Pressure Cooker Chili With Dry Beans

Here is an easy and flavorful pressure cooker chili with dry beans recipe. Using a 13 bean blend and no soaking required. You can now made homemade Instant Pot chili in under 45 minutes! A hearty dinner idea that is perfect year round.

Instant Pot Chili with Dried Beans

One of the very first recipes I made was our easy Instant Pot chili recipe that only has 5 ingredients. It is fabulous and we still make this a few times a month, but sometimes you want homemade.

If you only have a Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi you can use the same instructions below. It doesn’t matter what the brand is as long as you have the pressure function.

How to Make Chili with Dried Beans

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be initially. I was also surprised that you really could use any bean variety of your choice. As long as you used the timing and liquid requirements in the recipe card below it would come out great every time. Give it a whirl yourself!

In this case you are going to use high pressure and this Instant Pot cooking times for beans chart to see if times vary for the first step of cooking your beans. Once you get them tender you can proceed to making all sorts of things, in this case chili.

Drained you can add all sorts of flavors to thicken the sauce around them and into dishes like baked beans or the kid fave of Instant Pot chili mac which is done in 15 minutes (after this first tenderizing step) and gets thumbs up from the grown ups too.

Ninja Foodi Chili with Dry Beans

Of course when it comes to any easy chili recipe, it’s all about the add ins. Keep these substitutions in mind when making your homemade chili with dry beans. If you love spicy chili then add more chili powder and maybe a tbsp or so of  Tobasco or Sriracha…whatever your hot sauce of choice is really.

If you want to load your chili up with vegetables then feel free to add lots of onions, green onions, and diced bell peppers of all varieties are great too!

13 bean mix was used here from Bob’s Red Mill (found in the aisle with all the other dry beans in a bag) but if you prefer just one type of bean, like pinto beans in your chili then use that instead.

How to Make Instant Pot Chili with Dry Beans

A bagged 13 bean soup mix you can find in the store always has a basic chili recipe on the back. I figured I could use that as a base and turn it into a pressure cooker chili with dry beans for sure.

What dried beans are best for chili?

Well, when it comes to a traditional chili recipe, kidney beans are considered the best choices. They retain their firmness and shape under heat, are very hearty, and absorb spices and flavors nicely. Really it is up to you though and I would recommend that you switch it up to see which are your faves.

• I use light red beans of this variety with my Instant Pot and 5 ingredient Crockpot chili recipes as well but they’re canned.
• I like to try new things though and that is why I went with this blend to see how it would work.
• In the end the mix of beans gave it a more interesting flavor and texture as well. It got thumbs up all around the table so I’d make it this way again for sure.
  • Use what you like though and go from there, this variety is just a suggestion. If you follow the measurements below you could easily swap these out for the “regular” type.
  • I’m not a “regular” person I guess and like to think outside the box, especially when cooking is involved.

The great thing about cooking dry beans is that if you’re in a homebound or emergency situation, they are something that are likely to never expire.

I have a plastic container with every bean imaginable just for situations like this. You just never know right. 😉

Chilli InstaPot

I like flavorful but not spicy spicy so I would say the directions below are for a mild chili version of chili….amp it up from there. It is really easy to create a very flavorful dish with a variety of spices in your cupboard right now. 

Of course you can always add a chili packet of seasoning into your homemade chili using dry beans to make things even easier.

• We mix it up with our other version using canned beans that is done in just 30 minutes. Both are winners for dinner in my opinion.
• Like I said, if you like spicy by all means add more chili powder and/or Tobasco to amp it up.

Served as is with some shredded cheese on top, over rice, or inside a baked potato this  pressure cooker chili with dry beans is so yummy!!

Homemade Chili using Dry Beans Ingredients

1. Dry beans mix – I used this 13 bean soup mix
2. Ground beef
   1. I guess you could leave this out if you wish
   2. Hamburger is a must in our house
3. Onion
4. Green onions
5. Diced tomatoes
6. Tomato sauce
7. Seasoned salt – I used Lawry’s
8. Can of diced chiles
9. Chili powder
10. Some garlic powder
11. Garlic salt
    1. add some minced garlic too if you want
12. Cheese – shredded to put on top when it’s done is a must for us, we often times serve it over Instant Pot white rice as well

Looking for more Instant Pot chili using dry beans we have a lot. This Instant Pot white bean chicken chili is quite wonderful to start with.

Instant Pot Recipes with Dry Beans

I hope this makes you understand how cooking beans in a pressure cooker works, and that you do it more often thereafter.

• No need to use pre soaked pressure cooker black beans anymore. Just submerged in water or beef broth. Then cook on high pressure, and you too can go from dry to perfect in no time.
• These Instant Pot 15 bean soup requires no soaking either!
• Instant Pot Hoppin John is great year round topped with a small dollop of sour cream
• Our Instant Pot red beans and rice is great using canned kidney beans. Great if you need an easy pantry recipe for a meal.

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