Easy Meaty Chili is a family favorite in our house, and it’s so easy to make it in a pressure cooker.
Pressure cooking has been all the rage in the past few years, and I’ve been excited to incorporate it into my regular meal plans.
Like many of you, I consider myself to be a pretty good home cook.
I can make some pretty complicated dishes well, but I also appreciate the ease of good ol’ comfort food.
So one of my family’s favorite dishes in the fall is so simple.
n fact, we call it “easy meaty chili.”
I was so excited to try one of my family’s favorite recipes in the pressure cooker to help cut down on our cooking time.
Less time in the kitchen means more time with my loved ones, after all.
So I adapted one of our favorite recipes, Easy Meaty Chili, for use in the pressure cooker.
It had such great flavor, saved me a lot of time standing over the stove (and my feet appreciated that too), and the dish was a hit!
Let’s make some chili!
Easy Meaty Chili is great comfort food
I like to make this dish in bulk as it freezes well and is great to save for nights when I don’t feel like cooking.
But it’s also great for serving at parties.
Serve it with a toppings bar
In fact, a great chili bar is perfect to set up for football viewing parties or tailgating or for hosting a game night.
It’s so easy to make!
It’s so hands off while it’s cooking that it frees me up to prepare the rest of the toppings and any other dishes I’m serving with the chili like my famous cheese and bacon stuffed jalapeno poppers.
YUM! They go so well together!
Serve it with a chili bar with lots of toppings
Hosting a party? Watching a football game?
The great thing about this meaty chili recipe is that it’s the perfect base chili for serving a chili bar.
It’s so simple, so you can really dress it up and customize it how you like.
Here’s what to do.
Set up a series of small bowls with all kinds of toppings so that your family and friends can enjoy their favorite toppings.
They can treat it like a salad bar and really go to town making chili their way.
Chili toppings ideas
There are as many ways to top your chili as there are ways to make your chili.
You can add all kinds of toppings to mix into your chili.
Some favorites are:
- Grated Cheddar or Jack Cheese
- Sour Cream
- Onions or chives
- Jalapenos or other peppers
- Sliced Avocado
- Chopped Tomatoes
- Crushed Tortilla Chips
- Crushed Saltine Crackers or Oyster Crackers
- Nacho Cheese Sauce or Queso
- Greek Yogurt
- Tabasco or other hot sauce
- Spicy Hot Olives
- Tortillas for those who like to eat their chili like a burrito
- Baked Potatoes for those who like to eat their chili as a potato topping
That’s right, this chili can be served with toppings, or it can be a topping itself!
It’s so versatile.
Ingredients you need to make easy meaty chili
- 4 tbsp Olive Oil
- 36 oz Ground Beef
- 1 29 can of Tomato Sauce
- 1 15 oz can of Tomato Sauce
- 3 15 oz cans of Chili Beans
- 2 packs of Chili Seasoning – I used McCormack’s Mild Chili Seasoning
- 2 Tbsp Cornstarch, optional for thickening
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Chili powder or cayenne pepper, optional, to taste
When I’m serving chili as part of a chili bar, I like to make the chili kind of mild.
Not everyone can tolerate “heat” well, so I like to let the toppings do the work to bring the heat.
If your family and friends love heat, feel free to kick your spices up a notch or two and seal in that flavor while it’s cooking.
Recipe Notes
When you’re pressure cooking, the water in your food doesn’t evaporate like it does on the stove top.
So the water that would normally evaporate from the tomato sauce stays in the chili.
You need to have liquid in your recipe in order for the multi-cooker to come to pressure, so this recipe will result in a less thick chili than if you use the same ingredients and cook it on a stove top.
If you prefer a thick chili, there are two things you can do:
- Reduce the tomato sauce by 6 ounces. You will still have enough tomato sauce to come to pressure, but you will have a thicker chili.
- Make the recipe as is and add a bit of cornstarch. I found that about 2 Tbsp was enough to do the trick to my taste.
More delicious comfort food made in the Instant Pot
Instant Pot Chicken Sausage and Seafood Gumbo
Instant Pot Honey Garlic Steak Bites (with Stove Top and Slow Cooker Instructions)
The Best Instant Pot Beef Stew
Instant Pot Barbecue Meatballs
Easy Meaty Chili
Ingredients
- 4 T Olive Oil
- 36 oz Ground Beef
- 1 can Tomato Sauce 29 oz size
- 1 can Tomato Sauce 15 oz size
- 3 cans Chili Beans 15 oz size
- 2 packs Chili Seasoning I used McCormack’s Mild Chili Seasoning
- 2 T Cornstarch optional for thickening
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Chili Powder optional, to taste
- Cayenne Pepper optional, to taste
Instructions
- Add Olive Oil to the Mealthy MultiPot’s stainless steel bowl.
- Chop your ground beef into pieces and put it into your MultiPot. Add salt and pepper. Turn it to saute.
- Close and seal the MultiPot and set the timer for 6 minutes. Open it every 2 minutes to stir the meat so that it browns evenly.
- After 6 minutes, check to see if your meat has cooked thoroughly. Depending on how much fat is in the meat, you may need to add a little more time.
- Once the ground beef has cooked, use silicon mitts (2 come with the MultiPot) to remove the stainless steel bowl from the multi-cooker to drain the meat.
- After draining, replace the meat into the stainless steel bowl and return the bowl to the MultiPot.
- Add your tomato sauce, chili beans, and chili seasoning to the MultiPot.
- Turn the vent to seal.
- Then select High Pressure and set a timer for 25 minutes.
- After the Mealthy MultiPot comes to pressure (about 10 minutes), it will begin to pressure cook your easy meaty chili. Do not open the vent or the lid while it is cooking.
- Once the timer goes off, turn the vent button to vent.
- After any steam has vented, gently open the lid and stir your chili. You may wish to stir in some cornstarch if you like a thicker chili.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi, I’m Jennifer. I love to cook and entertain. I have a lot of fun sharing traditional food and drink recipes as well as putting a new spin on the classics. I strive to provide easy to make recipes that are perfect for the home cook, bartender and entertainer.