Easy Instant Pot Chili

This Instant Pot Chili is so easy to put together – you can prep it in just 10 minutes with less than 10 ingredients!

There’s not many things I love more than a throw-it-together-in-10-minutes kind of dinner. When the kids are cranky (always around dinnertime…) and I’m tired (always, full stop 😅)… There’s just no way I’m making anything more elaborate.

How to make chili in the instant pot

This is a recipe where you have barely anything to do, and you’ll be rewarded with a steaming bowl of comforting beef chili! I like to have everything ready before I start cooking this, as it comes together so fast.

Chili ingredients

You only need nine ingredients, plus oil/salt/pepper to make this chili! This is an overview for your grocery list, for ingredient amounts please see the recipe.

Ingredient notes

• Beef: I use very lean beef, so I usually don’t drain it. Feel free to drain if you’re using fattier ground beef! You can also use ground turkey in place of the beef for a lighter chili.
• Green pepper: If you’re very opposed to green peppers, use a red or yellow one instead.
• Vegetables: You can also use 1-2 cups frozen seasoning blend in place of chopping your own onion and pepper.
• Canned tomatoes: Feel free to substitute an equal amount of Rotel.

How to control the spiciness

• Mild: For a mild chili, use a very mild chili seasoning or season yourself using all mild ground paprika.
• More spicy: Use a hot chili mix or make your own with all chili powder and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper as well. You can also use hot sauce or a chopped chili pepper. OR use a can of chili beans instead of plain kidney beans.
• Spice individual servings: Add either hot sauce or chipotle chili flakes over individual portions.

Steps to make chili in the pressure cooker

Recipe tips

• For a creamy chili: Stir in a few tablespoons of refried beans, or blend about 1/2 can of plain kidney beans and add that. You might need to thin with a bit more beef broth. You can also stir in a few tablespoons of cream cheese instead to make the chili creamy.
• Use enough oil for sautéing, to keep the beef from sticking to the instant pot.
• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions of your electric pressure cooker for minimum and maximum fill requirements, and for instructions on how to manually release pressure.

Avoid the burn warning

To make sure you don’t get the BURN message on the instant pot, do the following:

• scrape the bottom of the pot REALLY well to remove any stuck pieces
• measure the cup of beef broth EXACTLY. if you don’t have enough liquid in the pot, the burn warning comes on faster
• make sure the lid is sealed correctly, otherwise the cooker takes too much time to come to pressure and the ingredients are more likely to get stuck and burn on the bottom

Side dish ideas

We really enjoy this chili with a side of cornbread and all of the toppings! Shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips, avocado, cilantro and lime are musts around here.

Watch the recipe video

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