Instant Pot Chipotle Chili (Pressure Cooker Chili Recipe) (2024)

Instant Pot Chipotle Chili is the easiest and fastest way to make chili at home. It's spicy, homemade, comfort food that will keep you warm and makes for a great one pot family dinner. Leftovers taste even better the next day!

This right here is the BEST thing I've eaten last week and I'm seriously excited to have you guys try it. I've been trying out a ton of things in my Instant Pot after the amazing Thai Carrot Ginger Soup that I shared a few weeks ago, and this Instant Pot Chipotle Chili is seriously topping the list. Because this is true winter food. And I ate it at 5PM, 9PM and the next day for lunch. And I was heartbroken when it got over.

Confession: I've never had real chili before, and I started like any of us do - by googling the internet for chili recipes and there were so many fantastic ones, but most of them seemed a bit lacking in flavour. I'm a huge chipotle lover, because I find that chipotle peppers add a fantastic spice and smokiness to food that just screams comfort and homemade and yes please!

So I started by turning a basic recipe into my own version of the best Instant Pot Chipotle Chili that really blew us away!

After I made this version in a pressure cooker, I also made one on the stovetop and couldn't really see any difference in flavour, except that the Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker chili was faster - much faster!

I'm still an Instant Pot noob but I have to share some tips here that I couldn't find anywhere when I was doing my research about Instant Pots.

Top tips for Instant Pot Chipotle Chili

• The Instant Pot or any electric pressure cooker for that matter takes a few minutes to preheat when you put it in pressure cooker mode. This means that if you are pressure cooking something for 30 minutes, you should add an extra 5-10 minutes as pre-heating time
• If you seriously want to brown your ground meat, you will have to cook it in batches because the walls of the Instant Pot and the size of its base sort of start steaming the meat instead of browning it. But honestly, I didn't have the patience to brown the meat in batches, and still loved this chili, and couldn't see a major difference
• Use dried beans to make your chili because the pressure cooker does all the work. So you can skip the canned stuff and go natural. Its important though to soak your dry beans overnight and rinse them before making this Instant Pot Chipotle Chili because soaking beans makes them easier to digest
• I used a basic pasta sauce here because my chili recipe anyway called for some oregano, onions and garlic. I know thats really unconventional but trust me, the flavours were a bomb and the final chili didn't taste Italian at all. You can absolutely substitute this with canned tomatoes or fresh tomatoes
• Manual Release vs. Natural Release: I let the pressure release naturally because I was in no hurry. I made this chili in the afternoon for dinner later that night because chili always tastes better after a few hours, but if you are in a hurry, you can do a quick release or manual release of pressure

I know everyone has their own version of homemade chili. For example, the cincinnati chili has a lot of spices and is served with pasta; some chilis are sans beans and some are more soupy. This Instant Pot Chipotle Chili is spicy, thick and tastes best as is. I add a few crushed nachos, some sour cream and a squirt of lime juice and we are all set to enjoy the best chili made so quickly in a pressure cooker.

More Mexican Recipes:

• Instant Pot Mexican Rice with Corn and Peppers
• One Pot Mexican Rice and Sausages
• Chicken Enchilada Soup
• Mexican Prawn Avocado Taco Salad
• Mexican Tortilla Bean Soup

Watch Instant Pot Chipotle Chili Recipe Video (Step by Step)

Here's the Instant Pot that I use in case you want to check it out:Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1

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