Beef Chili
Published 7/19/2023 • Updated 8/8/2024
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The best chili recipe you’ll ever eat is right here! Our classic beef chili is made with ground beef, beans, diced tomatoes, homemade chili seasoning, and our secret ingredient – a little maple syrup.
So many of you have made this chili recipe and it has OVER 1,000 5-star reviews. It is hands-down our most popular chili recipe on Fit Foodie Finds and we can’t wait for you to make it!
5-Star, Award-Winning Chili Recipe
If you’re looking for a 5-star, award-winning chili recipe –> it’s right here! We’ve won multiple chili bake-off contests with this tried-and-true recipe and it’s truly the best chili recipe ever. Oh, and this just in, so have you! Scroll down to the comments to read all about other people using this recipe in chili cook-offs 😍
A quick rundown: Cook ground beef in a large stockpot with onion, garlic, beans, chili seasoning, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and our secret ingredient –> a little maple syrup.
Made with Classic Chili Ingredients
There’s a big debacle on the internet about whether classic chili has beans or no beans. In my opinion, the best chili recipe is a base of ground beef, tomato, spices, and BEANS. I love the number of fiber beans add to this dish and I promise you won’t regret adding them.
- Ground beef: The star of the show here is ground beef. I’ll give you one secret, the fat in your beef matters! We’re big fans of 80% or 85% fat because that little bit of fat adds so much flavor. If you go any leaner, you risk compromising flavor and texture.
- Tomatoes: One of the reasons I love chili is because it’s made with tomato products. Thick, creamy, and so delicious. This recipe calls for 3 different kinds: tomato sauce (gives this recipe a delicious tomato flavor), diced tomatoes (adds great texture) , tomato puree (helps to thicken and intensify the flavors)
- Beans: While some traditional beef chili does not call for beans, we like to up the ante a little bit in the nutrition department and include 2 different variations to make this the most epic chili beans recipe. Pinto beans and kidney beans add texture and fiber to this beef chili recipe.
- Chili seasoning: Do yourself a favor and make your own chili seasoning. I promise you the flavor is better AND there isn’t any added junk. Try our homemade chili seasoning and keep a batch in your cabinet at all times.
homemade chili seasoning ingredients
- Chili powder
- Garlic powder
- Ground cumin
- Smoked paprika
- Salt
- Ground pepper
#1 Secret Ingredient for Beef Chili
Every chili needs a little bit of sugar in some form to bring out all of the savory flavors from the chili seasoning. Our classic chili recipe calls for a little bit of maple syrup. It’s warm, unrefined, and absolutely delightful.
Don’t have maple? Swap it with some brown sugar or even some honey.
How to Make Chili (Stove Top)
- Brown the ground beef with the minced onion and garlic.
- Add the beans, tomato products, and maple syrup.
- Add the chili seasoning and broth and bring to a boil.
- Let simmer for around 10 minutes to thicken.
Other Cook Methods
- Slow Cooker Directions: partially cook the beef on the stove. Then, transfer all ingredients in your slow cooker and mix. Cook on low for around 4 hours. Check out our slow cooker chili recipe.
- Instant Pot Directions: add all ingredients to the Instant Pot and mix. Cover and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Check out our Instant Pot chili recipe.
How do you thicken chili?
The best way to thicken chili is to let it simmer on the stove over a low heat. This will reduce the moisture from the tomato products and thicken it right up.
Storing it in the fridge overnight will also thicken everything and often times, you need to add a splash of broth or water before serving the next day.
Chili Variations
One great thing about chili is that it’s so versatile! Here are some swaps to make this recipe your own:
- Meat: You can really use any ground meat (or no ground meat at all). We recommend trying ground turkey or chicken.
- Beans: All variations of beans are up for grabs. Readers in the comments have added black beans and loved it.
- Spice: If you like it spicy, add some vinegar-based hot sauce or diced jalapeños.
- Tomato products: many people in the comments said they swapped diced tomatoes for fire-roasted tomatoes and it turned out great.
Topping Ideas
In my opinion, chili isn’t chili without the toppings! I’ll share what we at our bowl of chili with and some other ideas.
- shredded cheese
- chips – tortilla or Fritos
- green onions
- Greek yogurt or sour cream
- chives
- hot sauce
Check it out!
Best Chili Mac and Cheese
Chili mac and cheese might be the best dinner of all time. Make it once and eat it all week long. Bonus, it’s kid-friendly and protein-packed! PS: the base of this chili mac is made from this beef chili recipe!
Leftover Chili Ideas
Got leftovers? Here are a few ideas on how to repurpose this recipe:
Chili Baked Potatoes: Top either a baked potato or baked sweet potato with leftover chili and shredded cheese.
Chili Nachos: Are you a fan of nachos just like us? Place a bag of tortilla chips on a baking sheet. Then, top with leftover chili, shredded cheddar cheese, and other nachos toppings.
Chili Mac and Cheese: It doesn’t get much better than combining 2 of your favorite things into 1 dish. That’s exactly what we did in our Chili Mac and Cheese recipe.
How long does chili last in the fridge?
Store beef chili in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To reheat: Either place multiple servings of the beef chili back into the stockpot and heat over medium heat until boiling or place 1 serving of chili into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds to 2 minutes.
Great Jones
The Dutchess
This is hands-down our favorite Dutch oven. It’s a 6.75 quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven that’s super high-quality and gorgeous.
Can I freeze this chili recipe?
Beef Chili is the perfect chili recipe to freeze! We wrote an entire post on how to freeze soup and it works the exact same way for chili.
- Let your beef chili cool completely.
- Then, transfer it into an airtight container or freezer-safe gallon-size bag.
- Remove as much air as possible and seal.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
We recommend freezing in a freezer-safe gallon-size bag or freezer-safe storage container. Make sure that you remove as much air as possible before sealing.
To thaw + reheat: let thaw overnight in the fridge. Then, transfer back into a large stockpot and heat over low/medium.
Best Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef, we used 15% fat
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 15-oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15-oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15-oz. can tomato sauce
- 1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 cup beef broth, chicken broth or water works too
Optional toppings
- shredded cheddar cheese
- Fritos
- green onion
Instructions
- First, heat a large stockpot over medium/high heat.
- Then, add ground beef, yellow onion, and minced garlic and sauté for 7-10 minutes or until beef is fully browned.
- Next, add pinto beans, kidney beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and maple syrup to the pot and stir to combine.
- Add spices and 1 cup of broth and stir to combine.
- Bring beef chili to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer for 10-15 minutes to thicken.
- Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy!
Tips & Notes
- Nutrition information is for 6 servings and does not include toppings.
- Slow Cooker Directions: partially cook the beef on the stove. Then, transfer all ingredients in your slow cooker and mix. Cook on low for around 4 hours. Check out our slow cooker chili recipe.
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Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Chili 101
The best secret ingredient for chili is a little bit of sugar. Whether you use white sugar, brown sugar, or my favorite, maple syrup, a little bit of sugar will bring out all of the savory spices of your chili.
Traditionally, chili used to be served without beans, but in my opinion, it’s so much better with beans!
o make chili more flavorful, we suggest using more homemade chili seasoning. We always recommend making your own spice blend at home because you can really control the flavor that way. Other ways to add more flavor include: more salt, more heat (diced jalapeño, hot sauce, or green chiles), or add a jar of salsa.
Good chili toppings include shredded cheese, green onion, sour cream or Greek yogurt, Fritos, tortilla chips, and chives.
How do you make chili spicy? To make this beef chili spicy, you can add a few tablespoons of diced jalapeños, poblano peppers, or green chiles. You can even add a few tablespoons of hot sauce.
Ohhhh, if you must! Yes, ground chicken or turkey both work for this recipe. We’ve even made this chili recipe with a plant-based ground to make it vegetarian.
Hello! Going to make this tonight but have a weird question. Is this chili sweet at all with the addition of the maple syrup? My husband does not like chili to be sweet in the slightest!
It honestly doesn’t give it a sweet taste — just brings out the flavors! But feel free to start with less maple and have your husband taste test to his liking from there 😀
Excellent chili recipe very much liked the spice choice added to the chili powder. I did add some cocoa 1 tbls and some Worcestershire
Ooo fun ingredient additions!
After I made this chili, I couldn’t stop thinking how it was probably the best chili I had ever tasted (which is saying a lot because I’ve had a lot of chili in my life! 🙂 I told my husband that and he agreed with me, it was probably his favorite ever as well. So thank you for this recipe! It’s going in my recipe book right now!
Aw, so happy to hear you and your husband loved this chili!!
Seriously the best and easiest recipe. It’s not too spicy, so it’s great for my 2 year old. My husband and I add fresh jalapeños to our bowls. This is a fall/winter staple in our house!
Ohhh love the idea to add fresh jalapeños! My 18 month old loves this chili too 😀
My nephew and I thought this was delicious. I followed the recipe as written.
We’re absolutely obsessed with this chili! Sneaking in one more batch of it tonight during this unseasonably chilly spring before summer!!
*We use black beans and chickpeas instead of pinto and kidney beans.
Yay! Makes me think I need to sneak in one last batch before summer too 😀
This was disgusting.
I followed this to the T, used high-quality ingredients, and it reminds me of some cheap canned chili.
I’m honestly not sure why this has so many good reviews.
I’m going back to my recipe, which is infinitely better than this one.
I’m genuinely upset that I wasted my food/time with this recipe.
I’ll be using this to make compost…
Hi Ray, We’re so sorry to hear this! This beef chili is one our of fan favorite recipes, and a staple in our own homes, so hoping we can get to the bottom of this for you. Can you share if you made any modifications either in cooking method or ingredients?
Hi Ray, you sound really fun!!
LOL Kelly, Ray does sound fun!
I’ve made it numerous times and love it!
So glad I found this recipe. Me and my husband eat it about once a week now! Sooooo good.
I grew up on homemade chili, but my mom doesn’t havea recipe written down. I tried this today, and it’s excellent. So close to her recipe! I did add half a jalapeno with just some of the seeds, and some finely diced celery, mushrooms, and used ketchup instead of tomato paste. Fantastic flavors, and this recipe makes a LOT! Will definitely make again.
OMG we’re blushing, Natalie! And the add-ins you used sound DELISH!
In your discussion before the recipe, you mention you use tomato puree but in the recipe itself, you use tomato paste. Since you also include tomato sauce, I assume the tomato paste is the correct one to use?