Instant Pot Beef Chili Recipe

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This Instant Pot Beef Chili is the ultimate comfort food with roasted tomatoes and poblano peppers, smoky chipotle peppers, pinto beans, and of course our favorite BACON. Plus, it's ready in less than an hour in the Instant Pot!

This recipe was originally posted in October 2018. It has been updated for content and photos. 

Guys, you NEED this beef chili in your life. It is that good. I could eat this stuff every day. It is truly the ultimate comfort food.

Not only does it have tender delicious ground beef and roasted poblanos, but it also has fresh roasted tomatoes (YUM) and of course BACON. Because what dish is complete without a little bit of bacon?

Serve it with this delicious Homemade Cornbread from Budget Bytes and/or this perfect Green Salad from the Spicy Apron.

And to top it off, we cook it all up in the Instant Pot in about 45 minutes start to finish, with most of that time being hands off so you can catch up on your Netflix. No simmering for hours on the stove to get all those flavors melded.

**If you love chili, you may also want to try this Instant Pot Turkey Chili or this Ultimate Baked Chili Mac Casserole (kinda like chili)**

The Ingredients

Best Beef for Chili

I use 85/15 grass fed ground beef for this recipe. Grassfed isn't required, but I really enjoy the flavor of it. For this recipe, you can use any ground beef, but I recommend 80/20 to 90/10. No fattier or leaner than that.

The ingredients should be fairly easy to get at your local grocery, however, I have included links to purchase some of them here and in the recipe card for convenience (Amazon affiliate links).

• Ground beef - I recommend 85/15, but have also used 80/20 with good results. I don't go much higher than 90/10 because we want that fat flavor in our chili!
• Tomato sauce
• Poblano peppers
• Tomatoes
• Onions
• Pinto beans
• Bacon
• Beer - you can replace the beer with cola if you need to. I don't always have beer in the house, so I replace with cola and have great results.
• Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• Smoked paprika
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Coconut sugar

Are chipotle peppers in adobo sauce hot?

These peppers can be quite spicy. Chipotle peppers are dried and smoked red jalapenos peppers, which is where their spiciness comes from.

Are roasted poblano peppers hot?

Poblano peppers are generally mild peppers, however, there can be the occasional spicy batch.

How do you peel a poblano pepper?

First you roast the pepper over an open flame or under the broiler until the skin is brown and blistered. Let the pepper cool, then gently peel the skin off:

How long does it take to roast tomatoes?

You can roast tomatoes either on the grill over medium heat, or in the oven at 400 degrees. In both cases, tomatoes are done when skin starts to separate from the tomato, and they become very soft. This usually takes about 15-20 minutes.

Step By Step Instructions

This whole Instant Pot cooking thing is really awesome. We can get all this stuff cooked in one pot, and lounge around while we wait for it to finish. It's just the best.

Using the saute function (normal setting), brown the ground beef. Make sure to stir regularly because the beef will stick to the bottom of the Instant Pot.

Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft, about 2-3 minutes.

Add all the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine. Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook the beef and bacon chili on high for 20 minutes.

Once done, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then use the quick release to release any remaining pressure.

Serve it with a sprinkling of cheddar cheese, some sliced avocado, sour cream (or Mexican crema as I prefer), and some sliced green onions. The toppings are all optional depending on your preference. But really, what is chili without cheese and sour cream?

Expert Tips

1. Roast the poblano peppers and tomatoes in advance to make the recipe even easier to throw together. I like to roast batches of veggies on the weekends and freeze them for future use.
2. Make sure to stir the ground beef while it is browning to prevent sticking. If you get a "hot" warning on the Instant Pot, you need to stir it. When you add the remaining ingredients, be sure to stir so any pieces stuck to the bottom will be stirred in.
3. For extra spicy chili, add an additional chipotle pepper, add extra chili powder and/or 1-2 sliced jalapenos.
4. For a less spicy chili, reduce the amount of chili powder and add only ½ chipotle pepper.
5. The chili is awesome the day you make it, but is even more super awesome the next day. Chili is always better the second day because the flavors have had time to meld together.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How long do you cook beef chili in the pressure cooker? Generally, chili should cook between 10-20 minutes in the pressure cooker. I personally prefer to use 20 minutes as it helps the flavors come together.
2. How do you thicken Instant Pot chili? Honestly, the best way is to let it sit in the fridge overnight. However, if you're looking to eat it right away, add 1 tbsp. of cornstarch to 1 tbsp. of water in a small dish and mix to make a paste. Add a little of the cornstarch mixture at a time to the chili, stirring constantly, until the desired thickness is reached.
3. Is beef chili good for you? Well....not really. The beef and bacon have a high fat content, as does the cheese is you choose to add it. However, beef chili does have a very high protein content and also contains vitamins and minerals.
4. Can I freeze chili? Chili is awesome left over, and perfect for the freezer. I recommend freezing in single portions so it can be thawed out and eaten 1 portion at a time. Thaw it in the fridge overnight and reheat in the microwave.

If you want to make chili in the slow cooker, check out this Slow Cooker Beef Chili recipe from Cooking Classy.

And for a more traditional chili, try this Homemade Beef Chili from Natasha's Kitchen.

More Chili Recipes

• Instant Pot Turkey Chili;
• White Chicken Chili from the Chunky Chef;
• Pulled Pork Chili from the Salty Marshmallow;
• New Mexico Red Pork Chili from Jessica Gavin.

Reader's Favorite Instant Pot Recipes

• Instant Pot Pork Ribs;
• Instant Pot Ramen;
• Instant Pot Chicken Paprika;
• Instant Pot Short Ribs;
• Browse ALL the Instant Pot Recipes!!

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Did you make this Instant Pot beef chili? Leave a comment below and let me know how it turned out!