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Instant Pot Chili that is award winning and bringing home cook-off victories across the country. You don’t want to miss diving into a bowl of our best chili!
If you want chili from scratch, this traditional chili is your answer. It took us 10 years to discover an award winning recipe and this is finally it, plus it’s an instant pot recipe which means it’s all done in less than 1 hour (with instructions for cooking on the stove top or crock pot as well)!! It is full of bacon, ground beef, beans, classic chili spices and all the toppings you want!
Let’s talk about how to make this homemade chili step by step, discuss what goes well with it, and how to freeze it to eat later. So much to talk about, so let’s get going!
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 pretty unhealthy, but I heard a rumor that if you don’t eat it alone the calories don’t count.
If you want a healthy chili recipe, you should definitely try our award winning healthy turkey instant pot version, which uses ground turkey instead of beef.
Chili is good year round, but we especially love it for Halloween. Well, chili or our melt-in-your-mouth buttermilk pancakes depending on our mood. Both are easy and perfect for the family. Now on to this award winning instant pot chili recipe…
Chili Cook-Off Idea!
Muffin Tin Trick
Listen to this, at the chili cook-off we went to a couple of people brought muffin tins and then placed a sample scoop of each kind in the well so they could try them all and vote without going back or over-eating. GENIUS. That’s seriously the smartest thing ever.
Ingredients for Instant Pot Chili
This chili recipe uses all the traditional chili ingredients in just the perfect ratio. Here is everything you will need:
- Meat: Ground Beef and Bacon
- Canned Beans: Kidney Beans, Pinto Beans, and Black Beans
- Tomatoes: Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes and Tomato Paste
- Vegetables: Red Onion, Red Bell Pepper, Garlic, and Jalapeño
- Broth: Beef Broth and Worcestershire Sauce
- Spices: Oregano, Ground Cumin, Kosher Salt, Ground Black Pepper, Smoked Paprika, Chili Powder
- Toppings: Sour Cream, Cilantro, Cheddar Cheese, Corn, Limes, Chips, Green Onions, etc.
The measurements and all the details for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
How to Make Chili in an Instant Pot
Making this recipe in an instant pot is really easy because there’s an actual setting for chili and beans (if you don’t have that setting, you can totally use “manual”). That pretty much takes all of the thinking out of this, and everything can be done in the instant pot, which means only one dish to clean!!
Let’s go through it step by step:
- Sauté: Turn your instant pot to “sauté” and cook the bacon until crispy. Remove the bacon and sauté the bell peppers and onions until tender.
- Brown: Add the ground beef and cook until browned and drain any excess grease. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir everything together.
- Cook: Place the lid on the instant pot and set to “chili” mode with the vent in seal position (“manual high pressure” can be used too). Cook for 18-20 minutes and allow the valve to natural release for 10-15 minutes.
- NOTE: If you get the burn notice, please see the section below.
- Serve: Once it is cooked, serve it up and top with all your favorite toppings.
All these instructions can also be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
What to Eat with Homemade Chili
Really any sort of bread will get the job done beautifully, but if you are making this in an instant pot, then you probably want dinner done in a hurry, so these 1 Hour Rolls are your answer! I often like something light and fresh with my chili like this garden balsamic avocado salad.
I’ve also heard that people eat cinnamon rolls with chili, and I fully endorse this! Try our World’s Best Cinnamon Rolls! And imho, all chili tastes the best with a side of cornbread or our crazy easy 7-Up biscuits!
Burn Notice FAQs
We’ve had a lot of questions, comments and concerns about the burn notice on the instant pot. We really think it just depends on your Instant Pot. Some are more sensitive than others. We have not ever had a burn notice on ours, but if you are getting them, here are a few tips and tricks…
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.
– PROBLEM: 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 fat can make the pressure cooker think that you’ve walked away and left meat to burn.
– REMEDY: To counter this, please use a good quality bacon and stir often to keep it from sticking. You can also add a little oil to the pot if not much fat is rendering off the bacon.
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.
If none of these tips work, you should contact instant pot as you may have a model that needs to be replaced.
Chili FAQs
This recipe is too big to be doubled in both a 6 qt Instant Pot and an 8qt. It can be one and a halved in an 8qt Instant Pot. We have also been told you can double it in an 8qt Instant Pot if you take out 1 or 2 cans of beans.
1. Start with your bacon. Always. See our How to Cook Bacon post for all the details on bacon! Whenever bacon is going in a dish we crisp it first, drain the fat and leave the browned bits in the pan. It adds extra flavor to whatever comes next.
Start by pressing the “sauté” 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.
2. 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.
Scroll down to the Notes section of the recipe card for all the details.
Toppings for Homemade Chili
The toppings you choose for your chili is totally up to you! You can add more crunch, creaminess, heat, freshness, acidity…really anything that makes you happy! Here are a few of our favorite chili toppings:
- Cheese
- Sour Cream
- Sliced Jalapenos
- Green Onions
- Cilantro
- Tortilla Chips or Corn Chips
Storage Tips
Leftover chili should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. It will keep for up to 5 days.
If you want it to last a little longer, classic chili is really easy to freeze. Cool your chili completely and store in ziplocs with all the air pressed out, or we prefer to use our Food Saver. You can store individual servings to eat for lunch or larger portions to feed the whole family later. They will last in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To reheat the chili, let it thaw in the fridge overnight and then warm it up in a pot on the stove top. Warming up a single bowl in the microwave works great too!
Our Favorite Cheat Sheet
P.S. Have you seen our Instant Pot cheat sheet? Head there are all our tips for cooking all the basics in your Instant Pot!
When it comes to classic chili, I want it to be full of flavor, bold and comforting! Friends, this recipe is the result of me making dozens of recipes in order to find the greatest of all time. So I tell you hands down this is the VERY BEST CHILI!
Here are some more CHILI RECIPES that you’ll love:
- Instant Pot Turkey Chili
- Best Stove Top Chili
- Ground Beef Enchilada Chili
- Brisket Chili
- White Chicken Chili
- All our Chili, Soup, and Stew Recipes here!
Looking for more Instant Pot recipes?
Watch How this Chili Recipe is Made…
Thank you for all of your love and support with making this the #1 chili out there!
Instant Pot Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Pounds Ground Beef
- 6 Strips Bacon, good quality, chopped
- 1 Can Kidney Beans, 15 ounces, drained
- 1 Can Pinto Beans, 15 ounces, drained
- 1 Can Black Beans, 15 ounces, drained
- 1 Can Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes, 15 ounces, with juice
- 1 Can Tomato Paste, 6 ounce
- 1 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 Garlic, minced
For Garnish
- Sour Cream
- Cilantro
- Cheese, shredded
- Lime, fresh, optional
Instructions
- Turn your instant pot to sauté and add the bacon.6 Strips 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.1 Red Onion, 1 Red Bell Pepper
- Add the meat and cook until browned.1 ½ Pounds Ground Beef
- 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.1 Can Kidney Beans, 1 Can Pinto Beans, 1 Can Black Beans, 1 Can Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes, 1 Can Tomato Paste, 1 Jalapeño, 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 Garlic
- Turn the instant pot to chili (if you don't have a "chili" setting, use the "manual" setting) and cook for 18-20 minutes (see note). Allow pressure to release for 10-15 minutes or quick release with the vent.
- Serve with limes, sour cream, cheese, and a little bacon!Sour Cream, Cilantro, Cheese, Lime
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can you give me some pointers? When you say you want to heighten the flavors and pop it back in, do you mean you start the pressure cooking sequence again? TIA
Yes, if you want to cook it longer to let more flavor come out then start the pressure over at high for 10 minutes.
So, I tried this recipe, and when I started the pressure cook sequence, the display said “burn,” and so it wouldn’t achieve operating pressure. I took the chili out and put it into another bowl, cleaned the bowl completely (it was burned on the bottom), and put it back in, and started the sequence over, and it burned again! What the heck? What am I supposed to do? I did everything this recipe said. I can’t stir the stuff while the lid is on! Help, please.
Hi Taylor,
I’m so sorry that happened! Is the pan over heating or heating too long before adding ingredients so that it quickly scorches? That’s the only thing I can think of unless the instant pot is having an error.
I got the “burn” error twice. I had to add a few more cups of water to get it to work. After the cooking cycle I then reduced the water back down. Chili was excellent. New favorite chili recipe.
Hi Nick, I think when it’s heated up it tends to burn quickly Try pushing saute and then quickly adding the bacon, stirring often and scraping the bits of bacon off of the bottom as you do this. Make sure it’s a high quality bacon too as the very thin, less fatty bacon will burn.
My husband and his buddies get together every year for superbowl, and I make this chili, they all love it! I’m not allowed to make anything else!
Yay Margaret!! Love to hear this!! Thank you for the support!
Try bring it to a boil almost on saute mode before switching to pressure cooking. I get this problem if my liquid ingredients are too cold when I put the lid on.
Great tip! Thank you!
I’ve also heard that sometimes the tomatoes can scorch the pot and it will not get up to pressure. One recipe suggested leaving the tomatoes on top and not stirring them in.
Trying this recipe now, pretty excited to eat it after all these rave reviews!!!
This chili is very good! We loved the addition of bacon and this is the first recipe that I tried with my Instapot. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you so much and glad you enjoyed it!
Why does the actual recipe start 60% of the way down the page? And then, why is there a DIFFERENT recipe right above it?
This makes the page really hard to read and almost made me switch to a different recipe.
Hi, The photo above the recipe, as stated in the text is in case you’d like to try our cheesy version. The recipe starts at the bottom because we give information about the recipe above it. We get sooooo many recipes this helps readers get their questions answered without needing to take extra time and effort to email. If the information is distracting you can feel free to scroll to the bottom for the recipe, it will always be there so you won’t have to search for it. 🙂 Thanks and hope you enjoy the chili!
So this is my first time using my Instant Pot. Mine doesn’t have a “chilli button” do I use the manuel button for 18 mins? Looking forward to this!!,
Yes, that would work great or a soup button.
Turned out pretty good, not soupy. Had a nice zip to it, but I’m used to Cincinnati style, so I will add cinnamon next time. Was done after 18 mins plus 5 NPR, then 3 mins on sauté. Hubby had 2 bowls, so it’s a hit
Ohhh, I need to check out the cincinnati style, do you have a good recipe for us to try out?
No bacon, tomato paste, onion or Worcestershire sauce! But used ground sirloin, 2 jars of salsa (one medium fire roasted, the other mild Newman’s) and everything else as recipe directs. Smells amazing! Will see if it needs to be reduced when the 18 mins are up
Nice adaptations, would love to hear how it went!
This was amazing!!! We added chipotle peppers to ours, but that’s a personal preference. This recipe was spot on and I will be definitely be using this again.
So happy to hear that you enjoyed it !
18-30 mins is a huge window .. you seriously spent a ridiculous amount of time writing about how to brown meat and how you like chili but you couldn’t give a better cook time .. I’m guessing you’ve never actually made this in the instapot.
Hi Justin,
We love this chili and make it often. Did you by chance see the note below about the flavor? I’ll add it here so you don’t have to scroll, the chili will be done after 18 minutes but to heighten flavor more, which has happened a few times where we’ve felt like it wasn’t as flavorful and thick yet, go ahead and pop it back in for an additional 10-12 minutes. 🙂 We hope you will give it a try, it’s our favorite chili recipe. Thanks!
Justin needs to chill
Justin, why do u have to come off like a jerk? Just read thoroughly. Keep your dumb comments to yourself.
Thank you for saying what I was thinking. When someone is so kind to share a favorite recipe, there is no room for rudeness. And Sweet Basil explained the cooking time range, regardless.
Mary, thanks for your kind words. We hope you have a lovely weekend. 🙂
I’ve never been to a chili cook-off! Sounds like heaven.
Oh it was so fun!