Award Winning Instant Pot Chili Recipe

 

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