The Best Classic Chili is a traditional chili recipe just like mom used to make with ground beef, beans, and a simple homemade blend of chili seasonings.
This classic chili is perfect for a weeknight meal because it can be made in minutes. The only thing to chop is an onion.
I’ve been playing around with this recipe for the past few months, making it many times. My family didn’t mind the repetition at all because I really do believe that I ended up with the best chili ever!
How To Make Homemade Chili
Note: This is a summary. The full printable recipe and step by step video are located at the bottom of this post.
- Heat olive in a large soup pot.
- Add chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add ground beef and break it apart with a wooden spoon.
- Cook for 6-7 minutes.
- Add chili powder, cumin, sugar, tomato paste, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and optional cayenne.
- Stir until well combined.
- Add diced tomatoes, kidney beans, beef broth, and tomato sauce.
- Stir well.
- Simmer for 20-25 minutes.
- Let it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
What do you top chili with?
In addition to the chili ingredients listed in this recipe, you may also want to have these things as toppings.
- shredded cheddar cheese
- sour cream
- sliced green onions
- saltine crackers or oyster crackers
- diced avocado
How To Store
Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to five days. Or, store in the freezer for up to three months. Transfer the container to the refrigerator to thaw the day before you want to reheat it.
Pro Tip – Is It Too Spicy?
The brand of chili powder you use will have a huge difference in how spicy your chili will be. Different brands of chili powder have VERY different levels of spiciness.
I always use McCormick Chili Powder (No affiliation) because it is flavorful without being spicy.
More Great Chili Recipes
Find more of my recipes on TikTok
The Best Classic Chili Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion -diced
- 1 pound 90% lean ground beef
- 2 1/2 tablespoons chili powder*
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper** -optional
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
- 1 (15 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 (16 oz.) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large soup pot and place it over medium-high heat for two minutes. Add the onion. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the ground beef to the pot. Break it apart with a wooden spoon. Cook for 6-7 minutes, until the beef is browned, stirring occasionally.
- Add the chili powder, cumin, sugar, tomato paste, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and optional cayenne. Stir until well combined.
- Add the broth, diced tomatoes (with their juice), drained beans, and tomato sauce. Stir well.
- Bring the liquid to a low boil. Then, reduce the heat (low to medium-low) to gently simmer the chili, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the pot from the heat. Let the chili rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Check out all of my great ground beef recipes.
Great recipe! I used chili beans instead of kidney beans and used 2 cans. I did add the cayenne pepper because we like it spicy, and I added a small green pepper with the onion. Delicious!
Amazing recipe! Similar to Danielle, I had a spare 1/2 of a green pepper that I diced up along with 1 celery stock and cooked this with the onion. I also had 1 jalapeño pepper and we like it spicy, so i cut that up and removed about 1/2 the seeds. This was perfect! At the end, in my bowl, I added a spoonful of plain Greek yogurt (instead of sour cream) and some shredded cheddar cheese on top. This is a keeper!
Tried replacing chili powder with Tuong Ot Sriracha sauce and the results were fantastic! Have offered this to many a friend and neighbor with some tortilla chips and smetana, (not sure if you have it in North America but can be substituted with creme fraiche) and everybody loved it. A fantastic recipe. 🙂
Smetana=Sour cream
Wow! Quick, easy, delicious. Definitely 5 stars and the only recipe I’ll use from now on.
I love chili and this recipe is the best. Easy to make and pleasure to eat
I wanted to try a new chili recipe. This had good reviews and thought I’d give it a go. I was very skeptical of the spice measurements. 2 full tablespoons of almost everything!? Is all I could think as I nearly emptied out my spice bottles. Along with the sugar. Again, I was skeptical. But ooooohhhh boy! This is GOOD chili! Little cheddar cheese on top. This is my new go-to recipe!
Trying this recipe today for the Buffalo Bills game. Hope it’s as good as my dads. Thanks
Best chili ever!!!
Excellent recipe! Chili turned out amazing. I didn’t have chili powder, so I omitted that from the recipe and it still turned out fantastic!
Oh my freaking gosh. This is the best chili I have ever made and so easy
Thank you
Made this tonight very good!
SO good and exceeded my expectation. This will be my go to recipe this Fall.
Thank you so much!
Love it!!
We were looking for a new chili recipe and we came across this one. We loved it and the only thing i did different was added some corn. I never leave comment on new recipes so that says something. Thank you for sharing and i hope u have other recipes for us to check out
Absolutely delicious. I used ground turkey instead of hamburger, but followed the rest of the recipe except I did not have tomato paste. Added cheese and sour cream on top and yummy yummy. Thank you for your wonderful recipe.
The BEST Chili recipe!! The only thing I changed was instead of beef I used turkey and turkey broth. Ooommgg delicious. It’s a Hit in my family, just follow it step by step you won’t regret it. Thank you!!!! Thank you thank you!
We made this chili tonight for a cops va firefighters chili cook off. We won!! We made one substitution- bear meat instead of ground beef.
Best chili recipe I’ve ever used.
I made this recipe today. I browned the ground beef mixed the seasonings and in the crock pot added everything else. When the beef was cooked I threw that in the crockpot and let it cook for a couple hours. Absolutely delicious recipe. I will be making this again and again. Thank you
First time making this. Was very delicious. Will make this many times more
The best chili ever! I’ve been making this for about a year now and the whole family loves it!
best receipe for chili I’ve found. My husband raved about it and asked me when I was going to make it again. Again was only 2 weeks later