16 Facts About Chili's Only Insiders Know

No matter how much you love Chili's and how often you visit, there are a few quirks about the restaurant chain that only insiders know. Perhaps you've noticed a few on your own, but some require a peek inside the kitchen, being an employee, or accidentally uncovering a bit of secret knowledge that has eluded you.

We have uncovered quite a lot of Chili's trivia for both the uninitiated and true Chiliheads who simply want to know more. We'll start out with facts about what's happening behind the scenes in the kitchen and bar, including some secret menu items that you might have missed. We'll explain how the chain tempts you to spend more money and ways customers have found to get free things. Plus, we'll reveal ways that the chain gives back to its employees and community. So, get ready to learn some facts you may not have already known about Chili's, many of which may endear you to the chain even more.

Something we've noticed happening more at chain restaurants lately is that a lot of the food comes frozen or pre-made, which is true at Chili's. Pre-made food cuts down on prep time and keeps the quality consistent. So, if you're looking for a place that makes all its food from scratch with fresh ingredients, you'll want to look elsewhere.

Employees on social media say that most items come frozen except for veggies and some meat, like chicken breasts and burgers. Plus, they make some sauces like salsa, guacamole, and ranch dressing fresh. However, that side of veggies you order and all the fried items like egg rolls come pre-made and ready to fry or heat up. Now it makes sense why all those fried appetizers like their tasty fried mozzarella squares can make it to your table so quickly.

Another secret insiders know about Chili's is that a lot of the cooking happens in microwaves. Perhaps it's a little disappointing to hear from the customer's side until you realize it allows food to get to you faster. 

Sure, there are a lot of foods that don't go in the microwave and end up on the grill or in oil-filled fryers. However, quite a lot comes frozen, and the plastic bag simply gets heated up in the microwave or dropped into hot water to warm it up enough to serve it to customers. Microwave usage is such a big part of food prep that each station has two microwaves to accommodate multiple items that need to be microwaved at once. So, if you don't like the idea of food being cooked in plastic and in the microwave, it's time to find a different place to eat.

There's nothing quite like the sound of sizzling fajitas coming out of the kitchen to make you salivate. Not surprisingly, the sizzle of the fajitas and the steam rising off the iron skillet is so dramatic on purpose, with the show engineered in the kitchen before bringing it out to you.

An employee revealed on social media that Chili's actually has a squeeze bottle full of something called "sizzle sauce" that gets squeezed onto the fajita platter right before bringing it out. The bottle has fill lines for adding layers of oil, water, and soy sauce to the mix. It's meant to affect three of your senses. Not only do you hear a sizzle and see steam from the mixture of oil and water on a hot pan, but the soy sauce also creates an umami aroma. If it makes someone choose fajitas instead of something cheaper on the menu, it's worked its charm.

Crispers are all over the Chili's menu, coming in a variety of flavors like Nashville hot chicken and even in salads like the Sante Fe Crispers Salad. However, they're also one of the most returned items.

Some customers wax poetic about the way Crispers used to taste when they first came out. Apparently, there was a change sometime in the mid 2010s that marked when the menu item became more chewy and the batter stopped staying on the chicken.

Employees on social media have revealed that the current incarnation of Crispers isn't that great, with some customers agreeing. For one thing, the Crisper batter often slides off during the cooking process. Then, once they make it to the table, customers often returned it because it's unlike traditional chicken tenders. They often find them to be chewy as well. So, maybe Chili's discontinued its original Chicken Crispers flavor in favor of using sauce to hide its many sins?

If you don't know anything else that's on the menu at Chili's, you probably know they have baby back ribs. In fact, the Chili's baby back ribs commercial jingle from 1989 is likely playing in your head as you read this. But did you know that the secret to how tender they are is that part of their cooking process may include a pressure cooker?

Cooking the baby back ribs is a two-part process. An employee on social media said their location starts the meat in a pressure cooker to tenderize it. Once it's nice and juicy inside, they transfer it to the grill to crisp up the outside. While the ribs are freshly made, the sauce is not, but you can forgive that since the ribs are so good.

Granted, another employee on social media said that their locations doesn't use pressure cookers for the first half of the cooking process. Instead, they start out by smoking the ribs over pecan wood before transferring them to the grill. So, it may depend on the location.

If you're in the know, you probably order off Chili's secret menu from time to time. The kitchen can often recreate items that have disappeared from the menu or create items that have never been on the menu using available ingredients.

Customers on social media have uncovered several secret menu items. For example, you can order veggie quesadillas, veggie pasta, and large versions of the house and Caesar salads. When you see a buffalo chicken sandwich on the menu, you should be able to get a buffalo chicken salad. You should also be able to order a grilled chicken sandwich as well as the Monty, which is a grilled chicken salad. Try ordering your barbecue wings loaded. Plus, you may be able to order a queso burger or chili burger, too. You can even order the chili on tacos or ask for chicken tacos. Another interesting one is ribeye fajitas, which can be accomplished by ordering a ribeye and getting fajita fixings as your sides. And don't forget to order a 50-50 blend of salsa and ranch as your dipping sauce for chips or appetizers.

In 2014, Chili's jumped on the trend of adding Ziosk tablets at each table. By the summer of that year, the chain had over 45,000 tablets in its restaurants. These tablets provided many advantages, including a way to order and pay as well as providing entertainment.

One of the big advantages tablets had was that the chain saw an uptick in the number of items it sold as well as the tips its waitstaff received. You can perhaps talk yourself out of ordering an appetizer or dessert by the time the waitstaff comes around, but you can't undo pressing the appetizer or dessert button in your initial moment of weakness when you see a tantalizing photo. According to Restaurant Hospitality, tips defaulted to 20% and were suddenly 15% higher than usual, the chain sold 20% more appetizers, and made 30% more desserts. Plus, people were spending $0.99 (now more) to play unlimited games while they waited for their order.

If you like to start your weekend with a Chili's margarita, you might already know that it comes from a mix rather than being made 100% fresh on site. This strategy makes sense with so many people bartending over the years and the chain not wanting to give away all its secrets so that you keep coming back for more margaritas.

A Chili's bartender on social media revealed that the secret to Chili's basic margaritas is all in its Sweet n Sour mix, which is a powder that comes ready-made in a pouch. The bartender makes up a 2-gallon liquid Sweet n Sour mixture, consisting of a bottle each of tequila and triple sec, water, and pouch of the Sweet n Sour powdered mix. To make a classic margarita on the rocks, the bartender will add ice to a 16-ounce glass, along with 1.25 ounces of tequila, and .75 ounces of triple sec. Then, they top the drink off with the liquid Sweet n Sour mixture we mentioned. Granted, the chain has other margarita flavors, too, but it's not giving away secrets for those either.

One of Chili's signature margaritas is the Presidente Margarita, which requires vigorous shaking to taste right. The inclusion of brandy in this margarita makes it just as extra as all the shaking. Plus, it comes in a variety of fruit flavors, including strawberry, blackberry, and mango, as well as some unexpected flavors like watermelon and dragonfruit.

Unlike Chili's regular margarita, the Presidente Margarita uses better-quality liquors, making it more fitting for a president, we suppose. Along with Chili's super secret Sweet n Sour mix, this drink is made with Lunazul Reosado tequila and Citrónage extra fine orange liqueur. Plus, it contains E&J brandy. Once all those ingredients are together, they go in a shaker where they're shaken with ice in a shaker exactly 25 times on the way to your table. There's several reasons for all that shaking. For one, it helps to chill the drink. All that shaking also helps to blend the ingredients and reveal more complex flavor notes. Perhaps the flavor value of exactly 25 shakes isn't an exact science, but it's as good a number of shakes as any.

There are several things that Chili's restaurants tend to lose to its customers, who can't resist a souvenir of their visit. Now that we know what people are stealing from Chili's, we wonder what they're taking from other restaurants. Only take home the food, people!

One guy on Reddit revealed that he had an affinity for the chili-themed potholders from Chili's iron skillets. Every time he'd order fajitas, he'd boost a potholder. We counted 49 pot holders in his boast photo. Sadly, the chain doesn't even use potholders anymore because, supposedly, nobody liked washing them, and they'd get kind of yucky. Instead, you get a rectangular iron skillet without a handle on a board that doubles as a potholder-free way to carry everything to the table.

There are several other things that customers like to abscond with. Chili's revealed on social media that the shakers and blue-rimmed margarita glasses for Presidente Margaritas are among them. It's enough of a problem that Chili's bartenders say they often run low on the shakers. Some people were shocked to learn the plastic shakers weren't free. Customers on social media have also admitted to taking ranch cups, bean cups, dip cups, and ramekins. Those certainly couldn't be construed as being free.

Speaking of free things, there is a way to get free chips and salsa at Chili's. However, it turns out that there are some small catches to the process. However, we're just thrilled that Chili's is among the few chain restaurants that still offer free appetizers in some format.

First of all, you need to be a rewards member, but it's easy enough to join. There's also a rule that you have to spend at least $5 on something else so that you're not just milking the restaurant for free chips and salsa. But wait, there's more! When you look at the rewards app, you may not always find free chips and salsa to be an option. People on social media have noticed that the reward appears when they visit a Chili's and log into the tabletop tablet or app. Then, it disappears if you don't use it within 60 days. So, the chips and salsa are essentially a reward for eating there frequently. It seems that it may also disappear if you decide to use a different promotional offer.

One strategy that many restaurants have made in the past few years is to pare its menu down to the bare essentials, and Chili's has followed this trend. A simplified menu doesn't overwhelm customers with choices. Plus, it makes the kitchen faster and cuts down the number of ingredients necessary to keep on hand, which ultimately saves money. Indeed, Chili's saw a rise in traffic and transactions after its menu cut.

Chili's decided to pare down its menu in 2017, cutting 40% of its former offerings. The original menu had 125 items, while the cut left 75 items, which is a far less daunting number. On the chopping block were items like green chile enchiladas and spicy shrimp tacos. Chili's kept items that it's known for. After all, Chili's wouldn't be Chili's without its baby back ribs and fajitas. And the burgers and margaritas were a must to keep as well.

You probably shouldn't hold your breath for some of your old faves to resurface. After all, Chili's released a variety of recipes and how-to-videos after discontinuing many items so that you could make those dishes at home.

Those in the know always look for the one upside down picture in every Chili's. Supposedly, the upside down picture is there for good luck.

Don't worry if you've never noticed it before. Based on social media reactions to this knowledge, it seems that even some people who work there miss it, although it's supposed to be a part of their training.

There are over 1,200 Chili's locations across the U.S. So, you could make it a quest to find as many upside down pictures at Chili's as possible any time you take a road trip if you're a Chili's fan. The odd thing to us is that, try as we might, we couldn't find anyone who had made a collection of upside down Chili's pictures. So, you could be the first if you're ambitious enough.

Chili's has been donating to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital for decades Throughout the years, it's come up with various ways to support the seriously ill children and their parents visiting St. Jude's.

Every September, the chain sponsors the St. Jude Walk. It also sells "Create-A-Pepper" coloring pages to customers that month, taking in $1 to $25 at a time and cumulatively collecting over $110 million to donate. Chili's participates in various holiday campaigns, like the St. Jude Thanks and Giving. The chain also uses its tabletop tablets throughout the year to collect even more donations for St. Jude's, which is made more attractive by the fact that guests earn Chili's loyalty points for donations. So, next time you're at Chili's, don't forget to donate.

Additionally, Chili's has donated $50 million toward the Chili's Care Center at the hospital as well as $30 million toward the St. Jude Imagine Academy. The academy helps children (both in the hospital and after they go home) to stay enrolled in school, offering a variety of educational-related services.

While Chili's gives a lot to St. Jude, some of its giving is closer to home. Brinker International Inc., Chili's parent company, created the Brinker Family Fund in 1997 to help support its employees in need. It takes voluntary donations (as small as $1) from employees throughout its companies to give to other employees in need.

So, if someone in the company is going through unexpected financial woes, there's a fund to help. So, if someone has unforeseen medical bills, needs to take time off for an illness, or needs help burying a loved one, they can look to the Brinker Family Fund to provide assistance. It has even assisted team members facing house fires and natural disasters. The fund is able to help employees with around $1 million per year. So, when catastrophic needs hit or they fall into a place of extreme hardship, Chili's employees know the company cares enough to help in many cases.

A final fact that only true Chili's insiders know about is the annual St. Chilihead Day party that first started in 1997. Maybe you have a whole collection of chili-themed potholders and Presidente Margarita shakers at home, but you're not a true Chilihead until you've attended a St. Chilihead Day celebration.

The event is an anniversary celebration for those who work for Chili's headquarters in Dallas. So, don't go booking your plane tickets just yet. However, if you did work there, you'd get to partake in a chili cookoff that pits the various departments against each other, with the departments dressing up in different themed costumes. Plus, there's plenty of other food and drinks (not surprising for a restaurant event), including a Chili's-themed birthday cake for the company's 50th anniversary in 2025. Guests are also regaled with entertainment, like music, sports broadcasts, skits, and line dancing.