Our favorite Classic Chili recipe win’s awards every year, is easy to make, and loaded with meat, beans, and the perfect blend of chili seasonings. You can make it on the stove or slow cooker and leftovers freeze wonderfully.
What I love about this Chili recipe:
- Award Winning: A quick, traditional chili recipe with meat and beans is something everyone should have in their recipe box. Every year readers reach out excited to report that this recipe won their chili cook-off!
- Adaptable: Feel free to jazz it up by adding bacon or extra sautéed veggies. To make it vegetarian, omit the meat and add extra beans. Or, try my Turkey Chili, or Spicy Chili.
- Many ways to serve it: We always adore chili as it’s own main dish with a side of cornbread, but I also love it served over Baked Potatoes, Cornbread Waffles, chili dogs, Stuffed Spaghetti Squash, Nachos, or French Fries to make Chili Fries.
How to Make this Classic Chili Recipe:
Brown Meat: Cook the onions in olive oil for about 5 minutes until they are tender and start to get a little bit golden and caramelized. Add the ground beef and sausage and cook until browned, breaking it apart. Remove grease.
Add Remaining Ingredients: Add the vinegar and cook for 1 minute. Add diced tomatoes, tomato juice, ketchup, beans, brown sugar, chili powder, garlic salt, pepper, paprika, cumin and cayenne.
Simmer: Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring, then reduce the heat and simmer over medium-low heat for at least one hour, or up to 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
Serve this quick chili recipe in bowls with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheese on top. I love serving chili with cornbread, biscuits, or a green salad.
Recipe Variations:
- Add Bacon: cooked bacon would add a fun flavor twist.
- More Veggies: Chopped, sautéed bell pepper and celery, or even cooked cubes of butternut squash, or pumpkin would all be delicious.
- Meatless: Leave out the ground beef and sausage and double the amount of beans called for.
- Spicy Chili: As written, this chili is very mild. If you’d like to make it spicier, add more cayenne pepper, chopped jalapeños (canned or fresh), hot sauce, or make my delicious Spicy Chili recipe!
- Crockpot Chili: Cook the onion and brown the meat in a large skillet. Add the remaining ingredients to a large slow cooker and stir in the cooked meat and onions. Cook on low for 5-7 hours.
- Instant Pot Chili: Turn Instant Pot to sauté and brown the onion and meats. Discard the grease. Add everything else and cook on high pressure for 20-30 minutes to concentrate the flavors quicker than on the stovetop.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Leftover chili will keep well stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. Heat on the stove until hot before serving with your favorite toppings.
To Freeze: Freeze chili for up to 3 months, in a freezer-safe bag or container. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then rewarm on the stove or in microwave.
Side Dish Ideas:
- Homemade Cornbread
- Cheese Crisps or Quesadillas
- Green Salad
- Potato Skins
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Recipe
Easy Homemade Chili
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion , diced
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 pound pork sausage
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes , petite, undrained
- 4 cups tomato juice*
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 15 ounce cans pinto beans , undrained
- 1 16 ounce can kidney beans , undrained
- 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons chili powder
- ¾ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more if you want it spicier)
- shredded cheddar cheese , optional
- sour cream , optional
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the ground beef and sausage to the pot and cook, breaking apart into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until browned. Drain any grease.
- Add the vinegar and cook for 1 minute. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato juice, ketchup, beans, brown sugar, chili powder, garlic salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, and cayenne.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring, then reduce the heat and simmer over medium-low heat for at least one hour, or up to 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
- Serve in bowls with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheese on top.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe August 2019. Updated October 2021 and September 2023.
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I’m not a huge fan of chili but my husband and I loved this recipe! I made a few adjustments to use up ingredients I had on hand and it still turned out wonderful! Using a crockpot worked great! Perfect meal for our chilly PA weather!
added the extra spices. Cooked in the crock pot. Left out the brown sugar since we are needing to limit added sugars. Very yummy! Made a grilled cheese to go with it:)
I usually don’t follow a recipe for chili and just dump the ingredients into a pot and voila. I was up to the challenge to follow this recipe…It had good flavor and was meaty (I typically only use 1 pound of beef). My family likes a thicker chili, so I cut back on the tomato juice, but it still wasn’t thick enough. Served with tortilla chips, sour cream, cheese and jalapenos. Looking forward to the leftovers later this week served on top of rice. Thanks for the recipe. 👍
Delicious! Made a double batch and ate it for multiple meals. Will freeze some next time.
I made this for the October cooking challenge. It’s great! My usual chili brothy and veg-centric, so it was fun to try this hearty classic version. I enjoyed mine plain, but the classic taste makes a good canvas for toppings as well. Thanks!
I don’t eat pork so only ground beef is used but nonetheless, very delicious recipe !
This recipe is wonderful! Love the addition of the pork sausage. I would add just a bit more cayenne next time- but I like it spicy! Can also see this recipe with thin slices of steak to make it more beefy. Great addition to my recipe box.
We have a small Christian College and every year we make chili for our dorm girls. I decided to try this recipe. There was only a little bit left. It came out really great, the only thing I did, was at a little more zip to it. The little that was left I thoroughly enjoyed the next day. This is a keeper thank you.
I made this for our family of 7 and it went over well! I used 1 lb. of ground beef, 1 lb. of ground pork, and so halved the tomato sauce/water and it worked well. It wasn’t too spicy for the kids, was just right. Alongside cornbread, it was a delicious dinner and very heart, perfect for fall. Thanks!
Great classic chili! We all loved that it was full of meat/beans. We had a house divided on the flavor. LOL! Everyone liked it. Some prefer this which has a little sweetness. Others prefer less sweet and more spicy. Either way, it was a winner. It fed us well with plenty for leftovers!