5 Ingredient Ninja Foodi Chili

Craving chili but don’t have a ton of time? This Ninja Foodi Chili is just what you need! We have made this 5 ingredient Crockpot chili a number of different ways, with this you pressure cook on high. So fast you will be enjoying a bowl with kidney beans and ground beef in less than 15 minutes!

Ninja Foodi Chili Con Carne

Seriously you only need 5 ingredients to make this one or our Mild Ninja Foodi Chili. Beyond that of course you can adjust it as you wish to make it spicy or mild. We think beans in chili is a must but if that is hard no for you then by all means skip it. You can use ground beef, sausage, turkey or leave vegetarian too.

Personally I like a bit of heat and usually will use half a roll of spicy ground sausage and half beef. That is up to you too. There are tons of ways to tweak this basic 5 ingredient Instant Pot chili to your liking. I assure you that it will be added to your meal rotation too very soon.

What is the Ninja Foodi?

• The Ninja Foodi is an air fryer meets a pressure cooker and it is making its mark in the cooking world with a vengeance.
• You can literally help to make the meat tender with the pressure cooker aspect of it and then give it a crispy crust with the air fryer component.
• Here’s a free Ninja Foodi cookbook to help you find easy pressure cooker and air fryer recipes too!

Ninja Foodi Chili with Frozen Ground Beef

Can you start with meat that is rock hard? Absolutely! You can cook frozen ground beef in pressure cooker at the beginning if that is all you have. I have had those moments before and you can still save the day, and dinner, if that is all you have.

This works for Jimmy Dean sausage or even ground turkey that has been unwrapped and essentially steamed to tender. You may have just a bit in the center that is icy but you can break that up as you cook it with a spatula.

How to cook frozen meat in your Ninja Foodi

• Add 1 pound of frozen ground sausage or beef on to your trivet
• Put 1.5 cups of water at the bottom of the pot
• Close your pressure cooker lid (one that is not attached)
• Close your steam valve
• Press pressure cook, high for 13 minutes
• Then do a quick release

Make certain that you don’t forget to drain out the liquid that’s accumulated from thawing before continuing on with the rest of your recipe (this one or another). It will cook the outside a bit but will leave the very center still a bit pink. You can saute and cook it entirely first or just break it up. Remember it will cook with the other ingredients too.

Curious how to finish out the rest of this Ninja Foodi Chili recipe? Check out the recipe card below! I have a jump to recipe button above if you aren’t into reading or “talking” but will include other tips along the way too if you’re willing to “listen”.

How to Cook Chili in Ninja Foodi

That depends on you and your wants. Some people like to crush up crackers and eat with their chili while others like to toast up a nice piece of bread to enjoy dipping. Don’t forget about the power of scoop Fritos as well…there’s something so delicious about those scoopable corn chips.

• As for chili toppings
  • chives
  • cheese
  • sour cream
  • Greek yogurt
    • Add a bit of spice with hot sauce or chili powder
      • I always recommend doing this to your own individual bowl rather than the entire pot. Not everyone enjoys their chili spicy!

Now that I’ve got your taste buds primed and ready, enjoy reading the rest of the recipe card to figure out how to make your very own Ninja Food Chili! Then move on to a few other pressure cooker chili recipes you can make in this same pot.

How to make Ninja Foodi chili with dry beans

That is totally up to you. For this I use kidney typically. You can start from scratch too though and make Chili With Dried Beans as well. Just a tip. Do not use the slow cooker function on this thing. It isn’t nearly as good as using just the old fashioned pot for that method. Using high pressure for a fraction of the time will give you the same outcome with a lot less time.

Ninja Foodi Chili Ingredients

• Ground sausage or ground beef – spicy ground sausage is best
• Kidney beans or black beans works
• Diced tomatoes
• Tomato sauce
• Chili seasoning packet, I have even used the fajita seasoning packets from time to time. To save money you can buy large containers of these two and just use 2 -3 tbsp. out of it.
  • Diced green peppers are great too
  • Onion green diced on top is a fave too

Optional add ins

• Diced onions
• Tobasco sauce
• Cheese on top is a must for us too

What type of beans do you use to make pressure cooker chili?

I have used them all but if I want to make a larger batch I will add 1 can of red beans and 1 can of black beans drained. To make this spicy there are a few choices out there. You might have a favorite so use what you like but it comes down to a few for me. Favorite is red pepper flakes, followed by dry Sriracha, chili powder or Tobasco sauce.

Can you cook potatoes and chili together in a pressure cooker?

We love cornbread but using this as filling inside your Ninja Foodi baked potatoes is killer I tell you! If you wanted to make together you’d add everything into the pot with a trivet on top. Then follow directions above for that timing with the russets set on top so they don’t touch each other.

5 Ingredient Ninja Foodi Chili

• If you’re using 1 lb. of frozen ground beef or sausage put 1.5 c of water at the bottom of the pot, trivet inside, with meat on top of the trivet.
• Pressure cook on high for 9 minutes then quick release. Drain water and continue with these directions. (if fresh meat is used skip this step)
• For fresh meat push saute button and add ground beef or sausage + a bit of olive oil and diced onion into pot. Break up into smaller pieces and cook until protein is no longer pink.
• Press stop button so it doesn’t continue to cook.
• Empty can of beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and packet of chili seasoning into your pot and stir contents together well.
• Close pressure cooker lid (one that isn’t attached), close steam valve. Set Ninja Foodi to cook on high pressure for 10 minutes cooking time.

Do a quick release and serve on top of potatoes, over rice, or just in bowls topped with cheese. I bet this will be added to your weekly meal rotation too because it’s healthy, super cheap and has lots of flavor. Printable directions for our 5 ingredient chili are below so you can keep them handy but here’s a quick rundown;