Instant Pot Chili is the ultimate comfort food! A classic beef and bean chili made in the instant pot, speeds up the cooking process and results in a super rich and hearty chili. Your family will be begging for you to make this easy instant pot chili recipe again and again!
Looking for more comforting Instant Pot Recipes? Check out Instant Pot Beef Stew, Instant Pot Shredded Chicken, and Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken.
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Instant Pot Chili
One of my favorite’s meals growing up was my mom’s slow cooker chili.
It was an easy meal to make, but took hours to cook.
I took her traditional recipe for Beef and Bean Chili and changed it up for the Instant Pot–making it super quick and easy, yet just as delicious!
Ingredients for Pressure Cooker Chili
- Ground Meat: beef, bison, turkey, or chicken all work
- Diced Onion
- Chili Seasoning A homemade blend of spices that makes this chili so flavorful.
- Tomato Puree I have picky eaters that hate diced tomatoes, but feel free to use diced tomatoes for a chunkier chili.
- Beef Stock This is not traditional in my chili recipes, but you need that that thin liquid for the Instant Pot to come to pressure.
- Beer Beef adds depth of flavor to this chili recipe, but feel free to use additional beef stock in it’s place
- Beans I recommend kidney beans for this traditional chili. Canned beans work best to make this super quick and easy, but feel free to use cooked Instant Pot Kidney Beans.
How To Make Chili in the Instant Pot
This Instant Pot chili is simple and classic in flavors–it is thick and hearty and just perfection.
Step One: Saute Meat
- Turn your instant pot to the saute function and allow it to heat up.
- Brown your ground meat with the diced onions.
- Turn Instant Pot OFF.
Step Two: Deglaze Inner Pot
- Add in your liquid and scrape up the browned bits off the inner pot. This step is REALLY important–if you leave too many browned bits on the inner pot, your pressure cooker may not come to pressure correctly.
Step Three: Pressure Cook Chili
- Add in the remaining seasonings, beans and tomatoes, place lid on instant pot with valve closed to “sealing.”
- Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes.
- Let pressure release naturally–about 15 minutes.
Step Four: Serve Chili
- Dish up the chili and serve with cornbread muffins.
- Or use the pressure cooker chili to top baked potatoes or baked sweet potatoes.
Can I use Frozen Ground Meat for this Chili Recipe?
YES, you can make this Classic Chili with frozen ground beef!
I recommend, following my instructions for cooking frozen ground beef in your instant pot. Then crumble that meat up, place back into instant pot with remaining ingredients for the chili and cook on high for cook time.
However, if you are really in a bind, you can place your frozen beef right into your chili and the meat will cook as the chili cooks. I will warn you that your chili may be greasy if you use this method and you will still have to break up your beef into this chili once it has cooked–so this is my absolute LEAST favorite way to prepare Instant Pot Chili.
Freezing Chili
To Freeze Instant Pot Chili:
- Allow chili to cool completely.
- Place in freezer safe containers or freezer safe bags, being sure to leave at least 1/2 cup space for chili to expand while frozen.
- Freeze for up to 6 months.
To Reheat Frozen Chili:
You have a couple options to reheat frozen chili.
- Thaw overnight in fridge and reheat on stove or in microwave until warmed through.
- Remove frozen chili (frozen as solid brick) and place into oven safe glass container that fits into your instant pot. Place trivet in instant pot and pour in 1 cup water. Place bowl with frozen chili in instant pot and cook on high for 25 minutes.
Do you Have to use the Chili Function on the Instant Pot to Cook Chili?
As I have shared in my Instant Pot 101 and Instant Pot Functions, the functions on your instant pot are set as guides–your pressure cooker has no way of knowing if you used dried beans, canned beans or frozen meat. I RARELY use any of these functions, but instead default to cooking on high pressure and manually adjusting with the manual or pressure cook button on a pressure cooker.
More Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Lasagna
- Instant Pot Chicken Thighs
- Instant Pot Baked Beans
- Instant Pot Mongolian Beef
- Instant Pot Orange Chicken
Instant Pot Chili
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground meat
- 1 small onion diced
- 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup beer
- 1 cup beef stock
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon Chili Seasoning Blend
- 4 cups kidney beans
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Turn your instant pot to the saute function and allow it to heat up until it reads "Hot"
- Brown the ground meat with the diced onions, until just browned through--about 5 minutes.
- Add in your beer and stock and scrape up the browned bits off the inner pot. This step is REALLY important--if you leave too many browned bits on the inner pot, your pressure cooker may not come to pressure correctly. Turn off saute function.
- Add in the garlic, chili seasoning, and beans and stir well. Pour tomatoes on the top and place lid on instant pot with valve closed to "sealing."
- Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes.
- Let pressure release naturally--about 15-20 minutes. Remove lid and stir In Worcestershire sauce.
Notes
- If you want super tender beans without much chew, add up to 10 more minutes of cook time.
- If using canned beans or presoaked dried beans, decrease cooking time to 15 minutes.
- Remember if using canned beans, you will also need less liquid. I would use 1/2 cup beer and 1/2 cup beef stock instead of a full cup of both.
- In place of beer, feel free to use wine or beef/chicken stock.
- Be sure Worcestershire sauce is gluten-free if you need this chili to be gluten-free.
- Use black beans, kidney beans, or pinto beans in place of red beans--cook time remains the same.
Kristen Chidsey
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Hey Kristen, so happy I stumbled upon your site ! My IP is still boxed up but with your recipes/tips I’m feeling motivated and have the confidence that I can do it. Question: my kids pick out the onions and bell peppers so I usually sauté and blend them up in my vita mix to a mushy consistency. Do you think I need to adjust the beer or broth because of this ? Thanks!
I am so happy you found my site as well. And I understand picky kids. I would reduce liquid by 1/4 of a cup. Enjoy
I’d love to try this with tomato puree instead of canned tomatoes. Any suggestion on changes I’d need to make? Cooking time or liquid measurement?
I would add in 1 cup extra liquid, but cook time will remain the same.
I cooked for the 35 min. 10 min natural release. beans still way too hard. I am pressure cooking it another 10 minutes. I hope that will do the trick otherwise it is smelling great. I added more beef stock for it looked too thick.
Hi Heidi! If your dried beans are a bit older they can take a bit of time to cook through. And it was a good idea to add stock after a quick release of a thick stew/chili like this before trying to cook longer or you may get a burn notice. However, you may need to add in a bit more seasoning, as the stock will dilute the flavor a bit. I hope you enjoy!
Hi Kristen
Everyone in my house appears to be going on a low carb Keto diet kick. So I have no choice but to make this chili in our instant pot without beans. I plan to use 2 lbs ground beef and use a red wine as part of the liquid measurement. Do I keep the same amount of liquid (2 cups) as noted in the recipe if I am not using beans but add more meat?..and this sure sounds like it will be Scrumpdillyicious on our snowy night tonight. Thanks for the recipe….
Hi Clem! I would decrease the liquid to 1 cup for this recipe. I personally love red wine in chili, so that plus beef broth will be delicious! Stay warm and enjoy!
Well here’s the scoop..with the 2 lbs of ground beef (and no beans)it still needed a bit more liquid than 1 cup (so I added and went generous on the wine of course) and if you don’t mind I tweaked it a bit with by going heavier on the Chili Powder and Cumin and adding some Rotel, cocoa, Oregano and smoked paprika….. MMMMMmmmm is all I can say.
Thank You
WAHOO!!! So glad you enjoyed!!!!
Hi, are the dried beans soaked? If they are soaked are they measured dry or after soaking?
Thanks,
Shirley
Hi Shirley! I have directions for both soaked and un-soaked dried beans. For dried un-soaked beans, you use 2 cups. For pre-soaked beans, use 4-5 cups and 1/2 cup less liquid. The cook time will also be cut to 25 minutes for pre-soaked beans.
What type of beer would you suggest?
I recommend a lager–like Coors, Heineken, Budweiser, etc. I think a mild beer is best, to let the flavors of chili shine 🙂
Hi, IP newbie here and not a very organized cook. I tried the chili recipe and left it on saute until I was ready to set the pressure level. It was a good 20 minutes since I browned the beef and got everything in there. The result was heavy and mushy. The flavor was great!! Should I have turned off saute after browning?
Hi Dianne, I am so sorry about your experience. Yes, you should have turned off saute after meat was browned, that will make a huge difference in consistency and texture. I hate you missed that step, I added in actual step (not just post) to clarify for anyone else.
I want to say that I have been cooking, serving and enjoying beans of various kinds for 57 years, & only recently learned from my best friend – a Colombian ‘bean expert,’ that if you are cooking your dry beans an adequate amount of time, and they aren’t becoming tender, it’s because they are old –past their prime.
Thank you for that information–very helpful!
Hi! I made the recipe as follows and added two cans of beans and cooked it for 15 minutes. The recipe was super watery. Is it supposed to be? Or did I do something wrong?
Hi Maria! Yes, I mentioned if using canned beans you will need less liquid (dried beans absorb some of the liquid as they cook.) I added that tip to the actual recipe card now so others won’t miss it. You can salvage your chili by turning the saute function on the instant pot and letting the chili boil with the lid off to evaporate some of the excess liquid if you desire.
I’m going to try your recipe tonight! I just wanted to say I really like how you address all the different questions beforehand! As to whether one can substitute items, double etc. I’ll definitely be coming back to check out more of your recipes oh, thank you 🙂
You are so welcome Sherri! I hope you enjoy the Chili!
I have a Crock Pot version of the IP and the kidney beans were not done after 45 minutes (30 and then 15) on the beans/Chili setting.
Hi Marla! I am sorry the beans were not done for you. I personally have not used this brand of pressure cooker, but it should be similar cook times. In the future, use HIGH pressure (not beans function) and cook for 45 minutes and be sure to do a full natural release–that should help.
Hi! I just made this exactly as described — 30 mins on high pressure. My beans were not fully cooked. Did anyone else have this problem? I used 1 cup beer 1 cup broth and 2 cups black beans in the recipe.
Hi Maya! If your beans were not cooked through, you can place lid on pressure cooker and cook for additional 5-10 minutes. It won’t take as long to come to pressure the 2nd time. I have never had this issue, using any type of bean, but it may be you didn’t let pressure release naturally enough or you like your beans falling apart..not with a bit of chew. Sorry for the hassle.
I have an 8qt. Instant pot. Can I safely double this recipe? How would I adjust the cook time?
Hi Holly, yes you can double this recipe. Cook time will remain the same, but the time it takes to come to pressure will be longer. Enjoy.
I made it tonight. The BEST chili we’ve ever had. It turned out perfect! As others have stated, the flavors came together like it had been cooking all day long. Amazing! Thank you!
Thank you Holly! I love hearing that.
So damn good and so damn easy. With barely any cleanup! This is definitely going to become one of our standby recipes.
I love hearing that Gwen!
Can you double the recipe for an 8 quart. Is the cooking time the same
Hi Barb, yes you can double this recipe. The cook time will remain the same, but it will take longer to come to pressure and depressurize. Enjoy!
Hi I have never cooked with dried beans before and was just wondering if these need to be washed before putting them in the instant pot?
Thanks!
Hi Richard!
I do recommend washing beans before cooking. Just place in colander and rinse well. Occasionally you will find a rock or two–VERY rarely! Enjoy!
Question: what size instant pot was this made in? I have an instant pot mini duo!
Hi Nour! I made this in a 6 quart. You can half this recipe and make it in your mini! Enjoy
Can this recipe be made without beans? If so, does that affect the cook time?
You can absolutely make this recipe with more meat and less beans, just cook for 15 minutes.
Hi – It says this. above…”For red beans, black beans, pinto beans and kidney beans, you would use 1 cup dried beans in this Instant Pot Chili recipe.” but the recipe calls for 2 ups of beans?
It should say 2 cups per any variety of beans. Great catch, fixing now.
Totally loving this instant pot chili! Great recipe!!
Yay! Thanks for sharing your success Jenn!
Oh my gosh, I love this chili SO much! It comes out so flavorful in the Instant Pot, too. Nom nom nom.
YAY!!! Don’t you love how much flavor develops so quickly in the IP?