The BEST Beef Chili recipe ready in under 30 minutes! Full of ground beef, beans and seasonings, this chili gets its flavour and spice from Jalapeños!
A big bowl of our Homemade Chili Recipe is perfect for a cold and rainy night in with a piece of buttermilk cornbread to soak up all the juices leftover in the bowl. YES! One pot — 30 minutes — PERFECT!

CHILI RECIPE
The best Chili recipe doesn’t get any easier than this. If you’ve been following me for a while now, you may have noticed how much I love throwing ingredients into a pot and allowing it to cook or simmer until its ready.
There’s nothing like putting a large pot of Chili in the centre of the table and have everyone at it. Especially when it’s cold and miserable outside! I took full advantage of the freezing nights and made three batches of this chili — two of which made it to the freezer waiting for me to use them for something else.
HOW DO YOU MAKE GOOD HOMEMADE CHILI
Start with a large heavy-based pot (or casserole pot) and sauté onions, green peppers (or capsicum), jalapeños and garlic until fragrant.
Cook until browned (Break up any big chunks with the end of your wooden spoon). Stir in your seasonings and spices, then mix in crushed tomatoes, broth and beans.
Let simmer until the chili thickens (this takes about 30 minutes). That’s IT!
WHAT INGREDIENTS GO INTO CHILI?
- The recipe calls for ground beef (or beef mince) but you CAN you use ground turkey or chicken. You could also use a slow cook meat, such as chuck steak or brisket, BUT you will need to have it on a low simmer for a couple of hours to allow the meat to break down.
- You’ll need other simple veggies, such as onions, bell peppers and garlic to create your flavour base.
- The most important ingredients to add into a good chili recipe is spices! For example: cumin, chili powder, paprika and cayenne.
WHAT BEANS DO YOU USE FOR CHILI?
Any beans can be used in this chili recipe! I love kidney beans (red beans) and black beans, but you can swap them with pinto beans or even chick peas!
WHAT DO YOU TOP CHILI WITH?
To make your Chili even BETTER, top with any of the following options!
- Sour cream
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Sliced jalapeños
- Sliced green onions
- Chopped Cilantro
WHAT GOES WELL WITH CHILI FOR DINNER?
BEST CHILI LEFTOVERS
Turn your leftovers into another meal with so many different options!
- Serve with a side of corn chips or warm tortillas
- Over rice and beans
- With fries or wedges
- Stuffed inside baked jacket potatoes
- As Sloppy Joes stuffed inside fresh bread rolls
- As a hot dog topping — Chili Dogs!
Or create a whole new CHILI recipe, such as this Chili Mac And Cheese!
Beef Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 large yellow onions diced
- 1 green pepper (capsicum) diced
- 1-2 jalapeño peppers finely chopped (with seeds)
- 8 cloves garlic, chopped or minced (or 2 tablespoons minced garlic)
- 2 pounds (1 kg) ground beef mince
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1-2 tablespoons chili powder (adjust to your tastes)
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika (or sweet paprika)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne (adjust to your tastes)
- 14 ounces (410 g) can crushed tomatoes
- 15 ounces (420 g) can tomato sauce (American) (or condensed tomato soup for Aussies)
- 2 cups (500 ml) beef or chicken broth
- 28 ounces (800 g) cans kidney beans, drained
- 14 ounces (400 g) can black beans, drained
Toppings:
- Sour Cream
- Grated Cheddar Cheese
- Sliced Jalapeños
- Chopped Green Onions
- Fresh Cilantro Leaves
Instructions
- Heat oil in large heavy-based pot (or casserole pot) over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté until transparent, then add the green peppers (or capsicum), jalapeños and garlic; sautéing for a further minute, until the garlic is fragrant.
- Add beef and cook until browned, breaking up any big chunks with the end of your wooden spoon. Stir in the cumin, chili powder, paprika and salt and mix through until beef is fully coated in the seasonings.
- Mix in the crushed tomatoes along with the juices, the tomato sauce (or soup), broth and beans. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and allow to simmer while stirring occasionally, until the chili thickens (about 30 minutes).
- Ladle into individual bowls, and top with sour cream, grated cheese, sliced jalapeños, chopped green onions, and/or cilantro.
Kendra Zimmerman says
This sounds amazing!! I’m just wondering how spicey it is as written? For those that don’t like things extremely spicy would you recommend taking the seeds out of the jalapenos and maybe cutting back a little on the Cayenne? Or does this chili more so just have a lot of nice flavor?
Karina says
Hi Kendra! It’s not that spicy for us. Having said that, I’d recommend adding half the spice and seeded jalapeños, taste testing, then adjusting from there! Nothing worse than trying to eat something too hot!
Sheran says
Can I use candy jalapeños in stead of green ones
Edna Smith Hector says
I made this chili today and it was absolutely delicious. I used lean ground turkey and Hot Italian Turkey sausages along with the Chicken Broth. After the preparation, I decided to put everything in the slow cooker for 4 hours and was not disappointed. Tonight I made Taco salad for my husband/self. Tomorrow, I will cook pasta to eat with the chili. This will be my only go to recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Becca M. says
I have used many recipe’s online for many different things and have never left a comment on any of them… Until now! This was by far the best chili I’ve ever had and the ONLY recipe I’ll use from now on. So delicious!!!!!! I highly highly highly recommend using this recipe! You will not be disappointed!
Rosana says
How much is a serving?
AL says
AS MUCH AS YOU CAN EAT DELISH
Darlene Prior says
Omg so good! Only wish I had more than a pound of meat as it’s almost gone! This will be my go to chili recipe from now on! Super easy to make and very tasty!!
Kendal Sinclair says
I added about 1 1/2 tbsps of Worcestershire sauce and it was DELICIOUS! Great recipe!
Patti says
Made this chili last weekend. It was awesome. Great flavor and zesty spices. Spicy but not burn your mouth hot. Best chili I ever made.
Ron Krokey says
I won $100 First place at my companies annual chilli contest!! I just started there 3 weeks ago. It beat 7 other entries including the 2x reigning champ! I added extra an extra dose that didn’t measure of Cumin, Smoked Paprika, hot smoked Chilli powder, dusting of Himalayan salt and 2 Tbs of sugar. Of the 18 votes, it received 14 1st place votes! Thanks for the recipe!!
Karina says
Yaaaaaayyyy! Go Ron that’s AWESOME!
Banessaa says
I’ve made this multiple times. I’m in love with it. We like ours spicy and this is perfect, it gets better as the days go by.
Have you made this in an instant pot? I would love to know the cook times
Karina says
Ni I haven’t unfortunately Banessaa.
Banessaa says
Thank you anyways for the reply. I love all your recipes. ☺️
Michelle Brayton says
I looked up another chili instant pot recipe for cook times. Cook time 25 minutes natural release for 10 minutes. Not much different than stove top. You still have to sweat all the vegetables and brown the meat before you can begin cooking. I might try it next time in my instant pot but I am not sure that this would have a huge advantage for that cooking method…… Corned beef on the other hand???? It is AWESOME in the instant pot with just a can of beer, cup of beef broth and the spice packet it comes with….. 🙂
Linda says
I made this last night and wow we loved it! I’m not a good chili maker,its usually very acidic,but this was great! I did not use cumin as we didn’t have any,thanks for many great looking recipes that I will try.
Angela says
I made this last night for dinner. It was so hearty and flavorful. A very quick and easy meal to put together even on a weeknight. I have found my new go to chili.
Christine Asby says
Made this chili recipe. Im not sure what beef mince is? I used ground beef 80/20. Soooo good. Will make again and again. Perfect !!!!!
Silvia says
This is unbelievably good – it’s one of my go-to chili recopes! But, I have a question – what would you consider a serving size? One cup?
Karina says
Serving sizes can vary but yes about 1 cup is a great measuring tool! Hope that helps answer you questions!
Elaine Bologna says
I want to make this chili recipe-is the carb amount you posted correct?
I thought beans were higher in carbs?
Thanks so much it looks delicious!
Tymeron Smith says
Surprisingly, yes!! It makes everything even better! 🙂
David says
Kidney Beans are 60% carbs (35% net) so 800g makes 280g of carbs for the recipe. So just for the Kidney Beans you have 35g per portion(8). That’s way too much. Beans are not keto friendly.
Rob says
Made this tonight, followed recipe to the “T,” except I rinsed my beans. Came out really good, a little mild because my Jalapeños were very mild. Great comfort food for a rare cool night down here in South Florida… Thanks for the recipe.
Chris says
Looks amazing! Do you think this would work with ground turkey?
Karina says
Hey Chris, yes definitely!
Makos(@thehungrybites) says
I almost got sucked into the screen by these photos!!!
And ground beef works just fine for me! I may substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream since that’s what I’ve got in my fridge! 🙂
Karina says
Haha YES perfect!
Charlie says
Chili recipe looks great! Perfect for the weather here, maybe along with some corn bread. Thanks for the great idea and recipe!
Karina says
You’re welcome Charlie!