Homemade Instant Pot Chili

This Homemade Instant Pot Chili recipe can be made with your choice of ground meat ( beef, turkey or chicken) or vegan soy crumbles and dry black beans.  A great way to use up all your pantry ingredients! Vegan and Gluten-Free adaptable! Serve it up with Zucchini Cornbread! 

Here’s a hearty flavorful recipe for Homemade Instant Pot Chili that can be made in your Instant Pot pressure cooker using dry beans from and crushed tomatoes from your pantry. The best part? This recipe is very adaptable.

Make it with organic, lean ground beef or ground turkey or ground chicken, or keep it vegan by adding textured soy protein or “soy crumbles”. A quick and hearty chili with bold rich flavor! This recipe calls for dry pinto beans but black beans, and red beans will both work!

I love this hearty chili served up with this Zucchini Cornbread!  So delicious!

 Homemade Instant Pot Chili  | 30-sec video 

What is the chili setting on instant pot?

The default “chili setting” on an instant pot is set at 30 minutes at high pressure – the reccommended time- which does make a nice batch of chili. You can increase the time, or lower the time, depending on the bean type and whether the beans have been pre-soaked.

Pre-soaking the Pinto Beans:

I find that pre-soaking the pinto beans makes the beans cook more evenly and renders them more easily digestible. Pinto beans are a little larger than black beans, so they tend to cook a little unevenly if unsoaked. I don’t always presoak smaller beans like black beans, but I prefer to with larger pinto beans, and especially recommend this if your beans are older. Here we do a faux “presoak” with the Instant pot.

How do you keep the chili from burning in an instant pot?

1. Make sure the underside of the pot and the heating element are clean and free from any debris.
2. Always make sure the steam valve is closed to prevent too much liquid from evaporating.
3. After sauteeing, always deglaze the pot, scraping up any browned bits.
4. Always make sure there is at least one cup of liquid.

TIPS:

TIP #1: Giving the beans a quick 7-minute pressure cook, replaces the soaking time here and during this first phase, it is the perfect amount of time to prep the rest of the ingredients, allowing the recipe to go quite quickly!

TIP #2: Using beef stock or broth adds a lot of depth here. If going vegan, this veggie boullion is the best!

TIP #3: To thicken the chili sometimes I’ll add a couple of tablespoons of Masa Harina which also adds delicious flavor!

Tip #4: Garnishes add a lot of flavor and texture! Top the flavorful chili with avocado or sour cream, fresh cilantro, scallions, jalapeño and hot sauce if you like extra heat!

Tip #5: Yes you can use a slow cooker! Cook on high pressure for at least 6 hours. ( Make sure beans are soaked!)

Hope you enjoy this extra bold and flavorful Homemade Instant Pot Chili using dry beans, that is fully customizable – use lean ground beef, chicken, turkey or try soy crumbles for a completely vegan version! They are all good!

Other Posts you might like!

1. Zucchini Cornbread! 
2. White Chicken Chili with Poblanos
3. Vegan Chili Verde with Jackfruit
4. Homemade Chili Seasoning
5. Globally-Inspired Instant Pot Recipes from around the world! 
6. Clean- out-you- fridge Vegan Chili 

Homemade Instant Pot Chili

★★★★★ 4.9 from 44 reviews

• Author: Sylvia Fountaine
• Prep Time: 15
• Cook Time: 45
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 8
• Category: Instant pot, beef, vegan, vegetarian, healthy, turkey, Beans
• Method: Instant Pot
• Cuisine: American

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Description

Flavorful Instant Pot Chili made with Dry Beans that can be made with ground beef, or turkey or vegan TVP ( Soy crumbles). Vegan and GF adaptable!

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Ingredients

• 2 cups dry pinto beans (or sub red beans or black beans) SEE NOTES.
• 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 pound ground organic beef, chicken, turkey or vegan TVP (rehydrated Textured Vegan Protein or “Soy crumbles”) or soy chorizo!
• 4 cloves garlic (or 1 tablespoon granulated garlic)
• 1 ½  teaspoons kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoons chili powder, more to taste
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
• 1  14-ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes with juices ( fire-roasted are nice here)
• 1–3 tablespoons fresh jalapeño, finely chopped (optional, adds a kick of heat)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 ½ cups beef, chicken or veggie broth
• 1 cup dark beer (or sub more broth)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (optional) or soy sauce
• 1 –2 teaspoons dark cocoa powder, (optional, adds delicious  depth)
• 1–2 teaspoons smoked paprika (optional, adds smoky flavor) or ½ teaspoon chipotle powder
• optional additions: frozen corn (fire-roasted is nice) or diced red bell pepper
• Garnishes: grated cheese, sour cream, cilantro, avocado, scallions

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Instructions

1. Place dry unsoaked beans in the Instant pot, and add water, one inch above the level of the beans. Pressure cook on high for 10 minutes. (See notes). Manually release. Drain and set aside.
2. While the beans are pressure cooking prep your onions and garlic, open any cans and gather all the spices.
3. Turn Instant Pot to Saute function and heat the oil. Add the onion and saute 2-3 minutes, until fragrant. Add garlic and the ground meat or soy crumbles. Saute 3-4 more minutes, while continuously stirring and breaking up the meat. I find a metal spatula comes in handy for this. Add the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano,  and saute one minute, cooking the spices a bit. Add the diced tomatoes and juices, tomato paste, broth, beer, Worcestershire, cocoa powder, smoked paprika or chipotle, optional jalapeño. Give a good stir, then add the pressure cooked beans (drained) or pre-soaked beans.
4. Set Instant Pot to high pressure for 22 minutes. Naturally release for 15 minutes.
5. If you like a thicker chili, stir in a little masa harina or masa corn flour, sprinkling it in a tablespoon at a time. This also adds delicious “corn” flavor. You can also stir in frozen corn and set to “saute” function until heated through.
6. Taste, adjust spice level and salt.  If you want more “kick” add it!
7. Serve in bowls and garnish with any or all of the following: sour cream, grated cheese, avocado, sliced jalapeño, cilantro, scallions, corn chips.

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Notes

Pre-Soaking: If your beans are very old (like older than a year)  increase the Pre-Pressure Cooking Time to at least 15 minutes. Older beans and bigger beans take longer to cook. Or soak in cold water for 8-12 hours until doubled in size, then drain. 

You can skip pressure cooking the beans in the beginning if you soak them in cold water for 8-12 hours. (Pre-soaking or pre-pressure cooking the beans cuts the cooking time in half.)

*FYI, if you do not pre-soak or pre-cook the pinto beans, they would take roughly 45-50  minutes of pressure cooking time, with some uneven cooking. That being said, yes, you can absolutely do it this way, just allow for the full, natural,  long release.

I used a 6 Quart Instant Pot. -this recipe doubled, will not fit in a 6 quart.

Keywords: Instant Pot Chili, Instant pot chili dry beans, Instant pot chili vegan, Instant pot chili recipes, instant pot chili beans, instant pot chili healthy, instant pot chili turkey, instant pot chili vegetarian

Hey, I'm Sylvia! Professional chef, former restaurant owner and caterer, here is where I share hundreds of seasonal, globally-inspired, VEGGIE-DRIVEN recipes.Let's start cooking together! Subscribe to my latest recipes and get my free, PLANT-BASED RECIPE GUIDE.

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