Hearty Red Bean & Beef Chili
This is the time of year when a nice big pot of Hearty Red Bean & Beef Chili makes a perfect meal.
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My Hearty Red Bean & Beef Chili is a perfect complement for cool winter evenings or tailgating with the team. You can dress it up as a side dish, add it as an appetizer or serve it as your main course, the possibilities are truly endless.
I always like to start with the freshest ingredients for any of my homemade soups. Secretly I love to chop up the peppers and onions and put them into bowls so they are ready to go for my meal.
In fact a great time saving tip is to precut your veggies all on one prep day at the beginning of the week, and pre-measure them into containers for your upcoming meals. Then during your busy weeknight meal prep, it is just a quick dump and go.
You will want to saute your veggies first, then add in ground sirloin, and lightly brown for 10 minutes. (You could also use ground beef, chuck or even bison for this chili, I have even used a mixture before.) Drain off any fat or grease that forms in the pot. Once done add in all your pre-mixed chili spices to toast spices into the meat for 1-2 minutes on medium heat. Then drop in the secret ingredient, the dark semi-sweet chocolate. This makes a mole’ style of sauce, which is amazing for flavor.
Finally, you will stir in your tomato sauce, which can be homemade to take your chili up another notch. Lightly stir in chili beans, and tomatoes. I like a nice fire roasted tomato for added flavor. You can also use a variety of of beans as well, I have mixed black bean and red kidney beans in to this chili on occasions to mix up the recipe a bit. There really is not a hard and fast rule to what exactly goes into the pot. 
Hearty Red Bean Beef Chili
Equipment
- Instant Pot 3 Qt. Mini ( can be doubled for a larger 6 Qt. Pot)
- Stock Pot
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- Bamboo Spurtles
- Ladle
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Sirloin
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Onion Optional
- 1 Green Bell Pepper Optional
- 1 can Fire Roasted Tomatoes
- 2 cans Chili Beans
- 1 can Tomato Sauce
- 2 oz Espresso Dark Semi Sweet Chocolate
- 3 Jalapenos chopped, 2 reserved for garnish
- 2 tbsp Chili Powder
- 2 tsp Cumin
- 2 tsp Himalayan sea salt
- 2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
- 1 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Oregano
- 1 Bag Cheddar Cheese garnish
- 1 cup Sour Cream garnish
Instructions
- Premix all the spices together, and set to side.
- Set your Instant Pot to Saute add olive oil, all peppers and onions (optional Jalapenos). sweat for for 5 minutes.
- Add in ground sirloin, and lightly brown for 10 minutes. Adding all your chili spices to toast into the meat.
- Drop in your chocolate squares to melt during the 2-3 minutes of cooking.
- Add tomatoes, beans and beef stock to pot.
- Secure lid and set to manual high pressure cook for 20 minutes
- When finished cooking quick release the vent.
- Serve up chili and garnish with cheese jalapenos and sour cream. This makes a great chili mac too!
We like to top our chili with cheese, sour cream, maybe some fresh jalapenos or cilantro. You can also reserve a few peppers or onions too, if you like, or even some chips or salsa. It is all good when it comes to this chili. One of our favorite meals it to pour this chili over pork tamales, which is amazing. Another great leftover dish is chili mac, just cook up some elbow macaroni to stretch out your chili leftovers, top it with cheese, jalapenos, and a dollop of sour cream. 
Check out my Southwestern White Chili Recipe & Peach Muffins for more tasty treats to pair this season:
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Is this your famous chili? I love this recipe and the chocolate adds in so much flavor! Great share for this time of year.
What a great recipe I love a good chili for the cold winter months, and it is really a easy reheat too!
LOVE this recipe girlfriend and just in time for the SUPERBOWL! You know who we are cheering for over here!
I am a collector of chili recipes and I make all kinds all the time. I am intrigued by the addition of the chocolate in yours and how it will read in the finished product.
You can never go wrong with a good chili recipe I may opt for a vegetarian version minus the meat and add in a few more beans.
Oh this sounds really good for a cold winter nights dinner, just add cornbread for dipping for me please.
Your chili recipe sounds delicious! I’m going to make my grocery list and make it after I buy the Instapot.
You always have the best recipes, thank you so much for opening up your recipe box for us friend!
Hello friend gotta say I am loving the recipe, just in time for the super bowl! Thanks bunches!
Chocolate? I would have never thought about adding that to chili but it sounds good to me.
This sounds perfect for a cold night, easy and quick too without a lot thought to put into, what’s for dinner?
Sounds good!
Will try this one.
I made this chili over the weekend and was so good the chocolate really does amp it up a notch for sure.
Yum, I love making chili when it’s cold out. I will keep this recipe in mind!
I have heard of chocolate in chili! This intrigues me so I’m going to have to try it!
oh wow chocolates! that’s something new and I think i will be making this this weekend! So excited to try this!
Great post! I’m not a big chili fan but this may just change my mind!
This chili recipe is fabulous for the family! I’m making it again for Super Bowl Sunday. So delish!
Oooo! I’ll have to try this for Super Bowl.
Wow! Thank you! I continuously needed to write on my website something like this is perfect. Can I take a part of your post to my website?
Hi while I appreciate you enjoying my recipe, and I appreciate you asking; since it is a recipe you would generally share my recipe by giving a review of it in your own words, a link back to my site and a single photograph. This is a industry standard among bloggers. I have done several of these myself with The Best Christmas Cookie Exchange Recipes and featured many other bloggers to drive traffic to their sites by offering my readers a grouping recipes all in one spot. That way it is a win win for everyone. Thanks!
Your article is great to bookmark for this time of year. We are headed into the chilly season which is perfect for chili of all kinds, so thank you.