The Best Chili Recipe is one that is loaded with beef and beans and absolutely full of flavor… just like this one! Chili is hands down one of my husband’s favorite meals (and I love it because it’s easy to make)!
This easy chili recipe cooks on the stovetop and is perfect served alongside Homemade Cornbread, buttered toast or Buttermilk Biscuits. Add in your favorite toppings like cheese and onions for the perfect meal.
How to Make Chili
While I sometimes make crockpot chili, this easy version is great for a weeknight meal!
Seasonings:
- The seasonings in this recipe are chili powder and cumin. Store bought or homemade chili powder work well in this recipe.
- What is in Chili Powder? Sweet paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, onion powder, oregano and cumin.
- Mix Chili Powder into the raw ground beef before cooking to ensure every morsel is seasoned to perfection.
Beans:
- I use canned red kidney beans but pinto beans or black beans work as well.
- Rinse beans (unless using chili beans) before adding to remove excess salt and starches.
- Chili beans add great flavor! What are chili beans? Usually either pinto or kidney beans with added flavors in a chili style sauce.
How to Cook Chili
- Brown the beef, onions, garlic and some of the chili powder.
- Drain any fat.
- Simmer Add remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered.
To Thicken Chili
When making chili on the stove, I simmer it uncovered which allows the chili to naturally thicken without having to add cornstarch or flour. While thickening chili by simmering is the best option, you may not always have time to let it reduce. If you don’t have time to simmer it to thicken you can sprinkle in a little bit of cornmeal or make a cornstarch or flour slurry and add it in.
If you can spare a few extra minutes, just let it simmer uncovered.
Variations
Spice Level This chili is just right for our liking but you can increase or reduce the spice level to your liking. For extra heat, leave the seeds in your jalapenos or add a few dashes of hot sauce or a sprinkle of chili flakes.
Ground Beef Any ground meat will work in this recipe from chicken to turkey. If your meat has a lot of fat, be sure to drain it before simmering.
Beer I love the depth of flavor that a bit of beer adds. Feel free to skip the beer and use extra broth.
Swap the Spices Spice up your chili any way you’d like. To make a tex-mex chili, toss in a packet of taco seasoning.
Can You Freeze Chili?
100% yes!!! Chili freezes and reheats beautifully. We freeze it in single sized portions for lunches or in freezer bags for a quick and easy weeknight meal.
Defrost in the fridge overnight and heat in a saucepan (or the microwave) to serve.
More Chili Recipes You’ll Love
- Instant Pot Chili
- Easy Crock Pot Chili Recipe
- Texas Chili
- Green Chili Recipe
- 15 Bean Slow Cooker Chili
- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
- Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Chili
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 onion diced
- 1 jalapeño seeded and finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 ½ tablespoons chili powder divided, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and diced
- 14.5 ounces crushed tomatoes 1 can
- 19 ounces canned red kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 14.5 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juices
- 1 ½ cups beef broth
- 1 cup beer
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar optional
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine ground beef and 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder.
- In a large pot, brown ground beef, onion, jalapeno, and garlic. Drain any fat.
- Add in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 45-60 minutes or until chili has reached desired thickness.
- Top with cheddar cheese, green onions, cilantro or other favorite toppings.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Tex Mex© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Toppings for Chili
My #1 favorite of course is cornbread or just plain ol’ toast with butter. Pretty much any bread to sop up whatever is left in the bottom of my bowl! 30 Minute Dinner Rolls are great with chili too! If you need to stretch out the meal, serve it over white rice.
I always put out a collection of toppings… and while everyone has a different idea as to what goes with chili I have a few staples:
- sour cream
- red or green onion
- cheddar cheese or monterey jack
- jalapenos
- cilantro, avocado & lime wedges
- croutons or tortilla chips
Is Chili Healthy
Yes, it’s lean beef loaded with tomatoes and beans (and veggies if you’d like). Tons of fiber, protein and flavor all in one bowl! Be sure you’re using lean beef and drain any fat (or use ground chicken/turkey if you prefer).
Choose low sodium or low sugar products to reduce the salt and sugar in this recipe.
This is the spiciest chili I’ve ever made and I left out the jalapeños. My husband, who loves hot and spicy food, could not eat it.
This recipe should come with a warning label.
It’s going down the garbage disposal!
Hmm, that doesn’t sound quite right and most readers have not had the same experience.
Chili powder is a blend of herbs/spices that has a very mild heat at the quantity called for. May I ask what type of chili powder you used?
I made this Chili tonight, and find it’s delicious: not too hot, as I can’t take a lot of heat! I add that it was super easy to make. I would suspect that the brand of chili powder used could cause the issue, if engineered to be super hot, and/or the quantity used. I am also curious about the brand of chili powder, and also the quantity used.
I can’t stand spicy food but I didn’t think it was spicy at all , LOVED IT!!!
I made this for our Sunday school chili cookout contest and I got 1st place!!! Thanks for a great recipe!
Love the recipes !
Thanks Rhaelynn!
This is the best homemade chili I’ve ever made. I made your chili powder and will now use it for ever. Thank you for your recipes. Lora
Homemade chili and chili powders are the best! So happy you loved both of those recipes Lora.
Really great recipe my first time cooking chilli and it came out super good thanks to your recipe.
I am so glad you enjoyed the chili Marissa!
Does the jalapeno pepper make it super hot? Like, I’m thinking of adding less. I’m going to try this today, but not sure if I have beef broth at hand.
If you aren’t sure about the heat, try it with half of the amount of jalapeno pepper the first time. Enjoy Loretta!
Way better than using flour, corn starch, or corn meal for thickening chili: Peel a potato. When all the skin is gone, keep peeling the flesh of the potato into the chili. OR, if you don’t want to take the time to peel a potato, use some instant mashed potato flakes.
Great tip BarbaRaven! Thanks for sharing.
it says 1 1/2 cups of broth – and 1 cup of beer? Now is that one or the other or both together? Then if say I do not have broth, then I would 2 1/2 cups of beer? or vise versa?
It’s both for a total of 2½ cups of liquid. I haven’t tried with all one or the other, the broth adds a saltiness and beer adds a bit of a richness. You can of course use all one or the other but the flavor will change slightly.
What kind of beef broth u used? In UK
This looks like an okay meat recipe. But chili it’s not. Real chili doesn’t have beans.
Your correct, that’s Texas chili.
Define “real”. It’s all relative, and for families stretching a dollar, various brand in a chili are welcomed. I like chili beans/pintos/black beans/ white beans. I hate kidneys so I avoid them. When a decent lean ground beef (85% or greater) is on sale is when I make chili.
Definitions of “real” are often defined by where you were raised, ancestry, etc. Nothing frustrates me more as an experimental cook to have someone say “real Hungarian Goulash does not have tomatoes” or real collard greens would never include sugar, oh the horror! Or “real southern greens are made with ______(fill in the blank).” “Real southern grits ALWAYS are stone ground, savory, or with cheese.” (This Yankee woman loved them all ways, but always in the morning made with milk, butter and maple syrup like a cream of wheat.)
Often our “realism” is defined what momma or grandma did, or by region. Where I was raised chili was always with ground beef and various beans, and spice depending on tolerance. In Cincinnati it is defined by Skyway. Hotdish from WI or MI, casserole everywhere else.
I’m sorry, sometimes purists irritate me. No offense intended, but I had a moment while checking out potential chili recipes with ground beef.
Absolutely loved. I did not add the beer as I was cooking it with my son and I didn’t know how to explain that part lol. But the chili was amazing. A total hit at home. Made a huge pot and it didn’t survive the night
Yay!! So glad this was a hit with your family Giselle!
Thanks
It’s sooo delicious. I substituted broth for beer because my daughter has Celiac and this way it was gluten free. We will make this over and over. Thank you for sharing!!
I am thrilled that your family enjoyed this recipe and that you were able to adapt it to meet your needs Stephanie!
It was lacking flavor and to wet for our liking
I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy this chili recipe Mike. Thank you for trying it. Perhaps you’d enjoy 15 Bean Slow Cooker Chili.
One of the keys to making good chili is TASTING it before serving. If it is bland ADD SEASONING. This is a good recipe to start with and everyone’s taste is different.
This is a really good tasting chili! I didn’t have any beer but I had Angry Orchard Cider and it worked just fine. I really liked the seasoning for the recipe. This one’s a keeper!
We think it’s a keeper too! So glad you loved it!
I also added 1cup Dr Pepper, 2 tablespoons ground coffee and 1 tablespoon cocoa. It was delish!
Oh yum!! I love your additions, thanks for sharing Linda!
To the chilli? Never heard such a thing. How does it change the flavor? Now I’m curious. Lol
Only thing I’d comment about, is the freezing; don’t freeze with the beans.
(and the purists, not me, will tell you ‘real’ chili doesn’t have beans. I’ll use any combo of black, light/dark kidney, and pinto beans.)
Thanks for your tips Bubba!
You can add retired beans ,tomato soup or instance potato flakes ,to your chili. ?
Why the beer?
It adds a nice flavor. You can substitute broth if you prefer. Enjoy Kathy!
I love your idea to mix the seasonings in with the meat before cooking it! We do this with burgers, so why not with chili, right! I’m going to try your homemade chili powder recipe – homemade seasoning mixes, like dry onion soup, etc. is always better and certainly cheaper than store bought.
Chili is a winter staple in our house, actually, it shows up year ’round. I dehydrate onions and peppers when they are in abundance, then rehydrate and add to my ground beef, because the flavors are just intensified so much. You can also use the frozen saute’ed onion and peppers mix to save a little prep time. Mixing some ground pork, turkey, venison and/or bulk breakfast sausage is good for variety. My favorite tip is always to make this the day before you want to serve it, because chili is always better warmed over. Always. If I have time, I will make Mexican cornbread to serve with it, but in a pinch, even good ol’ saltine crackers will do! I make a double batch because we like it over hot dogs and tamales with mac and cheese, in cheese dip for game days – you get the idea. Thanks for your recipe and tips. We’ll try it this weekend.
Such great tips. Sounds like some great ways to use chili Becky! I agree, it is so good warmed up. Enjoy!
I like beer. All different kinds. Do you have a favorite kind of beer for this recipe? IE: lager, ale, porter, etc. Thank you.
Any will work just fine! A darker beer will have a bit more flavor than something light so if I have something darker, that’s what I would usually choose.
I don’t drink beer can I sub a nother liquid
Sure you can, broth works as well.
How much broth do you need to substitute the beer?
I would use the same amount, 1 cup.