Serve a big crowd in just 45 minutes with this amazing Instant Pot Chili Con Carne. A quick, easy, nourishing and inexpensive meal that makes everybody happy!
You won’t believe it but Chili Con Carne is a popular “crowd meal” in Germany. Yes! In Germany! I was born and raised in Germany and I’ve eaten Chili Con Carne at several birthday parties, street festivals and big family get togethers. For those who didn’t know. Chili Con Carne is a staple of Tex-Mex cuisine. It is not as many believe a typically Mexican dish. It originates in the US and is Texas’ official dish.
There are different variations of this famous dish. Some with beans, some without. Some with tomatoes, some without … The one thing most of the different chilis have in common is that their main ingredients are ground beef and of course chili powder.
My recipe is fairly “classic” if one can say that about a recipe. Ground beef, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, chili and cumin. However, my version has two interesting twists. One is that I added tons of veggies so it fits the Green Healthy Cooking crowd. And two, I made it in my Instant Pot to speed up the process. Pressure cookers are such a wonderful thing when it comes to dishes that usually need 10,000 hours of simmering. They do the job in NO TIME!
It’s the perfect dish for you 4th of July get together. Spend 10-15 minutes prepping, set your Instant Pot and off you go relax with your guests while the Chili cooks itself in a mere half hour.
Instant Pot Chili with dried beans vs canned
I will always, always, always recommend 12-24 hour soaked dried beans vs canned. They are 20 times easier to digest and don’t have the flatulent consequences canned beans have.
Unless you’d love to have your crowd perfuming your home I recommend putting your beans in a big pot, cover them with water and let soak on the kitchen counter for at least 12 hours and up to 24 hours with a quick drain, rinse and fresh water after 12 hours.
Before adding to the instant pot, drain and rinse and they are ready to go. It’s a step you have to remember the night before but an easy and super duper quick step!
How long does it take for Instant Pot Chili to be ready?
So, this depends quite a bit on how much you are cooking and how cold your ingredients are. The colder the ingredients, the longer the pressure cooker needs to get to pressure and the longer the beans need to start cooking.
I made sure to remove my ground beef from the fridge 45 minutes before cooking and thus had pretty much room temperature meat. My diced tomatoes had been at room temperature, too and basically non of my ingredients were fridge cold.
The instant pot took about 8 minutes to get to pressure, plus 25 minutes cooking time at high pressure makes 33 minutes total. Add about 4-5 minutes for the pot to get hot for sautéing plus another 4-5 minutes for the onions and garlic to become translucent and you’re at 43 minutes. Add another 2 minutes for dumping all the ingredients in the pot and mixing them and you are at 45 minutes total. The veggie chopping can be done while waiting for the instant pot to get hot for sautéing and while waiting for the onions to become translucent. If you are a slow chopper I recommend chopping the veggies ahead of time.
What to serve Instant Pot Chili con Carne with
First of all you need some toppings to make it EXTRA delicious! Avocado, a dollop of sour cream or yogurt, chopped fresh cilantro and a couple squeezes of lime juice are a MUST!
The side can be anything from white rice, to brown rice, to quinoa, or simply a piece of bread. It all depends on how many more pots you want to get dirty ;)
If you love your Instant Pot as much as I do, make sure to check out this amazing Instant Pot Quinoa or this Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes recipes. I couldn’t be more in love with this AWESOME MACHINE!!!*
* the link above is an affiliate link and I earn a couple cents commission if you buy the product through the link. All earnings go towards buying coffee and keep my brain running to create more blog posts for you :P
Instant Pot Chili Con Carne Video
| Prep Time | 12 minutes |
| Cook Time | 33 minutes |
| Servings | people |
- 1.5 cups dried kidney beans soak in abundant water for at least 12 hours
- 1 small onion
- 2-4 cloves garlic
- 1 cup chopped celery (about 3 stalks)
- 1 cup chopped carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
- 1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper (about 1 small bell pepper)
- 3 cups canned / jarred diced tomatoes (800g / 28 oz can/jar)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1.5 tsp cumin
- 1.5-2 tsp chili powder (make it interesting with chipotle powder)
- 1-1.5 tsp sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 lbs lean ground beef
- 5 avocados
- 5-6 Tbps sour cream or Greek Yogurt
- 5-6 limes
- 1 bunch cilantro
Ingredients
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- The night before put kidney beans in a large bowl and cover with abundant water, they will inflate to double the size, make sure they have enough water to always be soaking.
- The next day, drain and rinse beans really well.
- If you remember, remove meat and veggies from fridge 30-45 minutes before cooking. If you forget, no worries, cooking time will simply take about 5 more minutes.
- Remove the lid of the Instant Pot and press the sauté button. While the pot is getting hot, peel and chop onion and peel and crush garlic cloves.
- Once pot indicates it's hot, add a splash of oil, chopped onion and crushed garlic and sauté by moving around every once in a while.
- In the meantime, chop celery, carrots and bell pepper and add to pot. Also add spices, salt and pepper, as well as kidney beans and give it a quick stir.
- Add diced tomatoes and water and then ground beef and break up into small pieces.
- Add lid of Instant Pot and set to 25-30 minutes (this will depend on temperature of your ingredients, mine were at room temperature and 25 minutes was fine) on HIGH PRESSURE.
- Once Instant Pot beeps, manually release pressure and open the pot once the pin drops.
- Try the chili to see if it needs any further seasoning and season to taste with more salt, pepper and chili if desired.
- Serve with avocado, sour cream or greek yogurt, freshly chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.
This chili was a success. It was easy to make, didn’t take long. Our neighbours even had a bit to taste at camp (as we only had a little leftovers) and they all said it was great. Therefore, this recipe will go into our repertoire. Thanks.
thank you so much for coming back and commenting Lynn!!! You made my day! Comments like yours are what keep me going! :D