Cincinnati chili is famously served over which pasta?

Cincinnati chili is famously served over spaghetti.

Unlike thick Texas-style chili, Cincinnati chili is a thin, Mediterranean-spiced meat sauce used primarily as a topping. It is spooned over cooked spaghetti and commonly finished with shredded cheddar cheese, onions, kidney beans, or combinations of those toppings.

The dish emerged in Cincinnati during the 1920s through immigrant-run restaurants. Greek brothers Tom and John Kiradjieff began serving a spiced meat sauce at the Empress chili parlor in 1922. Tom adapted Mediterranean flavors and eventually served the sauce over spaghetti after customers requested that combination.

Cincinnati restaurants use a “way” system to describe the serving format. A two-way is spaghetti topped with chili; a three-way adds cheese; a four-way adds onions or beans; and a five-way includes both. The dish is also served over hot dogs as a cheese coney, but spaghetti remains its signature pasta pairing. Rigatoni, fettuccine, and macaroni are not the canonical answer.