We recently attended a chili cook-off which kicked my obsession with finding an Award Winning Instant Pot Chili Recipe into high gear.
It’s all about chili today, our award winning instant pot chili recipe. It took us 10 years to discover an award winning chili recipe and this is finally it, plus it’s an instant pot chili!!
We will talk about how to make chili in a slow cooker or crock pot or of course, how to make chili in our new obsession, an instant pot. Oh, and who could forget, can you freeze chili. So much to talk about, so let’s get going!
First, we attended a chili cook-off and brought this awesome Cheesy Ground Beef Enchilada Chili. It was so good, but soooo many arteries were clogged that night. It’s a pretty unhealthy soup, but I heard a rumor that if you don’t eat it alone the calories don’t count.
Pretty sure that’s true.
Oh! And listen to this, a couple of people brought muffin tins and then a sample scoop of chili was placed in each well so they could try them all and vote without going back or over eating. GENIUS. That’s seriously the smartest thing ever. Next to figuring out this award winning instant pot chili recipe, right?!
We hurried and made you all a video to help with the questions. Thank you for all of your love and support with this recipe!
How to Make Chili in an Instant Pot
Making chili in an instant pot is really easy because there’s an actual setting for chili and beans. That pretty much takes all of the thinking out of this award winning instant pot chili recipe, doesn’t it. Because of this awesome setting there isn’t much you need to do other than dump everything in the pot, but because we don’t want to dirty any other dishes I’m also going to show you how to brown your beef and cook your bacon right in the instant pot.
18 minutes is all it took to cook the chili but you could push to 30 minutes for even more flavor, and I have no reason for rushing, it was purely because instant pot is in my head so I want it instantly done.
Only some of the bacon gets added to the pot, while the rest we will use as a garnish. If you don’t care for garnishes, just add it in, but there is something really yummy about the different textures with the bacon on top.
Why Make Soup and Chili in an Instant Pot
THE FLAVOR!!
When you pressure cook something not only does it make it super tender but oh how it enhances flavor!! Our award winning instant pot chili recipe totally proves that a little pressure can be a really good thing!
How to Brown Meat in an Instant Pot
Alright, start with your bacon.
Always.
Whenever bacon is going in a dish we crisp it first, drain the fat and leave the browned bits in the pan. All it does is add extra flavor to whatever comes next.
Start by pressing the saute button and once you can feel the heat, add the chopped bacon, stirring occasionally until crisp. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and drain the fat.
Next, grab your ground beef. Any kind is fine for chili since other flavors are in there, but there’s more flavor in an 80/20 versus 90/10, though you will need to drain out the fat before continuing on.
Make sure you stir occasionally in order to crumble the meat instead of having big chunks. Chili shouldn’t be big and chunky. Leave that to the hippopotamuses. (Totally had to spell check that one. Who knew hippos could be so difficult.)
Award Winning Instant Pot Chili
There’s nothing crazy about this award winning instant pot chili. It’s the real deal. The best classic chili recipe we’ve ever had. It’s easy to add more heat to, red chili flakes, minced habaneros, whatever you want to add and later die from. Ha, kidding, you won’t die, but I would because I HATE spicy. 🙂
The bacon adds fantastic flavor without tasting like bacon. The three beans add heartiness, texture and a great variety of flavor as well while the remaining spices all work together beautifully for a chili that’s full of flavor and aromas.
This chili might not be the one that we entered into the competition but it certainly is the one we will enter next time and it’s definitely and award winning chili recipe after hunting for the past 10 years. 10 years! That took forever!
There’s nothing like a favorite, classic chili recipe to keep us warm through these bitter cold months, especially this award winning instant pot chili!
Burn Notice on Instant Pot
We’ve had a lot of questions, comments and concerns about the burn notice on the instant pot.
- Cooking the Bacon Burn Notice- Is your bacon extra thin or lacking fat? Both of these can cause the bacon to stick to the bottom of the pot and cause a burn notice. Those browned bits stuck to the pot because of the lack of flat can make the instant pot think that you’ve walked away and left meat to burn.
To counter this, please use a good quality bacon and stir often to keep it from sticking.
- Prior browned bits on the pot- If your pot had previous food stuck to the bottom of the pot it will continue to cook and confuse the pot to thinking that something is burning. Clean your pot well after every use. Bar Keeper’s Friend is my go-to cleaner for browned bits in pots and pans.
- Burn notice after the chili has been combined- If your chili has been combined and then you get the burn notice you probably didn’t thoroughly stir everything together or something is stuck to the bottom of the pot. This is why that bacon step is important. if you added those heavy ingredients and added the lid something will probably stick and burn. Stir well, make sure you measured properly.
We have not ever had a burn notice. If you’re getting quite a few, make sure that pot is clean, stir things well, adding oil while cooking the bacon if it appears that there isn’t much fat, and if none of that works, you should contact instant pot as you may have a model that needs to be replaced.
How to Freeze Chili
Chili is really easy to freeze as there isn’t any dairy or fibrous vegetables to mess with texture and flavor. Cool your chili completely and store in ziplocs with all the air pressed out, or we prefer to use our Food Saver as the chili tastes as fresh as the day it was made.
How to Make Chili in a Slow Cooker or Crock Pot
To make slow cooker chili (I linked up to the brand and model we prefer) or of course make chili in a crock pot if that’s what you have, you’ll need to cook the bacon and ground beef in a pan, then add the peppers and onions to saute them all nice and tender. Then dump it all in a slow cooker and we prefer 5-6 hours on low or 3 hours on high, though I have probably only used the high function twice. Low and slow really allows the spices to bloom, or in other words to open up and really do their thing. Before snagging the recipe, check out this cheesy ground beef enchilada chili recipe!
Cheesy Ground Beef Enchilada Chili
The absolute best cheesy chili ever!! You are going to go nuts for it!
If you are still looking for another excellent chili recipe, this Old Fashioned Chili Recipe, this All Beef American chili recipe, and this 5 Ingredient Crockpot Chili Recipe have been some of our favorites!
Award Winning Instant Pot Chili Recipe
Instant Pot Award Winning Chili Recipe
We recently attended a chili-cook which kicked my obsession with finding an Instant Pot Award Winning Chili Recipe into high gear.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 Pounds Ground Beef
- 6 Strips of Bacon, chopped
- 1 Can (15 ounces) Kidney Beans, drained
- 1 Can (15 ounces) Pinto beans, drained
- 1 Can (15 ounces) Black beans, drained
- 1 Can (15 ounces) Fire Roasted diced tomatoes with juice
- 1 Can (6 ounce) Tomato paste
- 1 large Red onion, chopped
- 1 Red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 Jalapeño, seeded and minced *optional
- 2 Cups Beef stock
- 1 Tablespoon Dried oregano
- 2 Teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 Teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1 Teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 Teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 2 Tablespoons chili powder
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Minced garlic
For Garnish
- Sour Cream
- Cilantro
- Cheese, shredded
Directions:
- Turn your instant pot to sauté and add the bacon.
- Cook until crisp, stirring often to cook evenly.
- Remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate.
- Add the onions and peppers and cook until tender.
- Add the meat and cook until browned.
- Drain off any excess grease, we just tilt the pot and use a large spoon.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients and 3/4 of the bacon and stir to combine.
- Turn the instant pot to chili (if you don’t have a “chili” settng, use the “manual” setting) and cook for 18-20 minutes*. Allow pressure to release for 10-15 minutes or quick release with the vent.
- Serve with limes, sour cream, cheese, and a little bacon!
For the stove: Cook everything in the pot just like you do for the instant pot and then allow to simmer on low heat for 3 hours.
For the slow cooker: Cook the bacon and set aside on a plate. Cook the onion and peppers and set aside on another plate. Drain any excess grease and add the meat, cooking until browned. Add everything into the pot, leaving out a little bacon for garnish and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3 hours.
Most batches will be done after 18 minutes, however we’ve had a few times when the flavor just wasn’t there yet, so feel free to pressure cook a little longer for more flavor or if your beans are not as tender as you’d like.
To freeze, cool the chili completely. Place in a large ziploc bag or FoodSaver, removing all air and freeze by laying flat for up to 2 months.
Nutrition Information
Yield: 8 servings, Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Amount Per Serving:
- Calories: 505 Calories
- Total Fat: 27.3g
- Cholesterol: 74mg
- Fiber: 12.3g
- Sugar: 8.1g
- Protein: 29.3g
This looks tasty! These are absolutely mouth watering! It will quickly disappear in our house, very tasty and flavorful!
Thanks Olga! We hope you enjoy it!
Carrian and Cade, it’s awesome! I cannot wait to try this. I bet it makes the house smell divine and tastes incredible!
It makes the house smell AMAZING!! Enjoy! And let us know how it goes!
I’m making this now in the instant pot…smells great.
How did it go??
Please send me the recipe for the award winning instapot chili. Thank you !
Hi Sandy! If you’re leaving a comment then you scrolled right past it! Ha! Here is a link to printable recipe: https://ohsweetbasil.com/instant-pot-award-winning-chili-recipe/print/
If doubling the recipe using an 8qt instant pot do you need to adjust the cooking time?
Nope, same cooking time. Enjoy!
Just made this recipe yesterday for my first ever chili cook off contest I have ever entered at a local bar. I was also competing against my husband who is an amazing cook and had been perfecting his recipe for days……. I won!!! I followed the recipe exactly how it was printed . I didn’t get a burn message since I made sure to get every tiny piece of bacon out. I did put the tomato past on the very top and not mix it in until all the cooking was ton. Thanks for this great recipe
Yessssss Elaine! That is awesome! Thanks for the feedback and congrats on your big victory!!
I am not a big fan of beans and used 3lbs of beef and 1 can of black beans as another reader suggested below. I put my IP on “beans/chili” mode and it came out pretty dry. I’m sure it’s from me changing the recipe. What can I do to fix this?
Oh no! I would add an extra half cup of beef stock and see if that does the trick!
This recipe is good except for that fact it tells your to cook your bacon on in the pot. Don’t do it unless you want your instant pot to burn. And screw up your pot and dinner. Cook the bacon separately. The person who wrote this recipe should know better!
I cooked my bacon in the pot for this recipe and others, I’ve never burned the bacon or the pot, smh. Thanks for sharing your recipe Cade and Carrian!
Thank you! Same here, never have had a problem!
We have cooked our bacon in it every time and have never had a problem with the burn message or with our pot being messed up.
Deglaze the IP well when you cook the onion and pepper. No burn notice is the fruit of your effort
Just won the office chili contest with a venison version of this… all the same but swapped venison in place of the beef. It really was a great chili!
Yesssss! Love to hear it! Congrats on the victory!
This was good and made enough for two meals for our family of four. I added a can of corn 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
Yay! Thanks for the feedback Emily!
I’m so excited to bring this to my daughter’s band chili cook-off tonight! I made the crock pot version and it is OUTSTANDING! Thank you for the GREAT recipe!!! I also bought the ingredients for your “the soup” recipe.
I can’t wait to hear how the chili cook off goes!! And the Soup!! Always a hit! Thanks for taking time to give us feedback!!
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Husband and I agreed it was the best chili we have ever eaten. Can’t wait to enter it in a contest!
Yahoo!! Yes, enter it in a contest and let us know how it goes!!
This was delicious! I made it in the instant pot and stuffed it in an acorn squash. My toddler ate up too!
Yay!! I love to hear it! Thanks for letting us know!
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I am going to try this because I need a fast recipe and finally found the bottom of this page, but honestly it is hard to imagine I will visit another recipe from this site. Between the too many pictures and way too many ads and subheadings in your text, it was hard to follow. I know you are a mom and trying to collect a few pennies here and there with the ads, but at least on my phone’s screen, the overall effect was one of near unintelligibility. I’ve no doubt you will delete this comment and do not mind because it does not pertain to the actual recipe (which I genuinely am excited to try!!), but I really just thought you might not know how it reads if you are only seeing things from your blogging app interface.
This is just delicious! I added a green and an orange pepper along with the red because I needed to use them up. I’ll be making this recipe again!
Yahoo!! We love to hear that!
GUYS!!!!! THIS IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!
Im just a fat guy that apprecieats a good recipe!!!!!!!! THANKSSSSSSSSS ITS WAAAAAAYYYYYY TOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!! I changed the beef for birds, because i can’t eat beef. other than that i followed the recipe to the tee. thanks again. I’m going to eat the whole thing at once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahah jkjk
HAhahaha….you have made our day, Tommy! So glad you enjoyed it!
What spices do I use? And how much of each ingredient? Where can I find actual recipe instead of this video?
Down at the bottom of the post there is a recipe card. Here’s a direct link to it: https://ohsweetbasil.com/instant-pot-award-winning-chili-recipe/print/
Thank you for this AMAZING recipe!!! My meat-lover husband wanted less beans and more meat. So we used 3lbs of 93/7 ground beef and only one can of beans (black). We only used half of a red onion instead of the whole. Instead of the jalapeño, we used a small can of diced green chilies. Everything else, we kept exactly the same. Oh my gosh, the flavor was absolutely perfect. Spot on. Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Yesssss!! We love to hear it Nikki! And you’re so welcome!
Very tasty. I put the tomato paste and diced tomatoes on top without stirring as tomatoes tend to burn when on the bottom. I only used 1 cup of beef broth as I didn’t want it to be too liquidy. It still was a bit soupy but 1 cup of liquid is a minimum. I’m not a bean fan so I only used the black beans. I added celery, 1 cup of corn and 2 TBSP of brown sugar. Turned out perfect. Thanks.
Thanks for the feedback Angela! Your alterations sound delicious!!
Can this recipe be doubled in an 8 quart Instant Pot?
We’ve had several people say yes, other a few say it was a little too much. If it looks close, I would just eliminate one can of beans. Also, saute the meat in batches. Enjoy!
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Do you recommend adding another type of beef? Would that add to the flavor or texture profile? I’m curious because I’ve seen a few award winning chilis where they added sausage or other cuts of beef as well. Would love to hear your thoughts. And I’m making this recipe tomorrow for a chili cookoff!
We have found with the beef and bacon that the flavor is awesome, but you are welcome to change things up however you would like! We’ve had some people do half beef and half sausage. Other people have added chorizo or even venison.
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Made this tonight. Delicious! Subbed 1 tbsp chipotle chili pepper for one of the regular chili pepper and that might have been a bit much heat. Lol. Used less broth and left paste on top. It was perfect. Thank you for the recipe. I will definitely save this one!
Thank you Meg! So glad you enjoyed it! I bet the chipotle was so good in it!
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Wow!! Absolutely amazing! I have never made chili before and this is actually better than what I have bought in restaurants! Thank you for sharing your love for food with us and guiding us through all these intricate processes (at least for some) when it comes to cooking 🙂 I’ll continue to follow you!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Claudia! So glad you enjoyed it!!
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Excellent chili! Thanks for the delicious recipe!!
Thank you Beth! We sure love it!
Looking forward to making this recipe! Could you substitute ground chicken or turkey instead of beef?
Absolutely! We have a recipe for a turkey version too:
https://ohsweetbasil.com/award-winning-healthy-turkey-instant-pot-chili-recipe/
If I double the recipe will it fit in my 6 quart instapot?
Hi Nicole! Unfortunately, it will not. I’ve heard of people having success with it doubled in an 8 qt, but definitely not a 6.
I made this last night….delicious! I put the tomato paste on top before cooking as others suggested. I have an 8 qt. Instant Pot. Cooked to perfection. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Yeah! Thanks for the feedback Shelly!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! I actually made it this weekend for a chili cook off we have with friends and WON! My first time ever entering a chili! I added some extra ground beef but other than that followed the recipe to a tee- and it was delicious! Will definitely be making this again!
Yahoo! Another chili cook off win! We love to hear that! Thank you for sharing your victory with us!
This chili is great! We made it tonight for the Superbowl!
I had one question though, I see your nutritional info for it, but do you have the carb count for it?
Hey Jenny! Unfortunately our nutrition calculator doesn’t do carbs. Ugh! I’m so sorry. You can plug all the ingredients into an app like My Fitness Pal and it will tell you there.
I followed the instructions and used the natural release for 15 minutes. It still turned out as soup, and I had to saute to reduce. in the end, not the biggest time saver.
Did you add tomato paste and drain the beans?
I made it tonight as written and had the same result! Yes to tomato paste and yes, drained the beans, and 20 min NR — opened the lid to see a great deal of liquid as the top layer! I simmered it off, added cooked rice after removing the keto dieter’s portion, and all was well. Great mix of flavors, but I’ll reduce the liquid to 1/5 c. next time and see if that helps.
I’m so glad you’ve found a way to make it just the way you like!
Thank you for your chili recipe, our neighborhood had a chili cook off and I used your recipe and won, funny thing was this was my first ever attempt and cooking chili. Thank you so very much your chili is definitely award winning.
Yay! We love to hear that Jason! Congrats on your victory!
Won a chili cook-off with this recipe today. Truly “Award winning!” Thank you! My go-to recipe forever.
Yessssss!! Another tally in the win column! Thank you for the feedback!
I made today for my husband & I. Delicious! February is my birthday month. So it was a great way to start my birthday month. I have 6 quart, & chose to use the manual button for 18 minutes as you suggested 18-20 minutes. I do have the chili button on my Instant Pot however it was my first time using that setting. & it automatically set to 30 minutes. Is that what I am suppose to do? I wasn’t sure since the 18-20 minute manual option was there. So is it 30 minutes if chili setting but 18-20 minutes if manuel?
Hi Andrea! That is so strange. We can set the time on our chili setting. I would go with 18-20 on manual.
I think some of the auto settings have a time set, but you can increase or decrease as needed. I’ve done that on other settings on the IP.
Thank you Jen! This is great to know!
I made this 3x now. I followed the advice to put tomatoes and paste on top and not mix in. I also used the bean/chili setting and cooked on low pressure. No problem with the Burn notice. Came out great!
Thanks for the feedback Robyne!
I also won the neighborhood chili cook off tonight! Thank you
Woop woop!!
And I won a chili cook off tonigh! Thank you
I followed this recipe nearly exact specifically liquid ingredients and it errored my instant pot. Award winning seems like a stretch.
I just made this and the flavor and taste was very good but overall the chili was a little watery. Has this ever happened to you? I did release the steam immediately, no natural release. maybe next time I should do natural release. Any other suggestions?
Yes, do the natural release for sure. Did you drain all your beans first? Did you add the tomato paste?
I thought I was really good at making chili, until i tried this recipe. The best I’ve ever had….ever!
Woop woop! Thank you Misty!
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I’m not a chili eater, but my husband loved it! Did the recipe as written. More juice than to his liking, so added another can of beans and about a rounded cup diced carrot and celery (I hide veggies from him too). I got a burn notice when I put it on for 10 more minutes. However, I just stirred it around, put in on LOW pressure cook for 10 minutes, and it finished fine…tasty! Next time, for added antioxidants, going to try another can or two of tomatoes minus the liquid.
Thanks, Diane! That is hilarious…hiding veggies! Thank you for the feedback!
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