The Pressure Advantage

Chili is better homemade, and it’s never been easier with the Instant Pot. By using pressure, you are able to dry cook beans quicker, without soaking them, and no better dish for that than chili. Since ground beef doesn’t need as much cooking, it get browned on the saute function before everything else, and then added back in after the beans are cooked. Instant Pot Red Bean Chili was a hit in my house, I hope it is in yours, too.

Red Chili

In my family we make both red and white chili, so today I’m going to focus on the red kind for this Instant Pot Red Chili. Red chili tends to use beef and a tomato base, and some (including this one) use red beans. While this recipe uses red beans, you can also use kidney beans. To go along with the red theme, I also used red bell peppers.

Top It

Once everything is cooked up, everyone in your family can add their favorite toppings. You can try sour cream, cheddar cheese, green onions and cilantro, pickled jalepenos, or hot sauce. I would recommend some corn bread or some rolls, that’s the only thing that was missing tonight for us.

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Instant Pot Red Chili (from dry beans)

Chili is better homemade, and it's never been easier with the Instant Pot. By using pressure, you are able to dry cook beans quicker, without soaking them, and no better dish for that than chili. Since ground beef doesn't need as much cooking, it get browned on the saute function before everything else, and then added back in after the beans are cooked. Instant Pot Red Bean Chili was a hit in my house, I hope it is in yours, too.

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Author: Kayla

Ingredients

Brown

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Pressure Cook

• 2 cups onion diced
• 1 cup celery diced
• 1 cup red bell pepper diced (core and seeds discarded)
• 28 ounces diced tomatoes
• 1 pound red beans dry
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1.5 teaspoon oregano
• 1.5 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 Tablespoon course ground black pepper
• 2.5 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Toppings (optional)

• 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup green onions
• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped (parsley works too)

Instructions

Brown

1. Add vegetable oil and ground beef into Instant Pot. Using saute function, brown ground beef.

2. Once ground beef is brown, remove the ground beef and transfer to a bowl. Refrigerate ground beef until remainder of chili is done. 

Pressure Cook

1. Add "Pressure Cook" ingredients: celery, onion, red bell pepper, beans, tomatoes, broth, and seasonings to Instant Pot. 

2. Using Bean/Chili function of your Instant Pot (a high pressure function), cook for 50 minutes. To adjust time (after selecting bean/chili function), increase time using the + button. 

3. Once Instant Pot has finished it's time cycle, allow it to depressurize on it's own (also known as Natural Pressure Release). This may take about 40-45 additional minutes, and allows the beans to cook further.

4. When pressure release valve has dropped, add ground beef back to chili mixture. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes.

5. Serve, topping with cheese, green onions, sour cream, or cilantro as desired. 

Recipe Notes

A plain/tart yogurt can work as a substitution for sour cream (we make our own, and have it around more often than yogurt). 

Parsley can be substituted for cilantro, while still providing a bright freshness from herbs. 

Check out more of my pressure cooker recipes, they are listed on my KFO Electric Pressure Cooker/Multi-function Cooker Obsession and Recipes page.