde or carne adovada, with Mexi-slaw and corn or flour tortillas, $16
- Breakfast burrito with chile verde, smothered, X-mas (small $11, large $16; smother $4)
- Enchilada plate with your choice of chile
- 8 oz jar of New Mexico green chile, medium or hot, $9
- Where
- 1040 NW Galveston Ave (corner of Galveston and Federal)
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 8 a.m.–2 p.m.; Sat–Sun 8 a.m.–1 p.m.
- Price
- Burritos $10–$16; soup bowl $16; green chile jar $9.
- When
- Every day, breakfast and lunch
Checked October 23, 2026: Hours and ordering · Menu PDF
6Hot dog counter at Bend Municipal Airport
Dogs & Fries
The chili Homemade beef chili, or vegan chili on the dogs
Best chili dog in Bend, with runway views and a vegan chili option.
Dogs & Fries is a hot dog shop at the Bend airport, and its chili is homemade. The Slappin’ Chili Cheese Dog is a kosher all-beef dog with your choice of beef or vegan chili, cheddar and onions. The same beef chili goes on fries or into a bowl with onion, avocado, cheese or sour cream. Grab a window seat and watch the small planes come and go.
What to order
- Slappin’ Chili Cheese Dog, beef or vegan chili, $9
- Chili cheese fries with homemade beef chili, $9
- Beef chili bowl with onion, avocado, cheese or sour cream, $8
- Where
- Bend Municipal Airport, 63136 Powell Butte Hwy
- Hours
- Mon–Sat 7 a.m.–3 p.m.; closed Sunday.
- Price
- Dogs $7–$12; chili bowl $8.
- When
- Every day it’s open; breakfast served all day
Checked October 23, 2026: Menu, prices and hours
7Bowls and burritos, NE 3rd Street
Laughing Planet
The chili Vegan bean and vegetable chili
The cheapest cup on this list: “World Famous Vegan Chili,” $5.
Laughing Planet’s vegan chili is loaded with pinto, black and garbanzo beans plus corn, zucchini, carrots, peppers, onions and celery, with corn tortilla chips on the side. A cup is $5, and it is open every day until 8. Add cheddar, sour cream and onions if you’re not keeping it vegan.
What to order
- Vegan chili, cup $5 / bowl $7
- Add cheddar, sour cream and onions, $2.50
- SW Green Chile burrito with house-roasted green chiles, $9.75
- Where
- 913 NE 3rd St
- Hours
- Daily 10:30 a.m.–8 p.m.
- Price
- Chili $5–$7.
- When
- Every day, on the regular menu
Checked October 23, 2026: Menu · Bend location and hours
8Organic café by the Deschutes, downtown
Active Culture Cafe
The chili Vegan bean chili, fat-, dairy- and gluten-free
A from-scratch vegan bean chili by the river downtown.
Active Culture’s house-made bean chili is semi-spicy and made without fats, dairy or gluten, and it comes with tortilla chips. They will add cheddar at no charge if you want it. The café is on NW Riverside Boulevard, so it pairs well with a walk along the Deschutes. Readers voted it Best Vegan/Vegetarian and Best Bowl in the Best of Central Oregon poll.
What to order
- Vegan chili, cup $7.99 / bowl $12.99
- Cheddar on top, no extra charge
- Or the soup of the week, same prices
- Where
- 285 NW Riverside Blvd
- Hours
- Check today’s hours on its online ordering page.
- Price
- Chili $7.99–$12.99.
- When
- Every day, on the regular menu
Checked October 23, 2026: Bend menu · Bend location
9Backcountry lodge on the Cascade Lakes Highway
Elk Lake Resort
The chili Elk chili with cornbread
The most earned bowl of chili in Central Oregon: in winter you snowcat, snowmobile or ski in.
Elk Lake’s lodge sits about 35 miles west of Bend. In winter the highway past Mt. Bachelor is closed, so you arrive by the resort’s snowcat, by snowmobile or on Nordic skis from Dutchman Flat Sno-Park. Its 2026 summer menu listed the Elk Lake Elk Chili with red onion, sour cream, cheddar-jack and a cornbread muffin. The winter menu isn’t posted yet, so check before you make the trip just for the chili.
What to order
- Elk Lake Elk Chili, cup $10 / bowl $15, with a cornbread muffin (2026 summer menu)
- A drink by the fire in the lodge bar
- Where
- Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway, about 35 miles west of Bend
- Hours
- Winter season Jan 7–Apr 4, 2027: Thu 8–4, Fri–Sat 8–7:30, Sun 8–4. Food from 11 a.m.; last call an hour before close.
- Price
- Chili $10–$15 (summer 2026 prices).
- When
- Seasonal: summer and the January–April winter season
Checked October 23, 2026: Winter dates and hours · Food & drink (2026 summer menu PDF)
10Mexican drive-thru, open late, Galveston Avenue
Taco Salsa
The chili Chile verde (pork in green chile sauce)
Late-night chile verde: the drive-thru is open until 2 or 3 a.m.
Taco Salsa has been cooking on Galveston since 2010, and it is open later than anything else on this list. The Chili Verde burrito is the order when you want green chile at midnight. Menudo is on the menu every day, too.
What to order
- Chili Verde burrito, $10.99
- Menudo, every day, $15.99
- Where
- 1365 NW Galveston Ave
- Hours
- Mon–Wed 6:30 a.m.–2 a.m.; Thu–Sat 6:30 a.m.–3 a.m.; Sun 7:30 a.m.–2 a.m. Dining room closes an hour before the drive-thru.
- Price
- Burritos $10.50–$14.99.
- When
- Every day, nearly around the clock
Checked October 23, 2026: Menu · Hours
