Best Easy Instant Pot Chili is simple to make with a mouthwatering combination of beef and beans! You can have a bowl of cozy chili that tastes like it simmered for hours ready in about 30 minutes!
I have been wanting to try chili in my Instant Pot for months now! We are currently having a very cold start to spring, and there was no better time to give it a try.
My instant pot chili is made virtually the same way that I make my chili in a traditional slow cooker. I have a very specific assortment of beans that I like to use for MAX flavor.
Typically, I don’t post pictures of a particular brand of ingredient unless the post is sponsored. This post is NOT sponsored, however, the picture below is to show you what “Ranch Style Beans” are, just in case you aren’t familiar with them.
I am able to find this style of beans at any grocery store I go to. They are just pinto beans, but I happen to adore the spices that they use. They pack some seriously amazing flavor that takes chili to another level.
If you are unable to find them, you can simply use extra chili beans instead. I prefer this to plain kidney beans, again because chili beans are packed in a flavorful sauce and kidney beans are not.
Instant Pot Chili:
Chili is really easy to make in the Instant Pot. I tend to use VERY lean ground beef so that I don’t even have to drain any grease, and I can just keep on cooking.
For this recipe, you will brown your beef using the saute feature in a small amount of olive oil along with some chopped onions and seasonings. When your beef is no longer pink use your best judgment and/or preference on whether you need to drain any grease from the pot or not.
Then, you can simply add in your four cans of beans, tomato sauce, and beef broth and let the Instant Pot do all of the work! This will take about 10 minutes to come to pressure. Then, you will allow it to cook on manual for 20 minutes.
After your 20 minutes is up, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes then you can do a quick release. The next step is to add a cornstarch and water “slurry” to the chili to let it thicken. This step is optional, but it doesn’t affect the flavor at all and makes for a much thicker and hearty chili.
A couple of other tips and recommendations.
If you don’t have beef broth and/or like a nice strong tomato flavor in your chili, you can replace the broth with tomato juice!
This recipe has been tested as is in a 6 quart and 8 quart instant pot. You can double the recipe in an 8 quart.
Enjoy!
~Nichole
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Best Easy Instant Pot Chili
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Pound Ground Beef
- 1 Medium Onion, Diced
- 2 Tablespoons Chili Powder
- 1/2 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
- 1/2 Tablespoon Cumin
- 1 Teaspoon Hot Pepper Sauce, Optional
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
- 2 14 Ounce Cans Chili Beans, Do not drain
- 2 14 Ounce Cans Ranch Style (Pinto) Beans, Do not drain
- 1 15 Ounce Can Tomato Sauce
- 2 Cups Beef Broth
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon Water
Instructions
- Turn instant pot to saute and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the ground beef, onion, and seasonings and cook until meat is no longer pink.
- Drain any excess grease if necessary.
- Turn the Instant Pot off and add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine.
- Set the instant pot to manual, high pressure for 25 minutes.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then quick release.
- OPTIONAL: In a small bowl mix together the cornstarch and water until smooth and immediately whisk into hot chili. Allow to thicken for 5 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Best chili recipe! I add a can of rotel as well and it’s so so so good! Also a little sugar in mine (not everyone else’s though)
I love Steak ‘n Shake chilly, but this chili is better than Steak ‘n Shake chili. This is my favorite,. Thanks for this.
Burn notice everytime I try to pressure cook this one. I just had to switch to slow cook for it.
I used other recipes since getting my pot but this one is the best I changed it when I did not have the chili beans used black beans instead it was so good now I do chili beans and black beans my Grandchildren love it just wanted to thank you your recipes and glad i joined your site
Could this be made with ground chicken?
A family favorite! My kids love it!
If I want to make this in a slow cooker, how long would you recommend leaving it on for?
I usually do 6-8 hours on low 🙂
This was probably the best chili recipe I’ve ever tried!! I usually just use a packet of chili mix and couple cans of tomatoes sauce, tomatoes and beans, but it just feels like it’s lacking flavor.. tonight I didn’t have chili mix so I looked online to try and find a good recipe that didn’t call for that and that I could also use chili beans in AND without bell peppers because I didn’t have that either. I stumbled across this recipe and when I seen that it was from “The Salty Marshmallow” I knew id like it because MANY of my pinned recipes are from you!! The ONLY thing I did different was added 1 can of kidney beans instead of Ranch style and that’s only because I didn’t have Ranch style on hand. I also didnt add the full suggested amount of hot sauce. Both my husband and my son also agreed that it was VERY good!! The only thing that didn’t turn out for me was that it was a little too soupy. I wound up adding in 3TBSP of slurry to try and get it to thicken up enough. Although it did thicken up some, it still was very liquidy. Idk if maybe next time I shouldn’t out in all the liquid from the cans or maybe not as as much beef broth? Idk.. but this has been bookmarked in chrome and I will DEFINITELY be using this as my go to recipe, for chili, from now on!! Thank you for always coming through for me with food recipes!!! ??
I also had this problem the first time I made it. I drained the beans after that and added one small can tomato paste and it was PERFECT!
I have more than doubled this recipe, when doing chili we have always used half hamburger and half Italian sausage, I also use the chili mix. Just figure up how many lbs of meat you use. It turns out perfect every time. Thank you.
love it. i only added 1 can of ranch style beans. eceryone loved it!!!