Anchovies. You laugh, but it will turn your chili into an umami bomb, and no one will taste the fish.
My other secret ingredient is Doña Maria’s Mole Paste, a Mexican condiment with chocolate, chilies, cinnamon and a bunch of other spices that will give your chili complex layers of flavor.
And I always add beer. Lately, Guiness Stout.
Super easy chili-
Brown a pound of ground beef, drain, then add:
1 can light red kidney beans
1 can dark red kidney beans
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
2 cans tomato sauce
3 tbsp Penzey’s Chili 3000 seasoning
Simmer in a pot for a few hours. I like to serve it over macaroni noodles and top with shredded cheddar. Tastes even better reheated after sitting in the fridge overnight.
My stomach has told me in no uncertain terms i can’t eat Fritos anymore. 
I tend to make my own, usually. I do have a Crock Pot, but before I did, it was just as easy to add all the ingredients to a large saucepan, and let it simmer on low heat for a few hours.
When it comes to canned, as it sometimes does (Stagg, in my case), I find that shredded cheese and diced onions work pretty well at perking up canned chili. You can even use grated Parmesan cheese if you have no shredded.
I’ll also add that there’s a certain amount of prestige in being able to take a canned food like chili, add some extra ingredients and some manipulation, and “make it your own”. I’ve seen on multiple cooking competition shows with hoity-toity food critics and celebrity chefs where part of the challenge might be turning a premade item that was canned or frozen and elevating it.
It’s not cheating, doing it correctly is an art. It can be seen as a huge accomplishment to make something processed and preserved into a dish that tastes like it was made from scratch. So if anyone pulls this off, be proud, that’s a culinary feat worth celebrating.
Easy ways:
chopped onions, chili powder, cheese, steak or browned ground beef, Worcestershire, black pepper, coffee, beer, Tajín, habanero sauce
Middling ways:
toast whole chilies in oven and grind, shallots, caramelized onions, shredded manchego, splash of red wine
My way:
My chili recipe is secret. The biggest improvement IMO comes from using freshly toasted (in toaster oven) and ground dried chilies (in spice or coffee grinder or small processor).
In a pinch, I’ll use canned chili over nachos or for chili dogs. In a pinch.
C’mon, get yourself a spice rack, populate it, and give it a go! You’d be surprised how often you’d use it once you got started.
You really don’t need a crock pot for this and instead of the fifteen separate spices, just buy a chili spice blend. Penzey’s has very good one although even the supermarket stuff would be OK.
With Penzey’s you have to be careful. A couple of their chili powders are more suitable for Indian food than Texas. Play it safe and get a jar of Gebhardt’s. It’s also a good idea to examine the “International” aisle at the supermarket, or better yet the display next to the McCormick’s spices where they have all the little clear packages of Mexican spices. They are cheap, fresh and really good. El Guapo is the brand down here.
^Exactly. Gebhardt’s is pretty much the standard as far as chili powders go. And I do agree some of Penzey’s spices lean more towards curry than chili.
Though they have products specifically for making chili.
Yes, but you have to read the ingredients carefully. Chili3000 is Dallas. Chili9000 is Mumbai.
As did mine… until I discovered the Trader Joe’s brand.
Go to a Latino or international grocery and buy a small bag of dried chipotles and a small bag of dried anchos. Put them in a toaster oven at 350° for five minutes, refraining from breathing the air. Throw the toasted chilies into a ten-dollar coffee or spice grinder. Wonder idly what all this talk about bottled chili powder is about.
I mix a can of corn (maybe too much corn for those who don’t love sweet corn) with a can of Wolf chili and add hot sauce and szechuan chili crisp.
For canned chili for me, the fresh onions, sour cream, crackers and hot sauce do the heavy lifting.
There’s a difference between chili powder and powdered chilis.
Of course, hence the other spices. But it is what makes the difference, elevating any chili. Canned chili already has the other spices.
That is surprisingly tasty for such a universally recognized “healthy food choice” ain’t it? 
Another Healthy Choice! variant, take a can of Hot Chili w/beans, and mix with appropriate amounts of Velveeta and Sour Cream, or creamed cheese. More spices, a little heat, makes a great dip.