If it has to be thinner to can, you can always reduce it later when you're getting ready to serve. Or make it ultra-thick and reduced, freeze it, and add a bit of water to get it just right when you serve.

I was also going to suggest freezing. When the cooked chili cools down, spoon one serving into a quart-sized Zip-Lok freezer bag. Burp out excess air as you close it up, and then lay flat. You can put at least 6 of these into a larger gallon size bag. Takes up very little room, flat, in the freezer. This is how I do my spaghetti sauce.

I almost always freeze chili and bean soups - they freeze perfectly. But, I have ample freezer space with a dedicated freezer in my mudroom, space in my kitchens refrigerator and third space in the garage.

I wish sometimes the soup ratios were safe to alter when canning, but the half liquids, half solids rule still applies. To this day, my own DH would like some of our meals prepared the way his dad did it. And, it's still not my cooking style. ;0)

(his father often began the evening meal first thing in the morning, and simmered, stewed, braised all day long)

freezing is not feasible in my situation, which is why I use more canning recipes. Thanks for the thoughts though. Does anyone have any experience with Clear Jel in a chili?

I don't have experience, wish Dave would pop in because I suspect he would know. What I find in looking at clear jel added to soups information is that any thickener including Clear Jel can change your processing times (the density issue) - and that puts you into the field of guess work with your chili unless you were using a recipe tested and approved for Clear Jel. I don't guess when canning, I'm just not that brave any more ;0)

If you prefer to can and not freeze, could you thicken for your husband after you've opened the jar to heat his chili?

That's a good idea. You can also thicken chili with cornmeal, which has a nice flavor, but don't use too much or it'll take over.

I use finely crushed tortilla chips to thicken my chili and then freeze. Not sure about canning...maybe do what has been mentioned before, add when reheating?

Another idea... It might not be ideal, but maybe you could make a kit? Like maybe make the base of a chili, with some meat and whatnot solids for flavor, using an approved recipe, and expect to add meat and beans and and onion or whatever, plus some thickening, when you use it. It would be an hour of cooking, rather than heat and eat, but an improvement on 6 hours or more making a pot of chili.

I've used this recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and did not find it to be too thin or "soupy":

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/chili_con_carne.html

I did, however, find that it was not seasoned as well as I liked, and I had to add some cumin, I used celery salt instead of regular salt for seasoning and added a bit of powdered cayenne as I was not comfortable adding low acid vegetables to the mix.

The problem I encountered was not density, it was texture. When I can ground beef it just seems to be overcooked, with that odd texture, and I don't like that.

Annie