Ground Beef Chili with Beans (2024)

This chili with ground beef and beans, served with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese, tortilla strips and avocado slices is the perfect hearty meal to have after a busy day! Chili night is my favorite dinner night, plus leftovers are amazing too:).

I grew up in the Mediterranean and we cook lots of dishes with ground beef and lots of beans dishes. When I arrived in USA over 20 years ago, chili became one of my favorite dishes. It was filling, comforting and relatively cheap for a student like me. I would cook a big pot on the weekend and have dinner ready for several days that week.

I wasn’t picky with ingredients or with regional variations of chili. Sometimes I used just pinto beans, other times red kidney beans and if I had leftovers from my navy beans soup, I would add those to my chili.

The people who first introduced me to chili were two professors at community college, a husband and wife team. They would invite once a month or so a group of students over to play monopoly and they would feed us chili or pizza. It’s one of my favorite memories from the community college days:).

What beans do you use in your chili?

So for this chili I tend to use one standard can (about 15 ozs) of pinto beans and one can of red kidney beans. Rinse and add the beans in the pot. However, I have to say sometimes I tend to use other types of beans based on what I have in my pantry!

Making Chili Step by Step

This ground beef chili with beans is very easy to make and it is also a forgiving recipe. So as long as you follow these steps close enough, there’s no need to be super precise because it turns out amazing anyway:). That means that you can add a little more beef or less, or more beans or less and still the recipe will taste amazing.

• Saute diced onions in olive oil in medium heat. (if you have a heavy bottom pot you can use medium-high heat but be careful not to burn the onions).
• Add diced celery and saute until it softens. I don’t add carrots to my chili but I know people who do, so feel free to add them to taste if you like.
• Add ground beef and break it apart with a wooden spoon, stir as you break the beef apart until all ground beef is brown.
• Add all seasonings you like to the pot – I personally like using bay leaves, salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, paprika and sometimes cayenne for more spice. If I don’t have chili powder, sometimes I have added taco seasoning or crushed red pepper flakes and it still tastes great.
• Add tomato paste, diced tomatoes and some tomato passata to pot and mix. Add beef broth too.
• Once chili starts to bubble, lower heat and let it simmer for 45 minutes. Check that it doesn’t become too thick and you can add some hot water and mix if needed.
• Once done simmering, turn heat off and let the pot cool for about 10-15 minutes before servings.

Sonila’s tips and notes

I love using a Dutch oven or a large soup pot with heavy bottom to make chili. Since chili is so thick but you still want it to simmer for a relatively long time, you want a good quality pot so none of the ingredients stick to the bottom.

Leftovers – if you have leftovers, let the pot of chili cool off completely. You don’t want to add hot chili in the refrigerator. Store leftovers in an airtight container. My favorite are glass ones that come in different sizes. You can store all in one big container or store in smaller sized ones that equal to one portion.

Warming up Leftovers – usually I warm up leftovers on a good heavy bottomed, non stick skillet. If you’re in a hurry use the microwave and warm up leftovers in the same glass container you stored it with. Remove the lid and warm up in phases 30-40 seconds at a time. Stir then add more time as needed.

FAQ

If you would like to save this recipe for later, please pin any of the images from this post to your boards in Pinterest. Let me know in comments if you used my recipe for chili or if you have any extra tips or ingredients of your own that make chili so special:).

Thank you for reading my recipes!

More Cozy Dinner Recipes

Feel free to check out some of my other cozy and comforting dinner recipes:).

• Red Kidney Beans Soup
• Chorizo and Pasta
• Chicken Lemon Pastina Soup
• Cuban Black Beans

More Main Dishes