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A warm bowl of chili is such a comforting meal on cold nights. Beef chili usually takes at least an hour and a half to simmer on the stove, but you can cut that time down by half when you use a pressure cooker!
Video! How to Make Instant Pot Beef Chili
Making Instant Pot Chili
Using an Instant Pot to make chili isn’t any harder than cooking a pot of chili on the stove. You can sauté and simmer right in the appliance, just you would when cooking on the stovetop. The only difference here is that instead of turning a knob on the stove, you press a few buttons on the Instant Pot.
The biggest difference? Start to finish, this chili is ready in under an hour — compare this with stove-top chilis that take twice as long!
If you have another model of electric or stovetop pressure cooker, the sautéing instructions might be slightly different. Just check your user manual for guidance.
What to Serve with Chili
One of the best parts about chili is all the ways you can top your bowl! Cheese, sliced green onions, crushed tortilla chips, and a dollop of sour cream are all great options.
What about a batch of Southern cornbread or garlic knots to serve on the side? Chili is also great served over cooked rice.
How to Store and Freeze Your Chili
This chili will keep in the fridge for at least five days, or frozen for up to three months.
To freeze, transfer the cooked and cooled chili to freezer containers or bags, press out as much air as possible, and freeze. Thaw overnight in the fridge, or heat while still frozen. The best way to reheat chili is in a sauce pan over low heat on the stove top.
Easy Ingredient Swaps and Additions
Since first posting this recipe, so many of you have made it and shared your success stories! You’ve also shared ways that you’ve adapted or swapped ingredients, which all sound so great. Here are some of favorite ideas:
- Add an extra can of beans for more protein
- Add a cup of frozen corn
- Swap the ground beef for finely-chopped flank steak or ground chicken
- Add cumin!
- Use fire-roasted tomatoes
- Add sliced mushrooms
- Some BBQ sauce adds extra depth
New to Pressure Cooking?
Electric pressure cookers are having a renaissance these days. The newest models, like the Instant Pot, are programmable smart appliances that are safe and easy to use. They’re completely different than the traditional stovetop models many of us grew up with.
- Check out this guide! How to Use an Instant Pot
The pressure cooker I use is an Instant Pot. I have both the 6- and 8-quart models, and I find that the 6-quart size is plenty big for most meals. It handles recipes making 4 to 6 serving recipes easily, including this beef chili.
More Favorite Instant Pot recipes!
- Pressure Cooker White Chicken Chili
- Pressure Cooker Taco Soup
- Pressure Cooker Green Pork Pozole
- Pressure Cooker Shredded Chicken Taco Meat
- Pressure Cooker BBQ Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Instant Pot Beef Chili Recipe
If you have leftover tomato paste after making this recipe, you can freeze it in tablespoon portions for another recipe.
Stovetop Instructions: In a medium saucepan or soup pot, cook the bell pepper, onion, celery and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until the onions are softened and translucent. Add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Add the spices, tomato paste, tomatoes, and beans, along with a cup of water or broth. Bring to a simmer. then turn the heat down to low, cover the pot, and let simmer for one hour.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
- 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 pound ground beef (85% lean)
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- Water or broth, as needed to make 1 cup liquid with the tomato juices
- 1 (15.5-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup shredded cheese, any favorite mix, to serve
- 2 green onions, sliced thinly, to serve
- Rice, cornbread, or garlic knots, to serve
Special equipment:
- 6-quart Instant Pot, or other pressure cooker
Method
1 Cook the vegetables: Select the “Sauté” program on your pressure cooker and add the oil to the pot. (If you are using a stovetop pressure cooker, heat the oil over medium heat.) Add the bell pepper, onion, celery, and garlic. Sauté until the onions are softened and translucent, about five minutes.
2 Cook the ground beef: Add the ground beef to the pot, breaking it up in small pieces. Cook until no longer pink, about five minutes.
3 Stir in the spices and tomato paste. Add the chili powder, salt, oregano, and tomato paste to the pot. Stir until the tomato paste is evenly mixed into the other ingredients and no clumps remain.
4 Add the tomatoes and beans: Strain the tomatoes, then add enough water or broth to make 1 cup total liquid. Add the liquid, the strained tomatoes, and the beans to the pressure cooker.
5 Cook the chili: Place the lid on the pressure cooker. Make sure the pressure regulator is set to the “Sealing” position. If you are using an Instant Pot, select the “Chili” program, then adjust the time to 20 minutes. If your pressure cooker does not have a “Chili” program, set it manually to “High Pressure” for 20 minutes. For stovetop pressure cookers, cook for 17 minutes at high pressure.
It will take about 10 minutes for your pressure cooker to come up to pressure, and then the actual cooking will begin. Total time from the time you seal the pressure cooker to the finished dish is about 30 minutes.
6 Release the pressure after cooking: When the timer goes off, you may either perform a quick pressure release by moving the pressure release knob from “Sealing” to “Venting,” or let the pot depressurize naturally on its own (this takes about 20 minutes; open the vent to "Venting" when you’re ready to serve the chili.) For stovetop pressure cookers, perform a quick pressure release.
7 To serve: Top bowls of chili with shredded cheese and green onions, if desired. Serve alone, over rice, or with cornbread.
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Author of The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook and The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook. A self-taught cook and classically-trained soprano, Coco Morante writes and sings in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives with her husband and their beagle. For more recipes, visit her blog, Lefty Spoon.
Instant Pot Beef Chili
Over my nearly 75 years (60 making chili) I think I’ve made them all. Texas, Cincinnati, Thai, southern, etc. I’ve never made a bad one. This was the first I’ve made in an instant pot, and I made it mostly to your recipe. It was fabulous! Only changes I made were 2 tbsp Worcestershire, 1 tbsp Cholula, and 1/8 cup light brown sugar. Didn’t really need it – I just like it with those. So easy, so fast, so delicious. Thanks!
Isn’t it great how you can make chili for 60 years and still have new ways to do it? Glad you liked this, Patrick!
I made this as my first try out on my new instant pot. I got a burn food alert, stirred well and added some more water and it cooked fine after that.
I had added two tbsp of cocoa powder (as loads of recipes recommend it) it did add a real depth of flavour, but will reduce to one spoon next time. Replaced the kidney beans with two tins of cannelinni beans. I bought this as the chilli I make in my slow cooker is always a little tough. The pressure cooker solved it and cooked in a fraction of time. Loved the recipe, thank you
xxxxxyyyyy
Hi Alan, good job with the chili, and with working through that burn warning. Enjoy your new IP! For anyone reading comments who is concerned about burn warnings and this recipe, I’m reporting Coco’s advice below.
“The burn notice tends to occur most often when tomato products and/or thick mixtures are involved, since they can sometimes scorch on the pot bottom before enough pressure builds for the pot to seal. I would go ahead and check that your lid is clean, and that the sealing ring is completely nested in its wire frame inside the lid. Since you’ve only used your IP a few times, I’m guessing the sealing ring doesn’t need to be replaced. Another thought — since developing this recipe, I’ve begun to use a technique of layering ingredients in order to keep the tomatoes from coming into contact with the bottom of the pot, for even more fool proof pressure cooking. The Beef, Bean, and Tomato Chili recipe in my Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook (page 108) uses this technique. You can adapt the recipe here to do the same, layering the diced tomatoes and tomato paste on top of the other ingredients before you close up the pot, rather than stirring them in.”
It was delicious. I added a can of kernel corn and an extra tbsp of chili powder, didn’t have celery so left it out. Wish there was nutrition information per serving–most recipes have that info these days!
Made substitutions 1½ lbs. 90/10 ground beef, 2 cans of “zesty chili style” diced tomatoes.
Turned out fantastic!
xxxxxyyyyy
I’m hoping to make this in the coming days and am wondering if during Steps 1 and 2 is the top of the pressure cooker off; this is not clear. Thank you
Hi Felicia, correct, the lid if off in steps 1 and 2, just as pictured in the photos. Happy pressure cooking!