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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One of my favorites….not very hot or spicy but that’s the way my better half likes it. This time I used ground chicken and vegetable broth instead of beef and beef broth and it tasted great…pretty close to the original.
Darn fine chili. I exchanged some Poblano for some Jalapeno and added cubed steak for a hotter and meatier experience. Came out runny, but another 10 minutes on saute and it thickened right up. Took 1:10 prep time included. The bang for the buck was totally worth it. Thank you for posting the recipe.
I made this today for the second time (I didn’t realize it was the same recipe). It’s too watery. We prefer a thicker chili. After it was done I went online to see how I could thicken it up. I added another can of kidney beans and the rest of the tomato paste. Now I’m simmering it on the stove to see if it will get thicker. Lots of flavor though. P.S. I added a chopped chipotle pepper with adobo.
This is the very best chili recipe ever. I don’t like canned chunkey tomatoes so the puree is perfect. Had many happy diners for the Browns home opener! Thanks for the recipe!!!
My family loves this chili recipe! Making it now.
Hello! I love your website and just got my first Instant Pot a few months ago– have made several of your recipes and my family all love them! I haven’t made this chili recipe yet– I have this thing about the texture of ground meat… I’d love to try this with shredded chicken or beef. Any tips for how much and what cut of meat to use as well as how I might need to modify the cooking instructions? Thanks so much!
I’m one of those crazy people that can eat soup or chili any time of the year so I made this for the first time today. Love the recipe, and will definitely make this again. Thanks!
Not a review – a question: At the point where you drain the fat and set the meat aside, how do you handle the hot insert pot to do this? I just purchased my unit and am wondering how you handle this process and if you shut the pot off or allow it to stay on the saute’ setting.
Thanks.
J’et, I prefer to drain the excess fat using paper towels. Or you can allow the insert to cool completely before lifting the insert to drain as needed. It is completely up to you!
But as always, please practice safety first when handling a hot insert.
You aren’t kidding. This absolutely *is* the best Instant Pot chili. Such a great flavor.
I never know how much salt and pepper to add when a recipe says “to taste.” In this instance, my chili was under-salted. So if anyone reading this comment has advice as to how much salt and pepper to use I’d love to hear it!
You add the salt and pepper to taste after the chili is cooked. You simply add a teaspoon of salt and a 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, then taste. Repeat until it is seasoned to your taste.
Or another thought since black beans have a lot of salt already I would add some lemon juice or other spice for a kick
Awesome Chili! Quick question, is there a reason why you put in the Veggies, Seasoning, Beer, and then Meat? I noticed that after you add the spices with the veggies, it creates a sort of dark fond which could easily burn if not careful; is this why we deglaze it with beer then add the meat?
Just wondering,
thanks!
-Oliver
Yes, that’s exactly right, Oliver! 🙂
Thanks!!!
These look absolutely delicious! You have amazing food photography too :] As much as I know my girls will love these, I know I will too!
My super picky grandson pronounced it “delicious”. The only changes I made was charring the poblano pepper before dicing it & using fire-roasted tomatoes.
Great recipe, made this for Father’s Day since my husband is a huge fan of chili. I will make this recipe again and again, there hardly any leftovers with only 3 of us! One thing I did do differently; I added the beans after cooking the the chili in the instant pot and kept it on warm for an hour or so until dinner and the beans were soft but intact. I noticed some of the comments indicating that the beans were mushy after the cook time in the instant pot. I will also try this recipe with small beef chunks in the future and perhaps add a chipotle pepper as it will make a perfect chili stew.
What a delicious pot of chili, so full of flavour! I followed the recipe with the exception of using crushed tomatoes instead of pureed, out of necessity. The 796 ml can was more than the amount called for and I probably should not have used it all because it was a bit liquid-y at first. The chili did thicken up once it was ladled into bowls and allowed to cool a bit. This was honestly the tastiest chili I’ve ever made and was a hit with my husband. There is a fair bit of prep work and my IP took a long time to reach pressure, so I would suggest giving yourself at least an hour start to finish. Thanks for this great recipe!
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but it looks delicious, I was wondering if I could have your recipe for the cornbread. I absolutely love cornbread and this picture of it looks amazing. look forward to receiving it and trying it with this chili recipe 🙂
Hi Jessica! Here’s the recipe:
https://damndelicious.net/2011/12/30/jalapeno-cornbread/ 🙂
Great flavors from the modest amount of spice components. but after browning the meat and essentially cooking the vegetables and considering that canned beans don’t need much cooking, 18 min at high pressure was way too long to preserve any texture. I tried it a second time and reduced the high pressure cycle to 3 min and simmered it a bit after that. The flavors were still there but this improved the texture for me. Thanks for putting this out there. John
I’m making this for dinner tonight. However, I don’t add the beans until the end. Once I open the lid, I stir in the beans to heat through – this way they don’t get mushy.
Will a doubled amounts fit an 8 at instant pot?
This was a hit at the Chili-off! The 2 ingredients that threw me off a bit was the addition of beer and a bit of cocoa, but it was a serious game changer!
Thanks for trusting our ingredients, Rylan! 🙂
Spot on recipe! This is indeed a crowd favorite. I tend to serve over small Frito’s and that adds some crunch. I have reduced the smoked paprika due to smokiness imparted. As of /2/2/2019 made this 8-10 times with great results.
The chili is SO good! Highly recommend. BUT, be careful with the poblano pepper. I cut it up and then accidentally touched my face and got some in my eye. NOT FUN.
I’ve done that too. It just never stops burning!!!