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.
Great beginning. Needed to let it stew longer, but simple and delicious.
Made the chili as directed, but very bland. You could substitute it for spaghetti sauce. Added MUCH more chili powder, cayenne, and cumin, but still just ok. Our palates like a bolder, spicier profile.
Made it as written, except subbed 2 1/4 cups vegetable stock and 1/4 cup soy sauce for the beef stock and beer, because I forgot to buy the beef stock and allergic to beer. Perfect! My husband told me, “do not lose this recipe!”
Followed the recipe for the chili powder and chili. It tasted delicious and was spicy enough to compensate for using No Salt tomatoes. I’ll try ground turkey next time. Thank you for the recipe. Happy New Year!
Excellent! This is now my go-to chili recipe, thank you for sharing.
Hello. I followed the recipe nearly to the tee. It was an absolute winner as written with plenty of leeway to amend for personalization. Only additions I made were to suit my own preferences. I used 2-1/2# ground beef 85% lean, 6 big cloves garlic, an extra can of chili beans, an additional 3/4 cup of homemade chicken stock and 2 large, diced jalapeños. I did add about twice as much brown sugar and about a good tablespoon of white cane sugar. as I like it a little sweeter. My tomatoes were a little on the sour side (Cento brand) and needed a little more sugar.. I also added about four celery stalks, sliced to 3/8″ because that’s what grandma did and we’ve always liked it. 0therwise, really delicious. Thanks for the great recipes.
Delicious additions, thanks for sharing Tony!
That is not Chili. It is chili beans. True Chili does not have beans in it.
Chili recipes can vary based on where you live. :) Where I live chili is most often served with beans but you can leave them out if you prefer. Our Texas Chili does not have beans.
Your comment is unhelpful and wrong.
I’m still a kid at heart and love some of my leftover chili with large elbow macaroni making an excellent “chili-Mac”. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you too Bill!
Tis recipe is the best. I’ve made it about 4 times and I don’t need to search for another recipe. Super easy and tasty. I don’t use beer in this but instead use a 32oz pack of beef broth. Everything else I’ve followed in this recipe. I’m so glad I found this perfect recipe.
When you say 19 oz of kidney beans, do you mean like…a little less than a can and a half of canned kidney beans? The cans of kidney beans I’ve seen are 15 oz. Sorry, I feel like this is the stupidest question ever!!
This is a great question, I purchase 19 oz cans of beans. You can use 15 oz (there’ll just be a bit less beans) or if you really love beans you can add two cans. This recipe is pretty forgiving!
Absolutely!! Very confused. There is nowhere that you can buy a 19 ounce can of kidney beans. You have to either get 215 ounce cans or one 29 ounce can. wow!
Where I live beans come in a 19oz/540 ml can. If you have a little bit less or a little bit more in the can of beans you purchase, it will still work just fine in this recipe.
Loved it! Thanx for sharing.
I have not made this recipe yet but from looking at the video and pictures it seems a little thick for my taste and I don’t usually add beans. Has anyone left out the beans? If so, did that help with the thickness of the chili?
You can leave out the beans if you’d like. If you’d like the chili to be thicker you can let it simmer uncovered for a bit.
Just making it
The recipe for The Best Chili is excellent. I gave it a try because of beer and green pepper in the ingredients as well as two pounds of beef. It was rich and smooth with onions, garlic, and green pepper providing a wonderful flavor. I’d never made chili with beer before but this was excellent. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so happy to hear that you love the chili Scot, we do think it really is the best!
Good base recipe! As you mention, the spice level is where your family likes it. We found it needed to punched up a bit for our liking. I ended up using 4 tablespoons of chili powder total, 1 1/2 tablespoons cumin. and I added a teaspoon of ground coriander seed. Some cilantro might go well also but some in the family don’t care for cilantro , so i didn’t try it. Also, I did not use the beer and increased the beef broth to 2 1/2 cups. WIll make some skillet cornbread and dinner will be done!
We made this recipe for supper tonight and it gets a 5 star rating. The only change we made was to leave out the bell pepper.
This is a nice basic recipe. We like to use shredded white potatoes to thicken. They are starchy.
This is the best chili recipe that I have ever followed. Both my husband I really loved it. I asked him if he wanted chili today for dinner and he replied, “Are you going to use that recipe again? If you are, then definitely!” Needless to say, I plan on using this recipe today!!
Oh, I made it gluten free by using gf beer — and I poured the whole bottle in :)
Easy
It needed more cumin and chili powder than the recipe calls for.