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.
This was a Great recipe. My family really enjoyed and said this was a definite keeper. Made exactly as written.
Although I’ve been cooking chili for decades without a recipe, just lately I noticed it didn’t taste as good as it used to. I decided to google for a chili recipe and found this one. Granted, I made many changes, but still I credit this recipe for rescuing my chili! It was the best I’ve made in the past couple of years! THANK YOU.
FYI, my changes: I used about a half Tbsp avocado oil plus 1 Tbsp GHEE (love that stuff!), 1 1/2 pound of ground beef (organic from Costco)….used a whole can of tomato paste, a 15 oz. can of tomato sauce (plus the diced tomatoes), minced garlic cloves instead of powder (4 cloves). Didn’t have beef broth so used 1 beef boullion cube with 2 cups water. Other ingredients remained the same. I added 1 small zucchini chopped, 2 cans of kidney beans, 1 can of black beans, and 1 can of corn. Gotta stretch that beef!
WAY too much sugar!!! I had to doctor the heck out of it with soy and worcestershire to cut the Sweetness, and it was still noticably sweet. Still giving it 4 stars because (sans sugar) I think it will be a good “base” recipe for future chili experiments!
I agree about too much sugar, I only used 1 tbl sugar and it was still too much. I will modify next time but really love this flavorful chili.
My husband and I made it as a trail run for my Book Club Meeting. I must say we really enjoyed it, I know they will enjoy it as well.
Loved this recipe! Made it pretty much as stated but added red bell pepper and a jalapeño. I forgot to add fresh garlic and will do that next time. I reduced the cumin a bit but the spices really complemented each other well.
I’ve used this recipe for two, maybe three years now with a little tweaking here and there. I love it, and my family loves it!
AWESOME RECIPE!!! Only thing I did was add a 1/4 tsp cinnamon.
So many recipes call for 2lbs of ground beef, enough to feed a houseful. This was perfect for the two of us, with leftovers for tomorrow.
I did make some adjustments based on personal tastes.
I halved the cumin, added a good shake each of Ancho chili powder and smoked paprika, some diced green and jalapeno pepper, 3cloves of fresh minced garlic in lieu of garlic powder, and 1TBSP of Brown sugar in lieu of the white sugar. I added all the spices to the raw burger as I cooked with the sauteed onion, peppers, and garlic. I also started out by frying five strips of bacon, diced, and used the drippings, plus a little olive oil, to saute the vegetables, then added the cooked, diced bacon to the simmer.
The amount of the other spices and ingredients (the beef broth, tomato paste, tomatoes, and tomato sauce) were absolutely SPOT ON. The end result was a thick, flavorful, satisfying chili. Some sour cream and shredded cheddar to garnish, and fresh cornbread, made for a wonderful lunch on this cool, rainy Saturday.
This is a keeper recipe for a smaller pot of chili! Many, many thanks!!
Fantastic
Love your suggestions but sort of wondering why you bothered following this recipe! Sounds like you’ve done a great job on your own.
right. don’t give it 5 stars if you made all those changes. You made a completely different recipe! (which sounds good, btw)
A good base makes all the difference. I enjoyed viewing the variations on this recipe.
Your chili beans sounds like my step monsters except she adds sausage as well because my father 😇(God rest his soul RIP) LOVED lots of meat! So hamburger meat sausage and bacon plus all your other ingredients you added! Great minds think alike! God bless🙏🏾
Neva, I love all of your suggestions! thank you
Seriously, this recipe came out SO GOOD! I followed the instructions to the T, except I realized right before serving that o forgot to add the sugar – I quickly added it….whoa!
I served it sour cream, green onion, and cheese garnished…omg.
Thank you for sharing – this one will with me for ever!
🙂
Good easy recipe. Did a double batch. 1/3 more Chile powder, a little more cumin. Used Rotel diced tomato with Serano peppers and a small can of Ortega diced jalapeños and larger can of tomato sauce.
Best chili recipe I’ve ever made.
This is one of the best Chili recipes I have tried. It definitely has flavor; but, it is not too spicy for those with a sensitive palate. Would definitely recommend.
Great tasting and easy recipe! Loved it!
Very good! As most do, I tweaked mine a bit. I followed the spice, but added 1 chopped jalapeño, subbed beer for 1/3 of the beef broth, and used chili beans with the juice. Next time I think I will use fresh garlic, but this has a richness of flavor that I love!
I have made chili many many times and always thought “eh” it was okay. After finding this recipe, I actually look forward to making it. Great simple recipe that tastes great! We even sub ground turkey for ground beef most of the time to make it a little leaner.
Love this chili!!! This will now be my go to chili recipe. The only thing I changes was using butter at the end instead of sugar in the chili to cut any acidity or tin taste from the canned goods. I also doubled the recipe but only used one can of beans which worked well for us. Thank You!!!
My kids and husband all love this recipe. It’s a keeper for sure!
It’s amazing I made it and never had anything better
Very tasty! I doubled the recipe and followed all directions. I did add cayenne. I don’t think it made it too hot. My only criticism is that it was not as thick as I thought it would be. I even cooked it an additional 20 minutes. I actually hesitated adding any sugar due to numerous reviews saying it was too sweet. But I like to make recipes the first time following the exact recipe. Glad I did! Both my husband and I really enjoyed this chili. I will definitely make again! Thanks for sharing Amanda.
So simple and so easy. I love that this recipe doesn’t call for tons of things I don’t already have on hand. This will be my go to for chili from now on! Thank you <3
This is a very good version of my hubby’s chili. I added some black and garbanzo beans to it. I love the spices.Will make this again