Malibu Chili Cook-Off 2026 – Labor Day Weekend

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Inland, the Valley hits triple digits over the long weekend, and everyone who knows better drives to the Bluffs instead, where the ocean has been quietly running its own climate all summer. You eat chili in a sea breeze out of what feels like spite.

This is one of the oldest outdoor food events on the California coast, and the competition is more serious than the setting suggests. Traditional red, salsa, and specialty divisions. Celebrity chefs and restaurant kitchens entered right alongside neighborhood teams who have been adjusting the same recipe for decades and will tell you exactly what they changed this year. You vote in People's Choice all weekend, which obligates you to keep tasting.

Around it: carnival rides, a beer and spirits garden, artisan vendors, kids activities, and music across multiple stages, with PCH and the Santa Monica Mountains behind all of it. The highway backs up, so come early or take the bus.

Go with the friend who insists they make the best chili. Let the scoreboard settle it.