This easy Instant Pot chili recipe is packed with beef, beans, and smoky spices for the ultimate comforting dinner. Ready in under 1 hour and perfect for topping nachos, loading onto chili cheese dogs, or enjoying by the bowlful.
This easy Instant Pot chili recipe is made with ground beef, beans, tomatoes, and a bold blend of chili spices for the perfect balance of smoky, savory flavor. It’s seriously one of the best pressure cooker chili recipes I’ve ever had! Hearty, nutrient-dense, and filling enough to keep the whole family satisfied.
The best part? The Instant Pot does almost all the work, so you can have a warming bowl of chili on the table in under an hour. Don’t have a pressure cooker? No problem! Here is my slow cooker chili, just sub in ground beef instead of ground turkey, though that’s a delicious and lighter alternative.
This beef chili with beans is also a meal prep dream. Store leftovers for quick lunches, freeze for busy nights, or get creative and spoon it over baked potatoes, fries, chili cheese nachos, or even burgers. However you serve it, this hearty chili is the easiest way to turn any meal into comfort food.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Ground beef – I like using grass-fed ground beef because it’s a great source of iron and high-quality animal protein. 80/20 ground beef, like ground chuck, stays juicy and brings great flavor to a pot of chili. If you don’t want to use beef, substitute it for ground turkey, chicken, bison, pork sausage, or venison. Or omit the meat entirely to make vegan chili.
- Beef broth – Use a great-tasting broth or make your own! My Homemade Bone Broth would be perfect here.
- Flour – All purpose flour is used as a thickening agent to thicken the chili. If you’re gluten free, use gluten free all purpose flour instead.
- Beans – I like using three types of canned beans to load the chili with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and protein. Kidney, pinto, and black beans are my favorite, but you can also use chickpeas, great northern beans, cannellini, or navy beans.
- Salsa – Use your favorite jar of chunky salsa, mild, medium, or hot.
- Hot peppers – Use green chilis, jalapenos, or habanero peppers, depending on how much heat you can handle. If spicy food isn’t your thing, use a green bell pepper instead.
- Chili seasonings – A blend of chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, cayenne, salt, and pepper gives the chili the right amount of spicy, smoky, and dry heat. A pre-mixed chili seasoning works just as well – use between 3 and 4 tablespoons instead.
How to make beef chili in an Instant Pot
Step 1: Set the Instant Pot to Saute mode and pour in the oil. Once it’s hot, add the ground beef, onions, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is no longer pink. Add the chili seasonings and give the mixture a good stir.
Step 2: Whisk in the broth, tomato paste, and flour. Finally, add the beans, salsa, tomato sauce, and jalapeños and stir well.
Step 3: Cancel Saute mode, then lock the lid in place and set the steam valve to the Sealing position. Pressure cook on high for 15 minutes. When the timer stops, allow the steam to naturally release for 10 minutes before quick releasing the remaining pressure.
Step 4: Remove the lid and ladle the beef chili into bowls topped with shredded Gruyere cheese, a dollop of sour cream, or any of your favorite chili toppings. Enjoy!
Serving suggestions
This hearty beef and bean chili is filling and satisfying all on its own, but the fun really begins when you load it up with toppings.
Some of the best Instant Pot chili toppings include creamy avocado, shredded cheese, fresh cilantro, green onions or chives, diced jalapeños, and a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt. For extra crunch, serve it with tortilla chips, cornbread, crackers, or even roasted chickpeas on the side.
Storing and freezing
Storing: Let the chili cool to room temperature, then store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
Freezing: The chili also freezes very well for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge before reheating.
Reheating: To reheat chili in the Instant Pot, set it to Saute and warm the chili, stirring frequently, until it just starts to simmer. Switch to Keep Warm mode and enjoy.
Hungry for more Instant Pot beef recipes?
- Beef Short Ribs with Creamy Polenta
- Instant Pot Beef Stew
- Beef Vegetable Soup
- Cabbage Roll Soup
- Stuffed Peppers Soup
Instant Pot Chili Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb grass-fed ground beef
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch salt and pepper to taste
- 1 onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup beef broth
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour sub for GF flour
- 15 oz kidney beans drained
- 15 oz pinto beans drained
- 15 oz black beans drained
- 15 oz medium chunky salsa
- 28 oz tomato sauce
- 4 oz diced jalapeno, habanero peppers or green chilis
Chili Seasoning
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp each, cumin, paprika, garlic and onion powder
- 1/2 tsp each, red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Turn instant pot on saute mode. Add oil, when hot add ground beef, chopped onions, minced garlic and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir and sauté until no longer pink (about 7 mins)
- Add chili seasonings and once again stir well.
- Next add in cup of broth, tomato paste and flour. Whisk to combine and incorporate the flour.
- Now add remining ingredients; beans, salsa, tomato sauce and jalapeños. Give it a good stir.
- Cancel saute mode, lock the lid and cook on HP for 15 minutes. When done allow for 10 mins of NPR then quickly release remaining pressure.
- Serve chili with shredded Gruyere cheese, sour cream, cilantro, crusty bread or whatever you like
Notes
Stovetop instructions
Brown the ground beef, onion, and garlic in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven, then add the remaining ingredients. Bring it up to a simmer and let it cook uncovered until it thickens into a thick, meaty chili (1 to 2 hours).Slow cooker instructions
Brown the ground beef, onion, and garlic separately in a skillet, then add the mixture and the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours or High for 3 to 4 hours. For the full instructions, use the directions in my Slow Cooker Turkey Chili recipe, but substitute ground beef. GLUTEN-FREE – to make this recipe gluten-free be sure to use gluten-free flour as a thickening agent. Also make sure the store bought jar ingredients are free of gluten. DAIRY-FREE – this recipe is dairy free. Do not add cheese as topping if dairy-free VEGAN – for a Vegan version, either use vegan *beef* or omit from this recipeNutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
There are a few ways you can avoid the dreaded burn notice: (1) Coat the inner pot with quality oil and stir the meat often while it’s browning to keep it from sticking to the inner pot; (2) don’t drain the fat after browning the beef. It not only adds flavor, but the added moisture plays a role in preventing the burn notice; and (3) stir and scrape the pot really well after adding the broth. If there are any stuck-on browned bits, the pressure cooker will mistake it for burning food.
No, you can absolutely make a bean-free Instant Pot chili if you prefer. Simply add more ground beef or extra vegetables like peppers, zucchini, or mushrooms to bulk it up and canned chickpeas if you like.
Yes! This Instant Pot beef chili freezes beautifully. In fact if you make chili, double or triple the recipe and freeze a big batch for later! Let it cool completely, then store in freezer-safe containers or bags for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
Hi
It looks really Good – this really good chili and I want to try it but I don’t have an instant pot. Can I use a reg pot n or what else can I do?.I dont have a slow cooker either.
You can definitely adapt this recipe to the stove top. Follow same direction but cook for longer than 10 minutes. I would cook for at least a half hour so the flavors incorporate better and chili thickens a bit.
My family has a tradition of making chili on Christmas Eve and serving it in China bowls. We went from having 20-25 relatives over fir holidays to just my husband and I because we moved from Seattle to Huntsville.
I decided to invite neighbors over and made this recipe in a crock pot. I followed the ingredients portion and it turned out really good. A few of my neighbors went back for seconds. It was really good
Wow this is so wonderful to hear. Happy New Year, wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!
You did great with the camera there Silvia.
If its good on camera, it must be tasty too 🙂
Can I use Serrano chillies instead?
Yes yes!! sub for whatever type of peppers you like 🙂 I am also making this recipe today
I was worried this would set off the burn notice and I was right. Anyone else report that issue?
Kerri – I know you are looking to hear from someone else (and hopefully you will), but I have made this recipe many times, never got a burn notice. Hope this helps! Silvia
I get it too and I’ve added a cup of water…
I got the burn notice twice back to back & had to dump it in a bowl & scrape the bottom, hopefully it’ll work the 2nd time around
I’ve made this delicious chili twice and gotten the burn notice each time.
So sorry to hear, did you try adding more liquid to it to prevent it from ge4tting burn notice? So weird I make the recipe exact as described and never got the burn.
Yes!!!!!
I too am having issues with the burn sign coming on over and over.
Mine also had the burn notice. There isn’t enough liquid in it for all the ingredients.
Kerri, this recipe has been retested and therefore not burn notice has been further reported. Hope this helps, hope you’ll try again soon. Silvia
Hi Silvia,
I want to use raw red beans for this recipe. How should I use this recipe for raw red beans — but for a challenge — I have canned black beans lol Thanks.
Hi Liane, unfortunately raw beans and canned beans have a much different cooking time. For a chili recipe it is recommended canned beans, because they are already cooked and ready to go. But if you really want to use your dried red beans, you’ll need to cook it for 45 minutes ALONE without the chili ingredients, as it’s own recipe, and then use them to make chili. Hope this clarifies things.
Great chili! I have made it twice and got the “food burn” notice on my 8qt instant pot both times. I’m thinking it’s from the flour/tomato paste/spices being added when the pot is heated from the sauté step. I’ve added about two cups water, stirred to remove bits, etc. After a couple minutes it does clear on its own and continue to cook, so I’m not sure it’s worth the trouble to investigate further. I did hear that adding flour while cooking can cause the notice, so maybe adding the thickener after
Cooking? Thank you again for this great recipe!
Hi Brandie, thanks for your feedback on my chili recipe, it’s very helpful and definitely worth investigating. Personally I have never gotten the burn notice, but I will look into it and maybe note on the post to help others prevent from having this issue as well. I am glad that the recipe still worked well for you, and that you were able to enjoy it! Silvia
So ive gotten the burn notice 4 times now.& am giving up…. Im just gonna have to make left overs tonight & put the chili in the slow cooker overnight, im just concerned bc ive added a ton of liquid that i now have to cook.off.. It tastes good just needs time to develope the flavors of the spices
I got the burn notice twice so I am just finishing it on the stove top. Next time I won’t add the flour….seems to make it too thick.
Made this and loved it, I put a can of corn in it instead of pinto beans and left out the peppers because my son doesn’t do too much heat. Will definitely make this again.
That’s wonderful Larry, so glad to hear! Thanks for sharing your feedback!
Excellent chili! I have made it several times with good success. I used 1 1/2 McCormick chili spice packets instead of the spices. I did add 1 rounded tsp. Red Aleppo pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste. I also doubled the garlic. I have also made it on the stovetop and slow cooked the chili. For a vegetarian variation I used 1 pound Impossible Plant Based ground burger.
Hi Alexandra, thanks so much for taking the time to share your feedback. I am so glad you enjoyed my chili recipe. Hope to see you back for me!