Best Easy Instant Pot Chili (GF)

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Instant Pot Chili is one of the easiest comfort food recipes that you can make. No fancy ingredients needed. Only delicious meat and veggies and a mostly hands-off 30 minutes required. It’s a great one pot filling recipe that the whole family will love.

This rich flavourful stew is a lifesaver on a busy weeknight and a great cozy dinner, brunch and meal prep staple. Just add cornbread, rice or coleslaw to make a complete meal.

 There is an awesome ‘secret sauce’  ingredient which elevates this Pressure Cooker Chili to something  special. Folks, if you’ve never put balsamic vinegar in a chili recipe, you are soooo missing out. It complements the tomatoes so well and brightens the flavours of all the ingredients. You’ll never make chili without it again. 

Why You Will Love It

• It is easy to make from pantry staples.
• It is budget-friendly family-approved treat.
• A thick, comforting and full of flavor classic..
• It can be double or tripled to feed a crowd.
• Assemble ahead for a freezer-friendly meal.

Tools Needed

• An awesome Instant Pot.
• The best Instant Pot accessories.
• A sharp knife.
• Cutting board.
• Handy measuring cups and spoons.
• A crockpot if you want to slow cook it.
• Best ever sea salt flakes.
• Meal prep containers for storing leftovers.

Ok, let’s get down to the serious business of how to cook this pressure cooker chili con carne. Because pantry staple veggies + ground beef + tomatoes + beans + chilli spices = the best Instant Pot Chili EVER.

And in only 25 mins.

How to Cook Instant Pot Chili

Comforting, warming, filling and over the top delicious (yeah okay, I may be a little bit obsessed).

Get the complete ingredients list and instructions from the recipe card below.

So what do you do? Well….

1. Step 1. Set your Instant Pot to Sauté and heat up your oil.
2. Step 2. Sauté your veggies.
3. Step 3. Stir in the garlic followed by the ground beef and brown it making sure to break it up. Please remove ANY excess water from the beef using a scoop. You want the beef to be dry as it is cooking so that it caramelizes a little bit (for the awesome chili flavor that we know and love).
4. Step 4. Add in the broth and quickly deglaze the inner pot (by scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon) in case anything is stuck on.
5. Step 5. Then add in everything else ending with crushed tomatoes and beans on top. Do NOT stir.
6. Step 6. Seal and cook under high pressure for 15 minutes.
7. Step 7. When done let the pressure release naturally. When the chili is ready, stir it thoroughly before serving.

That. Is. It. And you are rewarded with the best ever Instant Pot that looks like this… yum.

Expert tip : Cooked beef gives off a lot of juices, which leads to a watery chili. So: remove any excess water that gathers whilst you are cooking the beef. This helps to caramelize the beef quicker plus it results in a thicker chili

How to Make Slow Cooker Chili

1. To make this a slow cooker chili follow the recipe until the end of step 3.
2. Then transfer everything to your slow cooker and cook for 4 hrs on high or 8 hrs on low.

Make This A Freezer Dump Meal

1. Sauté your veggies
2. Stir in the garlic followed by the ground beef and brown it making sure to break it up. Please remove ANY excess water from the beef using a scoop.
3. Let this cool and add to a freezer bag along with the rest of the ingredients and an extra quarter cup of beef stock and freezer.
4. When ready to use, thaw overnight in the fridge, add to Instant Pot and cook under high pressure for 15 mins, followed by an NPR.

Pro Recipe Tips

• The reason for not stirring after you add in the tomatoes is to help you avoid the ‘burn notice’ on the Instant Pot. (The burn notice is a rather scary red message on your Instant Pot that simply reads ‘burn.’). See more below.
• The total cook time does not include the time it takes for the Instant Pot to get to pressure. Plan for additional time

Delicious Variatons

• Swap the meat – You can sub the ground beef in this recipe for lean ground turkey or ground chicken to cut the calories.
• Swap the beef broth – you can use extra tomato juice, or other liquids like vegetable or chicken broth instead.
• Swap the beans – feel free to use other beans like black beans, black eyed beans, butter beans or even chickpeas.
• Add extra heat – a dash of hot sauce, chipotle, red pepper flakes or cayenne will add that little extra heat if you prefer.

 Topping Ideas

 Try one of these toppings:

• Shredded cheese (cheddar is a good choice)
• Avocado
• Pineapple salsa
• Southern coleslaw.
• Chopped fresh cilantro

Storage

• Refrigerate – This can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
•  Freezing – Let the chili cool down then transfer into these very handy Ziploc freezer bags. Squeeze out all the extra air and seal the bags. Label the bags and then lay them flat in the freezer. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• To thaw – remove from the freezer the night before needed and let it thaw in the fridge.

FAQ’s

What Are The Best Tomatoes For This?

Use really thick good quality canned tomatoes for this. If you have watery tomatoes, add a little less or sauté the chili to get rid of the extra liquid.

How Can I Make a Thin Chili?

Some people prefer a soupy chili. If so, you can skip the step above and leave in the excess liquid from the beef. Or add more broth during cooking.

How To Thicken It?

If you want to make it thicker after cooking, change over to the sauté mode, and sauté till you get the thickness that you like.

What are the Best Beans To Use?

 If you are wondering ‘what are the best beans for chili?’ the answer is kidney beans (a personal favourite), black beans or pinto beans. But to be honest feel free to use any beans you prefer.

How To Avoid The Burn Notice

Certain ingredients may cause a burn notice when on the bottom of the Instant Pot insert. Thicker sauces, nut butters, tomato-based products (tomato paste, marinara sauce, salsa) as well as cream sauces are not thin enough to build steam. Plus, some sauces may contain fillers like cornstarch and flour that can easily scorch.

To prevent the burn notice from happening, always add water to the bottom of your insert, and then “layer” the ingredients inside the Instant Pot insert.

Start with your meat or produce first, then add the dense and starchy ingredients (including tomatoes) last on the top, making sure to not stir or mix before pressure cooking as directed.

Serving Suggestions

There are endless things you can serve with this easy dish such as Instant Pot Brown Rice, Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes, Instant Pot Cornbread, these super easy No knead Instant Pot Bread Rolls, and some Instant Pot Mac and Cheese.

Other Recipes You Might Like

• Instant Pot Hungarian Goulash.
• Instant Pot Swiss Steak.
• Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Breast.
• Instant Pot Chicken Mac and Cheese.
• Instant Pot Pumpkin Mac and Cheese.
• Instant Pot White Chicken Chili.

Weight Watchers Points 

There are 3 Blue Plan SmartPoints per serving if you replace the 1 tbsp vegetable oil with a calorie-controlled cooking spray.

Thank you for reading my Instapot Chili recipe post. And please come visit again as I continue to slice, dice and dream up affordable Air Fryer recipes, Instant Pot Recipes, Southern Recipes and more. Thanks for supporting Recipes from a Pantry, food blog.

Originally published October 2018.

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