The Best Instant Pot Chili
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Hands down THE BEST chili ever. Done in less than 1 hour with no babysitting, no fuss! So easy and so flavorful!
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I know, It’s not exactly chili season just yet. But, we’ve had the tiniest drizzle of rain with a bit of cold weather these last few days. So we’re staying in with a cozy bowl of chili under the thickest blanket we can find.
But guys, this is not your average bowl of chili. Nope, not at all.
This is the best instant pot chili recipe you can find (loaded statement, I know). The texture of the chili comes out oh-so-perfectly with the lean, tender, crumbled ground beef with all the spices (chili powder, smoked paprika, oregano, cocoa powder, and cumin) alongside the black bean goodness.
It’s chunky, it’s hearty, it’s cozy and it’s perfect to dunk your buttery, crumbly buttermilk cornbread right in. Yes to all the cornbread, please.
Tools For This Recipe
6-qt Instant Pot®
The Best Instant Pot Chili: Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all! Ground pork or ground turkey can be used instead of ground beef.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop.
Buttermilk cornbread or homemade crusty no knead bread are two of our favorite sidekicks to chili!
Yes, you absolutely can! Here is our easy slow cooker chili recipe – also one of our favorites!
The Best Instant Pot Chili
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons canola oil
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 poblano chili, minced
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 12 ounces lager or pilsner beer
- 1 ½ cups beef stock
- 2 (10.75-ounce) cans tomato puree
- 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
Equipment
Instructions
- Set a 6-qt Instant Pot® to the high saute setting.
- Heat canola oil; add beef and cook until beef has browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks. Drain excess fat and set aside.
- Add garlic, onion, bell pepper and chili to the Instant Pot®. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 4-6 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, chili powder, paprika, oregano, cocoa powder and cumin.
- Stir in beer, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in beef stock, tomato puree, black beans and ground beef; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 18 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.
- Stir in cilantro; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately, garnished with sour cream and cheese, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Yummy! I really loved this recipe. Just about tripled the amount of beans and used a mix of black, kidney and northern. I will use this recipe for Chili from now on!
Didn’t have cumin, the plabano, or beer & used rotel chili and peppers but other than that – did it exactly as written and it was amazing! Added some jalapeño cornbread for a little pizazz and *chefs kiss* thank you!
I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out! I just wanted a good chili, but one with some more pep in the step that just 4 ingredients. I stumbled across this one and it stood out. Some notes: Although I bought the red pepper and poblano, i decide to leave them out, since I originally wanted something more traditional. Totally fine to do so! I also only did one can of beans. I am the picky one in the house and the one can was just fine to get the beans of chili, but not too overwhelming. I did add some sugar and a little bit of cinnamon which I think was perfect. Everything else I pretty much stuck to the recipe! Would definitely make again!
The oil here really isn’t necessary especially since you’re draining off the fat – if you’re going to do this you might as well walk straight from your pantry to the sink and pour some oil down the drain. 85/15 beef has plenty of natural fat for sautéing. Just let that render while you’re cooking the beef and skip the oil or use a lot less. I didn’t bother draining the beef or even removing it from the pot. When the beef was well broken down and a little over halfway done I added the veg and that all cooked right along with the beef in the beef fat.
One great thing about chili is that it is a great equalizer. Use up whatever you have that you enjoy. I didn’t have tomato paste, and only had 8 oz cans of tomato sauce. But I did have about half a cup of leftover marinara, and some leftover roasted sweet potatoes that would take the place of a thickener and counter the bitterness all in one. So in they went! I substituted my favorite chili powder (Penzey’s Chili 3000) for all of the spices combined. And no beer on hand so I increased the beef stock.
Wow some folks here have strong opinions about beans in chili. You do you, man. I like beans. I added extra. Delicious!
I don’t understand why people make so many alterations to a recipe then give it a rating…..someone enlighten me.
Same. And they write “other than (lists 19 changes) I follow the recipe exactly.
AMEN!!
My husband always said he doesn’t like chili. I grew up with my dad making chili that took all day. I decided to give this a shot and I have to say out of this world amazing! Super quick and easy with the instapot…. cooked to perfection, no fuss and my husband love it so much we keep making! Our definitely go to during chili days qhe hunkering down! You won’t be disappointed!
This was a crowd pleaser. Made it for my picky family (four kids plus grandparents) and everyone loved it. Will be part of the regular rotation!
Best damn chili I’ve made in the IP:)
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us. We had family in and served the chili w/cornbread and as a side potato pierogi. Everyone loved it!!
I made this tonight, it was delicious. Didn’t have any beer on hand, just subbed extra beef stock for the beer and it worked out fine. Also, per a recommendation in one of the reviews I added one teaspoon of sugar and that helped to cut the acidity a bit. Overall wonderful recipe and I have a ton left over for lunch/dinner tomorrow.
Everyone loved it!!
This chilli is great ive made it 4 times perfect every time
I’ve been making this recipe for years (in a wok on the stove though, i don’t have an instant pot!). If it turns out bitter you’ve mostly likely burnt the spices, if it’s too watery then cook it longer, and if it’s not spicy enough then add more chili powder – the complaints below are so silly! I recently made this with jackfruit instead of beef, and it was still amazing 🙂
This recipe is an awesome starting point. “Salt to taste” was a little ambiguous and I screwed up the first batch I made, however, I think I have it dialed in and it is amazing. I followed the above, but swapped canola for olive oil, and only .5lbs of beef goes in the instantpot, the other is browned in a bigger skilled. 2lbs is too much for the instant pot unless you do it in 3-4 batches. At Step 3 Add 2 serano chilies plus add one tablespoon “Shichimi” which is a japanese spice blend. You can get this on amazon look for the red can with gold top about $12. For step 4 I used a lager. At Step 5 add 1 table spoon kosher salt and half tablespoon ground black pepper before pressure cooking. Step 6 add 1-2 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and taste for salt add if needed mine typically needs 1-2 teaspoons more. I usually cook this down between saute and slow cook until it thickens up a bit typically 30 minutes plus.
Man, I was so looking forward to this recipe after reading all the great reviews. But I made it last night and something was “off”. Wound up with a strange bitter taste. It was still totally edible but just had an odd bitterness to it. I followed the recipe as written with no substitutions. Only thing I might have done wrong is when I put in the tomato paste and spices, I might have let it cook too long before pouring in the beer and broth. Maybe it kind of burned? Also, I know peppers can sometimes give a weird tinge to a dish.
Anyone else have this happen? Or have any advice to help troubleshoot it? I really think it’s a great recipe but the flavor with just off. Based on a comment from someone else, I did try putting some sugar in my individual bowl and that helped tremendously. And once adding sour cream and such, it did improve. But the base flavor was unfortunately off for me and my family this time.
Without a small amount of sugar to cut through the acidity it tends to come across as bitter. I use about a tablespoon but even a tsp may be enough so just stir it in a tsp at a time and taste until it tastes right 🙂
This chili was so good, added a can of corn in too. I added the beans in once it was all done because I thought it would turn into mush. I love all the bursting flavors in this recipe!
amazing
For some reason I cant get the recipe to show up anymore…Any help??? Was planning to make this for dinner tonight!! HELP! 🙂
Made this as written and I wasn’t a fan but when I added 1T of sugar it was perfect. It was the acidity that made me not love it.
Also added a little cinnamon to the chili when I added the cocoa powder. Made enough to fill my 8qt pot to feed my family of 5 and my kids were all sad that there wasn’t any left. Delicious with the sugar to even it out.
I just read and saved your chili recipe I am going to use
it tomorrow night. 3/1/2020
Hoping it tastes as good as it sounds
This chili was sooo delicious! My husband loved it! It’s definitely a keeper.
This chili was amazing – full of flavor and tasted like it cooked all day! We are definitely adding this to our rotation!
I may also change it up sometime by using 1 lb ground beef and 1 lb of spicy Italian turkey sausage and substituting red wine for the beer, just for a different taste (a spin off from my pre-instant pot chili recipe). Overall though this recipe is fantastic!