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.
My boys at every last drop. It was perfect!
I made this for my family tonight and my girls asked for the recipe
…only adjusted was I added 2 tablespoons of beef bouillon I made a double batch!! Wish i could give it 10 stars!!!
Added green chilies from the can. It was delish. And less sugar – about 1 tbs is enough
I added 1/ 4 cup whole kernel corn just to give a little more color. It was very good.
This is a very tasty and easy to make Chili. My husband made this for dinner and it was Good!
Just made this for dinner, and whoooo, baby! Great stuff! Very easy to make, and my girlfriend and I couldn’t get enough. Highly recommended!
Excellent, easy to prepare and very tasty.
Tastes great and I love the recipe, I didn’t use beef broth and it made great thick chili. Next time I make it, I might scale back on the sugar; it’s a little too sweet for my taste. Thanks for the great recipe!
The taste is great, but it didnt make as much as I’m used to when making chili. Next time I’ll probably double it for my family of 5 so we can have leftovers.
Made this recipe It was delicious! Omitted the broth and added more tomato sauce
Really the best!!
Wow this tastes great!!! I added some corn to this recipe and it came out so good! Love me some corn! 🌽 This is so easy to make and my family loved it!!! THANK YOU ☺️
I just made a double batch of this with elk meat. It’s just now simmering and it tastes wonderful, can’t wait to see what it tastes like after it sits for a day!! Glad I found this!!
We absolutely loved it . I missed the part where it said cayenne pepper was optional and I added it it was spicy 🌶 but we still lived it .. thanks for sharing
Easiest and yummiest chili recipe I’ve come across yet! Thank you!
Husband whos a picky eater loved it.
LOVE THIS RECIPE!!
Making it for a second time within a week with some alterations.
Thank you so much for sharing!!
Very good chili
EXCELLENT
Great recipe but I would use 1tablespoon sugar instead of two. I also didn’t have beef broth so I used 1/2 cup of beer,
Delicious!!!
I doubled it and it’s amazing! Note- I still used only 1/4tsp cayenne pepper. Thanks so much for the recipe!!
Best chili EVER!
This is a great recipe. I have tried to make Chili 2-3 other times and it didn’t turn out but this one hit the spot. I don’t claim to be a fancy cook but I do like to make things from scratch instead of prepackaged. Also we don’t use cane sugar so I substituted a little honey and it worked great. Like some other comments I added another can of beans and I didn’t have tomato paste on hand so I just omitted it and it was fine. Oh and I used a little less chili powder because I have 2 toddlers and wanted to be cautious.