Instant Pot Chili is delicious, easy, and healthy meal. It’s a perfect dump & start recipe and great for weeknight dinners. Use for meal prepping as leftovers are great for reheating.
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Chili is one of my husband’s absolutely favourite meals. He can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I am not exaggerating as I have seen him do just that.
I tried making chili the old-fashion way on the stove a few times but I lacked the patience, so it was my husband’s recipe to make for years. He spent days making it, soaking beans, cooking everything from scratch.
Once I got my Instant Pot, I knew that I had to come up with an easy way to make chili in Instant Pot. And I’m so glad I did. I’ve been making this Instant Pot Chili for two winters now and it comes out perfect and delicious every time. It is also super easy to make and great for those days when you don’t have time to go to a grocery store.
This Instant Pot Chili is delicious, easy, and very affordable. Made with a few good quality canned goods and a little bit of ground meat, it tastes like it’s been simmering on the stove for hours!
Ingredients to make easy Instant Pot Chili
- Onion
- Extra lean ground beef (or other lean ground meat of choice)
- Canned black beans
- Canned red beans
- Canned mixed beans
- Canned diced tomatoes
- Chili Seasoning (I use homemade chili seasoning, if I don’t have homemade, this is the kind I like)
- Water
How to make Chili in Instant Pot
- Add all the ingredients to Instant Pot, no need to mix, just layer everything.
- Cook on High Pressure for 20 minutes then do a natural pressure release.
- Mix and enjoy!
Serve with: sour cream or yogurt, cheddar cheese, cilantro, green onion, and crusty bread.
Yes, it is that easy!
Tips for making Instant Pot Chili
- To speed up the time it takes for Instant Pot to come to pressure, turn saute mode one while you are getting all the ingredients ready. Add the onion and let it cook while you are getting the meat from the fridge. Add the meat and let everything cook while you are draining and rinsing the beans and getting everything into the electric pressure cooker. Make sure to scrape everything really well if there are any burnt onion bits in the pot, should you choose to saute.
- You can use fresh ground meat or frozen ground meat without defrosting. There’s no need to adjust the cooking time. If you use frozen ground meat, you’ll just need to break it into bite-size pieces with a spatula once everything is cooked.
- You can use any ground meat as long as it’s lean, so extra lean ground beef, pork, chicken, or turkey. If you use regular ground beef then chili might be a bit too greasy.
- If you are using fresh ground meat, you can mix it with the onion if you’d like. It’ll help the meat separate into smaller pieces. However, you don’t have to mix at all. If you do not mix, then you will just need to break the meat with a spatula once everything is cooked.
- Please dice the onion as finely as possible. There’s nothing worse than big chunks of stewed onion!
- If you are using my Homemade Chili Seasoning mix then note that it uses a fair bit of cumin, which is absolutely delicious in this recipe, however it will leave the smell on your Instant Pot sealing ring!!
- I highly recommend having a few extra sealing rings for just such an occasion. This way you can use one for all the savoury foods that have strong smells.
- Note, you can actually wash the lid in a dishwasher. Check your manual for the specific directions.
- It usually takes about 3-4 washes in a dishwasher to remove the smell. However, the smell does not transfer to the food.
- If you are using store-bought chili seasoning packets, then I suggest adding a pinch of cinnamon and a bit of unsweetened cocoa powder just to bring it to the next level.
- You’ll need one packet of store-bought chili seasoning. It’s usually 35g, or about 3 tablespoons.
- This is the the kind I like seasoning packet that I like and use when I don’t have homemade seasoning available.
- You can use any combination of canned beans you like but I prefer black beans, red beans, and then a can of mixed beans.
- Fun tip: you can leave this chili in Instant Pot on keep warm for the whole day. I’ve done it a few times on snowy winter days. Made it in the morning for lunch and we just kept getting small servings of chili throughout the day.
- IMPORTANT: I have made this Instant Pot Chili at least a dozen times and I use my Duo usually with no problems. My Smart Wifi Instant Pot model is a bit iffy and it works half of the time and gives burn notice the other half time. If you are worried that 1/2 cup liquid is not enough and you know that your Instant Pot easily gives out burn notice, then add 1 cup liquid. Once everything is cooked and Instant Pot is open, then use saute function for another 10-15 minutes to cook out some of the extra liquid.
- 1/2 cup cooking liquid should be enough for most some Instant Pot 6 quart models as there’s liquid in vegetables, tomatoes, and juices in the meat also. But some models may require more liquid.
More warming instant pot recipes
- Cranberry Braised Beef Short Ribs (instant pot or oven)
- The Ultimate Guide for Making Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
- Instant Pot Creamy Salmon Pasta
- Instant Pot Shepherd’s Pie
- Instant Pot Beet Risotto Recipe
DO YOU WANT MORE INSTANT POT RECIPES?
Join my Real Ingredients Instant Pot Recipes Facebook Group!!! It’s a fun and safe place to share your own Instant Pot recipes made with Real Ingredients.
Instant Pot Chili
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 pound extra lean ground beef (fresh or frozen)
- 3.5 tablespoons homemade chili seasoning
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (540 ml)
- 1 can red beans, drained and rinsed (540 ml)
- 1 can bean medley, drained and rinsed (540 ml)
- 1 can diced tomatoes (796 ml)
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to your Instant Pot in the order they are listed. No need to mix.
- Close the lid of your Instant Pot and turn the valve to Sealing.
- Press Manual or Pressure Cooker button (depending on your model) and use the arrows to select 20 minutes. Use default High Pressure. It will take about 15-18 minutes to come to pressure.
- Once the Instant Pot beeps that the 20 minutes of cooking are done, do a natural pressure release. This will take about 30 minutes. You could do a natural pressure of 15-20 minutes and then finish with a quick release if you'd like to speed the things up a bit.
- Carefully open the lid and mix everything up with a spatula, making sure to break up the cooked ground meat into small bite-sized pieces.
- Serve with sour cream, cheddar cheese, cilantro, and green onion.
Video
Nutrition
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Carly says
It was quite liquidy…overall great flavour though!
Sharon Kelly says
If I increase the ingredients do I need to increase the water amount as well?
Julia says
I usually keep the same amount if I only double the meat. But if you increase the rest of the ingredients then I would increase the water also
Cha says
Hi, did you drain the tomatoes befoe putting them in?
Julia says
No, no draining
Deanna says
Just made this and the fam loved it! Just added a little bit of bbq sauce at the end and everyone went to town! This is my 4th recipe from Imagelicious and everything is superb! I mean my husband who used to be a cook and is very critical gave all things thumbs up! Excited to try other IP dishes! Five stars in my book! Thank yuh so much!
SharonK says
What beans are in the canned mixed bean medley?
Julia says
I use different brands of cans so they are usually different. There’s a mixture of chickpeas, white beans, navy beans etc. You can use any beans you like
Adria says
Delicious! Love the spice mix recipe too.
The only issue was it wasn’t clear if i was supposed to saute the beef and onion first or if that was optional. I chose sauted them (browned the beef).
Definitely a keeper recipe and the homemade chili spice mix as well.
Thanks!
Julia says
I’m so glad you loved the chili recipe AND the chili spice mix. I love it also 🙂
Yes, I don’t usually saute the beef and onion, so that’s why it’s not in the recipe. It’s an optional step but definitely it’s not a bad step. It adds more flavour to the meat. You just need to remember to scrape the pot after sauteing.
Marge says
Hi! I made your chili!! We liked it but wonder what would happen if we didn’t rinse the beans? It was kind of bland and somewhat dry Thank you!
Julia says
Everyone has different flavour preferences. I personally find that there’s a lot of flavour in this chili. If it feels bland to you, you can definitely add more seasoning to your taste. I don’t like using unrinsed beans but you can try using them unrinsed if you’d like
Karen says
Just made this recipe in my Instant Pot and it is heavenly! Used my 8qt IP. All instructions followed except I used 2lbs of meat ( I recommend it ) instead of 1lb. Used ground moose meat. I made the homemade chilli spice linked inside too. Very tasty! 25 minutes to pressure up. My ground moose meat was already cooked but frozen and I put it in the IP frozen. 20 minutes cook time, 30 minutes Natural Release time, stir it all up and done. Did a taste test and it’s fabulous! The house smells amazing too. We like adding diced celery, diced rainbow sweet bell peppers, sliced jalepeno’s , diced onions and sour cream as chilli toppers. Served with crusty buns. It’s currently sitting on warn as my husband is still out in the shop stoking the wood stove. Chilli is positively his favorite meal on the planet and he’s going to be mighty surprised when he walks in the door. Thank you very much for sharing your IP chilli recipe. I’ll definitely be making it again! Can’t possibly get any easier!
Julia says
Thank you so much for your kind words. I’m really glad you loved the recipe. I also now make it with 2 pounds of meat as my daughter likes it meaty lately!