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You’ll never need another Chili Recipe again! This is the most basic, family-friendly, veggie-filled, delicious, one-pot chili recipe ever. Perfect with cornbread or Corn Casserole.
Homemade Chili Recipe | The Best!
I love a good and comforting chili recipe, especially during the colder months of the year, and this one will not disappoint. This particular recipe is filled with ground beef, lots of beans, a whole lot of veggies, and is cooked down into a thick and flavorful stew. Never need another Chili Recipe again! This is the most basic, family-friendly, veggie-filled, delicious, one-pot chili recipe there ever was!! Enjoy plain or with cheese, avocados, sour cream, or any other topping you like.
Main Ingredients Needed
- Olive Oil, Onion + Garlic – three ingredients that start this recipe off on the right foot.
- Carrots, Celery + Zucchini – three veggies I sneak into this dish for flavor and nutrition.
- Ground Beef + Beef Stock – these two add protein and depth of flavor. If you are looking to make this vegetarian leave out the beef and replace the stock with vegetable stock.
- Diced Tomatoes + Tomato Sauce – these two are canned to make things easier.
- Black + Pinto Beans – because beans are so hearty and stand up so well to hours of cooking as well as all these spices, just about any kind of bean is fine. Use what you have! I used pinto and black beans.
- Corn – I used frozen but you can absolutely add canned corn. Be sure to drain before adding though.
- Salt + Pepper – don’t forget to season!
- Cumin + Chili Powder – I keep it simple (and mild!) with just two seasonings. If you’d like to add more heat or more depth of flavor, try cayenne pepper, cinnamon, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes or even cocoa powder.
Bean Substitutes
The classic bean found in almost every chili recipe is the red kidney bean, but here are a few others that would be great substitutes:
- white beans
- garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
- red beans
- white kidney beans (cannellini beans)
- butter beans
- pinto beans
- black beans
When cooking with any canned bean, be sure to drain and rinse well for the best results.
How to Make Chili | Directions
This recipe is a simple ‘chop and drop’ kind of recipe. You chop your veggies, add in your beef, season well. Dump in your cans of beans, cans of tomatoes, and beef broth. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer, and cook as long as you can. Stir in some frozen corn for an added bonus and enjoy! For full recipe details, scroll down to the bottom of this post for the printable recipe card.
Step 1: Sauté Veggies
In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Sauté onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and zucchini until slightly softened, 5 minutes.
Step 2: Add Meat + Remaining Ingredients
Drop meat into the pot and break apart using a wooden spoon. Cook until meat is cooked thoroughly and brown. Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer at least 20 minutes but up to 3 hours. If you notice chili is getting too thick or is sticking to the bottom of the pot, add in an extra splash of water or beef stock. I love using a heavy-bottomed dutch oven for this recipe. It retains heat well and usually doesn’t burn.
Step 3: Top With Desired Toppings
Serve with desired toppings and/or cornbread.
How To Thicken Chili
If you cook chili long enough, you won’t need to thicken it at all. The longer it simmers, the thicker and more flavorful it will become. No need to use flour or cornstarch.
If you are wanting to thicken up the broth, try adding in one tablespoon of cornmeal to your chili recipe and simmering for an hour.
What to Serve With Chili
There are so many things that pair perfectly with this best chili recipe! Things like homemade rolls, biscuits or cornbread are perfect. A buttery corn casserole would also be delicious.
Favorite Toppings
Man oh man, when I make this Chili recipe, I love to load on the toppings! Here are some of our favorites:
- tortilla chips
- doritos
- grated cheddar cheese
- avocado slices
- guacamole
- sour cream
- diced onion
- cilantro
- lime wedges
- shredded lettuce
- hot sauce (if that’s your thing)
More Chili Recipes to Love!
I hope you love this chili recipe and make it soon! Below is the printable recipe card. Enjoy, friends! 🙂
Homemade Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 medium carrots diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1 medium zucchini diced
- 1 lb ground beef 93% lean
- 2 cups beef stock
- 14.5 oz diced tomatoes 1 can
- 15 oz tomato sauce 1 can
- 15 oz black beans (1 can) drained & rinsed
- 15 oz pinto beans (1 can) drained & rinsed
- 1 1/4 cup frozen corn
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- any desired toppings grated cheddar cheese, chopped cilantro, sour cream, avocados, lime juice
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onions, garlic, carrots, celery, and zucchini until slightly softened, 5 minutes.
- Drop meat into the pot and break apart using a wooden spoon. Cook until meat is cooked thoroughly and browned. Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer at least 20 minutes but up to 3 hours. If you notice chili is getting too thick or is sticking to the bottom of the pot, add in an extra splash of water or beef stock.
- Serve with desired toppings and/or cornbread.
We LOVE this chili recipe! And it is so healthy!
Made this tonight – it’s SOOO good! Next time, I will cut up my carrots smaller, and I only used 1 tsp of cumin (just personal preference), but otherwise – omg, yum!! I also made your cornbread recipe to go with the chili – it truly is the best! Thank you!!
Can this be made in an Instant Pot? If yes, any modifications to the recipe? Can’t wait to try this!
I have so much canned corn but no frozen. Can I add the canned corn with all other ingre. or should I wait till the end?
just drain the corn and add it in. Should be fine!
I haven’t tried it so no comment on taste and prep. However, a buddy of mine from Texas gave me a tip, take it or leave it, is to substitute tomato sauce with Spicy V-8. I can comment on that substitute and by far it adds a great source of flavor in which tomato sauce cannot produce or provide.
I made this over the stove. Simmered for two hours and it was perfect. My husband said, “This recipe is a keeper.” Love that it had so many veggies. Thanks Lauren!
When you state large pot, I have a 5 quart and 8 quart. What size do you recomend? I’m not a big cook but would love to try this. Thanks
Forecast for tonight is cold and rainy.
I will be making this for dinner!! Yum😋
This is my family’s favorite (red) chili recipe!! Everyone I make it for has to have the recipe! It’s one of the reasons I just know anything Lauren posts is going to be GOOOOOD!!!
This looks great! And it’s FINALLY chili season, so I’m all about a new recipe to try.
Can’t wait to try this one out. Great idea to sneak more veggies!
I love chili….my family not so much. I’m going to try this one! It looks so good!
Our family loves this chili as well as many of your other recipes!
I’ve been going through sooooooo many chili recipes and I think this is the one for me – really excited to try it out and see. <3
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[…] I developed it on maternity leave (pre-baby) when I was 9 months pregnant with Brooke, after tasting some white chicken chili at Cheesecake Factory. (Before my blog ever started!) Heaven knows how much my pregnant self loves the Cheesecake Factory, so my husband and I were pretty frequent guests. I tried their white chicken chili back in 2009 and it was too creamy and spicy for my very sensitive tastebuds, so I re-created a version at home that stuck. My husband just about died because it was so good and 80% of the time, it replaces my normal Simple Chili Recipe. […]
[…] I developed it on maternity leave (pre-baby) when I was 9 months pregnant with Brooke, after tasting some white chicken chili at Cheesecake Factory. (Before my blog ever started!) Heaven knows how much my pregnant self loves the Cheesecake Factory, so my husband and I were pretty frequent guests. I tried their white chicken chili back in 2009 and it was too creamy and spicy for my very sensitive tastebuds, so I re-created a version at home that stuck. My husband just about died because it was so good and 80% of the time, it replaces my normal Simple Chili Recipe. […]
This is by far my families most favorite chili recipe! ❤️
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Yummy! I really think I need some of this right now. It is all cloudy and cold here in my part of Idaho too!
I tried this chili recipe, and we both LOVED it!!! Thank you!
This looks to be a great recipe. Even though it’s summer in Southern California, my family would still eat a bowl of chili in the heat. Can’t wait to try it.
If I wanted to make this meat-free, should I just take out the beef or substitute it with something else?
If you take it out, it will taste just as good! No need to substitute.
That dish looks so delicious and healthy!!! Planning to try making it this weekend. Thanks for sharing:)
I have made this at home once or twice but just made it for a lunch at work. Every person that I saw had seconds! I did not adjust a thing- it was perfect for a fall day!
Sounds delicious!!!
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Can you make this in the crockpot Lauren?
Yup! Just make sure to cook it long enough. 6-ish hours should be good!
I am making this up for our chili cook-off at church on Sunday… Wish me luck!!
(I’m just happy to try out a new chili recipe…. i love me some good chili! and today I sent strombroli into school with the guys… one for french class, the rest for lunches! Yep I was the “cool” mom today! 🙂 Thanks for the recipes and inspiration!!
This was DELICIOUS!!! I doubled the recipe and added a lot more Chili powder and about another 1/2 cup of beef stock. My husband can’t stop eating it! Thanks Lauren!