The Best Easy Chili Recipe (Stovetop, Crockpot OR Instant Pot!)

If you’re looking for the best, easy chili recipe – the one people will comment on and rave about – then this is your recipe. Perfect for everyday as well as feeding a crowd, you can choose to make this in a slow cooker, Instant Pot, or on the stove. It’s a classic pantry recipe using ingredients you probably already have on hand!

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I know what you may be thinking, “Really, Jami? A basic chili recipe?” I know that because I thought it for years, too – that’s why there isn’t a chili recipe on the site even though I’ve been posting recipes since 2009 (!).

I mean, you can go to any big cooking website and find lots of chili recipes. Plus I never really used a recipe when making chili, I just threw things in a pot with some spices – it just didn’t seem like a need to me.

But guess what? Over the years the one recipe both family and readers asked me for was chili. Really!

So I’ve had it on my to-make list for a couple years now and I after writing down what I did and testing it I am confident in this recipe enough to say that this is the best easy chili recipe you’ll find.

Best, in that is has depth from layers of flavor and spice (always adjustable!) and will have you scraping the bowl.

Easy because it uses basic pantry ingredients (we’re not going all “authentic chili” here with beef chuck, no tomatoes, or hand ground spices) and you can choose to make it one of three ways – on the stovetop, in a slow cooker, or using an Instant Pot.

Need more recipes that use basic pantry ingredients? Get more easy pantry meal ideas here.

It’s also adaptable – you can make it with turkey (and call it “healthier” – see more on this in the FAQs), pork, or any ground meat you have. You can leave out the beans (though they add so much nutrition in the form of protein and fiber), use only sweet peppers if you want zero spice, and add more vegetables.

What you don’t want to change is the layers of spices and seasonings, especially the amount of chili powder – it literally makes the recipe.

Since it’s hard to find a good chili powder that doesn’t have additives, I’m including my homemade chili powder recipe in the recipe card. Again, it is adaptable to your preferred spice levels and it makes enough for multiple batches of chili, so you don’t need to make it every time you want to make chili.

Recipe Video

Ingredients

While recipes with “5 Ingredients or Less” are popular, chili is a recipe where you do not want to skimp on the spices and seasonings. At it’s basic, it is five ingredients (meat, tomatoes, onions, peppers, beans) but it’s the seasonings that make it chili.

• Ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken, pork – your choice)
• Canned tomatoes – crushed and diced
• Onions
• Peppers – sweet, hot or a combo (this is a great time to use your frozen preserved peppers)
• Canned (or cooked and frozen) beans – your choice (or omit)
• Garlic
• Chili powder (hard to find an inexpensive natural store bought, but easy to make your own – see recipe card)
• Cumin (buy in bulk to save big and use it for salads, soups, and more)
• Salt and black pepper
• Coriander, ground (this is the seed of the cilantro plant and adds a nice pop of flavor)
• Dried oregano
• Red pepper flakes (optional)
• Optional toppings: grated cheese, green onions, sour cream, avocados, etc.

How to Make The Best Easy Chili Recipe

The reason this is such an easy chili recipe is that it’s very straightforward – no matter which cooking method you choose, you start with browning the meat and then adding the vegetables to cook with the meat.

With both the stovetop and slow cooker methods, you’ll do this in a pan on the stove, but you can cook it right in the Instant Pot on the sauté setting if going the pressure cooker route.

After the browning, you add all the remaining ingredients and leave it to do it’s cooking magic. The most flavor will come from low and slow cooking.

Timing of Three Cooking Methods for Chili

Choose the method you’d like to use based on the amount of time you have, your schedule, and how much you want to be hands-on.

After the 5 or so minutes needed for cooking the meat and vegetables, the remaining time each method will take is:

1. STOVETOP: Bringing it to a boil will take a few minutes, then it cooks covered for 30 minutes and uncovered for another 30 = 1 hour and 5 minutes (it can always go longer if you want). You’ll also need to monitor and stir occasionally to prevent sticking. (This is a good option for a stainless 6-quart stock pot with a tri-ply base for this recipe.)
2. SLOW COOKER/CROCKPOT: Scrape the meat and veggies into the cooker, add the remaining ingredients and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours. Totally hands-off and perfect if you will be out for the day. (This is the slow cooker I have – being able to lock it to take it places is great.)
3. INSTANT POT: After adding the ingredients, lock the lid in place and cook on high pressure (manual) for 10 minutes, then natural release for 15 minutes before using the quick release. It will take 10-15 minutes to come up to pressure, so the total time in the pot = 45-50 minutes. It’s not that much different from stovetop cooking (it rarely is for these kinds of recipes, I’ve found) but it is hands-off, which can be nice if you’re doing other things. (This is the newer version of the Instant Pot I use.)

My favorite is using the slow cooker since I love to set-it-and-forget-it. But when I have a busy morning and miss the window for slow cooking, I go for either the Instant Pot (as shown in the photos here) or stovetop (which produces a slightly thicker chili than the other methods since it cooks part of the time uncovered).

Serving Suggestions

Serve the chili with the classic toppings of grated cheese, sour cream and sliced green onions. If I have avocados or guacamole, I’ll add that, too.

The classic side dish is corn bread (this moist and tender cornbread is perfection), but we often like it with crushed tortilla chips or Trader Joe’s Corn Chip Dippers (basically an organic version of Fritos).

Here are some salad options to serve alongside:

• Spicy Cumin Lime Coleslaw Recipe
• Green Salad with Best Homemade Ranch Dressing Recipe
• Orange Almond Salad with Orange-Balsamic Vinaigrette

I hope you love this easy chili recipe – if you make it, be sure to leave a recipe rating to let me know!

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