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Quick and easy chili using dried beans. Magic!
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If you’re anything like me, you love a hearty bowl of chili. And if you’re anything like me, you’re not always great at planning ahead. So what’s a girl to do when faced with a lack of dinner plans, a craving for chili, and a pantry of dried beans? Make this instant pot chili recipe, that’s what! It uses dried beans without any pre-soaking or cooking required. MAGICAL, I TELL YOU. I developed my chili recipe years ago, and published it here on the blog in 2012. (So basically in the jurassic era of blogs.) I took a better photo a few years ago, but otherwise it’s the same post from five years ago. I’ve been making it for my family in regular rotation all of these years, andit remains a crowd favourite. It’s also the best chili in the entire world, in my super humble opinion. Truth be told, there are a couple of unusual ingredients that make all the difference – like the cocoa powder that brings out the flavours of the tomatoes, and the honey that adds a touch of sweet to contrast the acidity of the dish. There are some pretty happy comments on that original recipe to prove my point. And whatever you do, don’t leave out the coriander. Mmmm, coriander. Of course, I jumped on board the Instant Pot bandwagon at Christmas,thanks to my parents. I have this 8-quart model, and I LOVE it. We’re a family of five (soon to be six), I love to cook double and eat leftovers, and I most definitely would go for the 8-qt again. It’s worth every penny. I remember my mom using a stovetop pressure cooker from time to time when I was a kid. It was a 70’s mossygreen and the top handle whistled and wiggled like it had ants in its pants. They fell out of style though (from fears of nutrient loss due to the high pressure, I think?) and she hasn’t owned one since. When the Instant Pot (an electric pressure cooker that sits on your countertop, much like a slow cooker) came onto the scene a few years ago, the discussion reopened, and well-respected health bloggers, like Katie at Wellness Mama, published their researched opinions that pressure cooking is actually a healthy way to cook our food. So the Instant Pot craze has now reached new heights. Every real foodie blogger is either pining for an Instant Pot, experimenting with the Instant Pot, developing recipes for the Instant Pot, or even publishing Instant Pot ebooks (find a great collection of 19 Easy (Real Food) Instant Pot Recipes for Hesitant Beginners here!). For a crowd who typically spends hours in the kitchen making food from single ingredients rather than boxes and cans of processed junk, the ease and convenience of the Instant Pot is straight from heaven. I’m in the process of adapting many of my recipes to be done in the Instant Pot, and naturally chili was the first up. It’s easy enough to throw the ingredients in just like with a slow cooker (browned ground beef, cooked beans, tomatoes, spices, etc.) but to be honest, that still requires forethought. Which is fine and all for Other People. But I needed to develop the ultimate Oops I Did it Again (I forgot to plan dinner) version. And that needed to involve dried beans. So I googled around, found that a few others had done it successfully, and set out on a mission. By following this recipe, I’m hashtag-blessed with perfectly cooked instant pot chili in just 40 minutes of cook time in the Instant Pot. Now, to be clear, that 40 minutes doesn’t include the time that it comes to pressure (probably 15-20 minutes in this case), and this recipe also calls for browning the ground beef (in the Instant Pot on sauté, no need to dirty extra pans) beforehand. Plus there’s a bit of time to let the pressure release afterward. But still, all things considered, this is a pretty fast version of chili since you don’t have to prep your beans ahead. If you do have time and forethought to soak your beans for any amount of time, it may help reduce the chance that one or two will be slightly undercooked in your bowl (nobody complained, but I had one bite with a slightly undercooked bean, so, ya know, full disclosure and all) but again, it’s not necessary. Go ahead and try it. You won’t be sorry!
UPDATE: In order to address some of the issues people were having with undercooked beans, I’ve made the following tweaks:
1) clarified the size of canned diced tomatoes used (28oz cans)2) added 1/2 cup water to the recipe3) increased the cook time by 10 minutes. While there a few different factors that may affect the success of a recipe (such as how old your beans are), hopefully these small changes allow everyone to experience success with this recipe! Looking for more posts like this one? Check these out:
- 19 Easy (Real Food) Instant Pot Recipes for Hesitant Beginners
- 4 Things I Learned About My Instant Pot in the First 6 Months
Best Ever Instant Pot Chili Recipe (Using Dried Beans without Pre-Soaking or Cooking!)
Quick and easy chili using dried beans. Magic!
3.78 from 18 votes
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 10
Calories: 410kcal
Author: Beth Ricci
Ingredients
- 1 cup of diced sweet peppers red, yellow, and/or orange
- 2 medium onions diced
- 6 cloves of garlic finely diced or pressed
- 1 pound ground beef I use 2, but might use less if I needed to be a bit more frugal
- 2-3 large cans diced tomatoes 28oz cans
- 4 cups dried kidney beans pre-soaking optional
- 1 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 tablespoon cocoa powder
- a few shakes of black pepper
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons coriander
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
Using the sauté function on your Instant Pot, brown the ground beef.
Halfway through browning, add the diced peppers and onions. A few minutes later, add the garlic.
When beef is browned and peppers and onions are softened, add the rest of the ingredients.
Add lid and set Instant Pot to 50 minutes on manual.
Allow for natural pressure release (I've done quick release when in a hurry, and it's fine in a pinch.)
Serve with your favourite toppings, and enjoy!
Notes
Lately I've been replacing one of the cans of diced tomatoes for a can of plain tomato sauce (just pureed tomato, no other ingredients). My kids prefer it with less chunky tomatoes, but it totally works fine either way.
Tried this recipe? Tag me on Instagram!Mention @redandhoney and use #redandhoney
Nutrition
Serving: 0g | Calories: 410kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 32mg | Sodium: 897mg | Potassium: 1418mg | Fiber: 13g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1480IU | Vitamin C: 32.3mg | Calcium: 118mg | Iron: 7.7mg
About Beth
Beth is the creator here at . Mom of four, wife of one, and proud redhead. Sushi and tex-mex lover, fan of adventure, books, natural health talk, and pyjamas. INFP and Type 4 enneagram. Allergic to small talk. And, if you haven't figured it out already, #nerd. Read more posts by Beth.
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Reader Interactions
65 Comments
Tali
I love this recipe, the spice combo is amazing and I’ve used it many times. I do add additional water, about 2 – 2.5 cups is the total water even if I’m using canned beans and it works for me.to Tali" aria-label='reply to this comment to Tali'>reply to this comment
KarenB
In your recipe, it would have been nice if you would have said USE AN 8 qt instant pot. I started with a 6 qt and soon realized it was too small and dumped it into my 8 qt. Also, 4 cups of DRIED beans with ONLY 1/2 cup of water is not correct. All instant Pot recipes say to use at least 1 cup water for 6 qt and at least 1.5 cups water for 8 qt. I’m sorry, but you can’t tell me your dried beans were done at 40 minutes! I added more water for crunchy beans after 60 minutes and then more water after I reaiized they weren’t done. Then, after adding 2 cups of water, I still had the burn message when trying to cook longerto KarenB" aria-label='reply to this comment to KarenB'>reply to this comment
Laura
Your recipe was great until the amount of liquid to add. I was leery, but tried it since no one mentioned this serious flaw. Dried beans need way more liquid – especially that much beans (4 c!). even the amount of liquid in the cans of tomatoes aren’t enough to hydrate that much dried beans, let alone the 1/2 cup water in your recipe. Fortunately, my Instant Pot has a burn alert feature which saved me from ruining such a big pot of chili. I gave you 2 stars since all the ingredients looked great.to Laura" aria-label='reply to this comment to Laura'>reply to this comment
Tom von Strong
Kidney beans are a dried bean that actually requires a change of water change after soaking before cooking. They also must be cooked properly to get rid of the Phytohaemagglutinin present. So, I would not recommend using any kidney beans in any no soak/ instant pot recipe. It can be toxic.
to Tom von Strong" aria-label='reply to this comment to Tom von Strong'>reply to this comment
barefootmom
Tom, as long as the beans boil for ten minutes, it’s safe to eat them (otherwise everyone who has tried this recipe would be not be commenting!). The heat in a pressure cooker is well above the boiling point for a longer period than ten minutes.
to barefootmom" aria-label='reply to this comment to barefootmom'>reply to this comment
Pam
Tried this recipe because I LOVE my 8 qt instant pot and the idea of using cocoa and honey!!!
It was delicious!! Beans were perfect!!I gave some away to my church families. Can’t wait to hear they’re feedback!!!to Pam" aria-label='reply to this comment to Pam'>reply to this comment
Heidi
Hi there! Are you able to convert this recipe to a crock pot or Nesco for me….and using canned beans vs dry ones?? I need to make a huge batch for a party I’m having this weekend. We’ve made this in the instapot and its delicious!!
to Heidi" aria-label='reply to this comment to Heidi'>reply to this comment
Fran Ciarlo
I was making this for my son and found all kinds of tomatoes in the freezer that we didn’t use for sauce. So I added 4 c of tomato juice, some tomatoes that were frozen and a little wine. Didn’t use the broth. Turned out amazing. Love the idea of presoaking the beans in the pot while chopping up veggies.to Fran Ciarlo" aria-label='reply to this comment to Fran Ciarlo'>reply to this comment
Beth
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed! And how creative to use up tomatoes from the freezer. I love avoiding food waste!!
to Beth" aria-label='reply to this comment to Beth'>reply to this comment
Has anyone tried a version without meat? If so, are there any tweaks or tips I should know?
to Michele" aria-label='reply to this comment to Michele'>reply to this comment
Beth
Hi Michele! I have done this recipe with varying amounts of meat. I don’t think I’ve ever gone completely meat-free, but if I did – I would definitely make sure to use a nice variety of legumes to add more dynamics in the taste and texture. Maybe kidney beans + black beans and lentils? (The small green or brown lentils are most reminiscent of ground meat, I’d say.) Hope you enjoy!
to Beth" aria-label='reply to this comment to Beth'>reply to this comment
Christopher Denney
I always use this as my starting point for chili, love the cocoa part. I use mushrooms, instead of peppers, and only 2 cans tomato, 1 puree, 1 diced, though. I also like to use some things I stole from other recipe’s like red cooking wine (1 cup) and beef (better than) bullion (2 cup). So no extra water needed.to Christopher Denney" aria-label='reply to this comment to Christopher Denney'>reply to this comment
JD
What if I wanted to leave the beans out? Any idea if I should add more beef or use less of the liquidy ingredients?
to JD" aria-label='reply to this comment to JD'>reply to this comment
Beth
Hi JD! I’d say you could easily leave the beans out and still enjoy it. I did that with a recent batch for my hubby who was doing Keto. It was still yummy!
to Beth" aria-label='reply to this comment to Beth'>reply to this comment
Rhonda Davis
Second time using my early Christmas present. Insta Pot, I do not see a manual setting. Do you mean, the bean & chili setting?
to Rhonda Davis" aria-label='reply to this comment to Rhonda Davis'>reply to this comment
Beth
Hi Rhonda – I’m sorry, I don’t know. “Manual mode” is a pretty standard setting on most instant pot recipes. I’m wondering if the newer versions of the IP have it in a less obvious place? Which model do you have?
to Beth" aria-label='reply to this comment to Beth'>reply to this comment
Sue
On some of the Instant Pot models instead of “Manual” they call it “Pressure Cook”. they do the exact same thing.
to Sue" aria-label='reply to this comment to Sue'>reply to this comment
Marcia
Will this fit in a 6 quart instant pot?
to Marcia" aria-label='reply to this comment to Marcia'>reply to this comment
Nancie BENTZ
Had to add more liquid and more time. Needed more seasoning as well. Too much to tweak. Plto Nancie BENTZ" aria-label='reply to this comment to Nancie BENTZ'>reply to this comment
JimC
More water and less tomato works for me. Took 50 + minutes of cook time. Tomato flavor too strong with 2 big cans. Almost like marina sauce with that much tomato. 1 lb dry beans need more than 4 cups water. Just my opinion.to JimC" aria-label='reply to this comment to JimC'>reply to this comment
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