My Instant Pot Chili

I hope you had a wonderful merry Christmas!  Mine was spend traveling all over the place to visit with family.  It was a big weekend and a lot of driving, but it was so worth it to get to see everyone I normally see at Christmas.  The past few years it's seemed that it's been more difficult to get to everyone, but with some careful time management planning, we got to see everyone we needed to over the course of about four days.

First and foremost, the best part of the holiday was seeing family and friends, but a very close second was that almost everyone who got me gifts seemed to gravitate toward kitchen items.  We have a lot of doubles and triples on some of the more basic things, like pots and pans and regular dishes.  Between what I brought to the house and what Darryl brought to the house and what we've been given since, we have that stuff covered.  As I think I mentioned before, we also have FOUR crockpots.  

At Christmas, various people got us kitchen stuff - an aunt got us a big set of mixing bowls; my mom's dad and stepmom got us a glass casserole dish with my name on it and some wooden cooking utensils; my mom's mom and stepdad got us a really cool baking dish and some tea towels she made herself; my dad and stepmom got us an iced tea maker (which I've already used and it's phenomenal); and my mom got us something I've been wanting ever since I saw this blog post by Carly Heitlinger (although Mom  didn't know I wanted one) - an electric pressure cooker.  She got me the Instant Pot.


I have used it three times now, and I love it.  I can't wait to adapt more of my recipes to it and try others for it that I've found.

The first thing I decided to try in it, as Carly did, was chili.  Not trying to be a copycat or anything, but I'd been wanting to make chili for a while anyway, and it was a FREEZING cold night (this was last Wednesday) - it just seemed like the perfect time for chili.  

I'd asked Mom for her recipe a while back because I've always loved her chili.  She uses onions in hers, and Darryl and I both hate onions, so I adapted her recipe a little to what you'll find below.  Feel free to try it and let me know what you think!



Niki/Jordan's Instant Pot Chili




For 2 people: 

  • lb ground beef 
  • 1 can kidney beans 
  • A few tbsp (or more if you want) of Oliverio peppers (chopped in food processor) 
  • Tomato juice (enough to almost cover other ingredients in pot) 
  • Onion powder (just a sprinkle over the browned beef) 
  • Chili seasoning (Marcum or McCormick packets are what I normally use – or you can use your own seasoning) 

Instructions: 

  1. 1. Turn the Instant Pot on Saute at regular heat. 
  2. 2. Add ground beef and cook, stirring occasionally until browned. 
In the meantime: 
  1. 3. Rinse and drain beans. 
  2. 4. Chop up a few tablespoons of Oliverio peppers in the food processor. 
  3. 5. Once the beef is browned, drain it and return to the pot, then sprinkle onion powder over the beef (not too much, it doesn't take a lot). 
  4. 6. Add beans and peppers/sauce to beef. 
  5. 7. Add tomato juice until it almost covers the other things in the pot. 
  6. 8. Add chili seasoning packet (or your own seasoning) 
  7. 9. Stir everything to make sure it's mixed together well. 
  8. 10. Put lid on Instant Pot (make sure it's set to venting when you put it on, then set it to seal) and change setting from Saute to Manual (mine doesn't have a Beans/Chili setting as some do, but if yours does, you can use that).  Time should be 30 minutes. 

  1. 11. When it's finished pressure cooking, you can either let it natually release the pressure or quick release.  I choose depending on how hungry we are lol.  If you decide to quick release the pressure, as always, be careful to avoid any hot steam or liquid that may come out. 
  2. 12.  Top with cheese, sour cream, whatever your heart desires.  I stick with cheese, and having that mixed and melted into the chili just makes it that much more awesome.



  3. The perfect bowl of chili with tea made from my new iced tea maker. :)


  4. I've so far only made the amount in this recipe for Darryl and I, and it makes enough for the two of us to each have a couple bowls. 

We've done it with the beef and beans, less the peppers, and also with the beef and peppers, less the beans.  Both ways were awesome, but next time I'll be doing it as instructed above since I now know that Darryl is ok with peppers (we were out of beans the last time I made it, or they would have been in there too!). 

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

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