Description
No one will ever guess that this delicious chili was made with just 5 ingredients!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 lb. ground beef or turkey*
- 1 small white onion, diced
- 3 (15 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
- 2 (15 oz.) cans beans, drained (black beans, kidney beans, a combo, or whatever you like)
- 2 Tbsp. chili powder
- (optional toppings: shredded cheese, chopped green onions, sour cream, cilantro, etc.)
Instructions
- In a large stockpot, cook ground beef or turkey over medium-high heat until browned, stirring frequently. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked beef or turkey to a separate plate and set aside. Reserve 1 tablespoon of grease in the stockpot, and discard the rest.
- Add the onion to the stockpot and saute for 4-5 minutes, or until soft.
- Add remaining ingredients and the cooked beef or turkey to the stockpot, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with optional toppings if desired. Or, store in a sealed container for up to 3 days.
Notes
*If using ground turkey, you will need to heat a tablespoon of olive oil beforehand to help cook and brown the turkey, and then add an additional tablespoon of oil to cook the onion.
**You can also make this in the slow cooker. You just need to brown your meat on the stove and drain it before adding the meat to your slow cooker. Then slow cook the chili on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
I’m the same way with football! And all sports lately. I love baseball and the Red Sox, but cannot understand how people watch every single game! But this year? It was pretty awesome.
This chili looks like the PERFECT Sunday afternoon dish… And easy enough to make that I can still kinda sorta pay attention to the game :)
When you’re from Philadelphia, it’s almost against the law to be a fair weather fan. However, football is probably the sport I pay least attention to so I feel you.
Either way, this chili will be perfect now that the weather here is dipping down into sub-zero temps. A little cheese on top of this baby and I’m good to go!
Game day NEEDS chili. It is a must! This look so goo, Ali! I love the dark red color!
Looks delicious! I am really into soups and chili right now. Love eating them for dinner on these cold nights.
Wow, wow, wow (and two more “wow’s”)! All of this recipes look so spectacular, and yet so simple. Can’t wait to try the chili!
You are really ROCKING it with these 5-ingredient soup recipes :).
I am so excited about your Chiefs! Our team (the St. Louis Rams)…well, not the same record by any stretch of the imagination. I hope your team keeps rocking it and in the meantime, I will be trying out this easy chili!
That is exactly, and I do mean right down to the tomatoes and chilis, how I make my chili. It is delicious! Great recipe :-)
Your recipe looks amazingly easy and delicious, and I was just wondering if you think I could throw this in the slow cooker and cook it on low while I’m at work for the day?
Man, this looks fantastic!! My husband and I love chili :)
I just made this recipe last night and my husband and I loved it. So delicious thanks for sharing :) Look forward to trying more of your recipes.
What type of chili powder (what brand) did you use? I feel like since it’s the most important ingredient, I want to make sure I use a good one! Thanks for the easy recipe!
I like Spice Island, which was rated best chili powder by Cooks Illustrated. :)
I love your Chilli Recipe. I made it for my husband and I for something quick and was pleasantly surprised at how simple and delicious it was. I am looking forward to trying your other 5 ingredient recipes. Keep up the good work.
yumm can’t wait to make the 5 ingredient white chicken chili tonight. gonna definitely add the avocados & cilantro on top (:
They are my favorite I’m making them for my boyfriend’s birthday party cause he loves them too :)
Chili
All I can say is…thanks! I didn’t manage to snap a photo of the chili I made due to the crazy-ness of Halloween yesterday, but this recipe sure saved me a lot of time, fed everyone (I doubled the recipe) and it was a big hit! I made a couple changes though because I (stupidly) didn’t read your recipe closely enough before I went to the store. I replaced the chili powder w/ red pepper flakes, and added 2 tblsp beef bouillon.
Thank you! (I really like your blog)
Do you drain the fat from the meat?
Good question. Up to you, but I definitely would to cut down on grease.
Made this recipe with chickpeas, 5 fresh tomatoes, cause that’s what i had. Accidentally forgot to drain the canned beans, but I seasoned the beef with a tablespoon of cajun seasoning, so still tasted good. Thanks for this! !
First time making chili, I made your 5-ingredient one. I’m not a chili fan, but I absolutely love it! So easy to make! Gave some to my neighbor and she loved it. Tried it on my boss, and he said it was the best he ever had and since that was my first attempt at it, I should not do anything more to it. I’m now making a batch for my brother-in-law who loves chili but cannot eat it real spicy due having a recent bout of tonsil cancer (now cancer free)…this will be the perfect chili for him. Thank you for sharing it!
It’s me again. Help! Making a batch of your chili and I must’ve done something wrong…maybe put more chili powder in than the last time…it seems to be a bit more spicier than the last. I need to mild it down. What should I do?
This chili is delicious. I’ve made it three time this month. I used ground turkey. I might be addicted to this chili
Very tasty broccoli.cheese soup. However, wish it were thicker. Help!
did this for dinner tonight I only put in a tea spoon of chili powder in and it was just enough for me. Thank you for sharing this recipe I look forward to trying more of your recipe .
Thanks Debra, I’m glad you liked it!
Just made this added some fritos and cheese on top and it was amazing. I have a 2 month old so this was a great simple recipe that was quick to make and filling to eat.
Fritos?! Now you’re talking! So glad you enjoyed it. : )
This is pretty much my go to recipe for chili, I make it a couple times a month. Tonight we added zucchini and it was amazing!! I try to make enough so I can have some for the next day because it’s so good!
That’s awesome Renee, we’re so glad you love it! Good call on the zucchini too, we bet that’s a delicious addition!
Is there a substitute for the chili powder? I couldn’t find it in my local grocery store oddly enough! And I only found diced tomatoes without the green chillies! Any substitutes for them? It looks delicious and I can’t wait to try!
Oooh, there’s really not a great substitute for chili powder in this one. There are various other KINDS of chili powders you can use — ancho, chipotle, etc., but I’d say it’s worth it to track down a traditional chili powder (not cayenne). And feel free to use the diced tomatoes with green chiles, those will taste great!
Great recipe! I just made it in the slow cooker. Super easy and tasty. I did add a little garlic powder and some red pepper flakes, and I lightly seasoned the ground beef while I browned it, but that mostly has to do with my personal taste.
While delicious and simple, my chili didn’t really look like the chili in the photo. I wish mine had that deep rust hue and thicker texture. I literally just made it and had a bowl, so maybe if will develop that color as it sits a few more hours or overnight and melds together.
So glad you enjoyed the chili! Yes, different chili powders can yield different colors, as can other factors with cooking. Whatever the color though, I hope it still tasted great! :)
Could you make something like this with ground chicken?
We haven’t tried that Sherry, but we suspect you could! :)
Do I need to add water to the chili?
Nope, you shouldn’t need to. Enjoy!
Your chili recipe looks fantastic and so easy. Only thing for Me and my Family is we have to have more meat in our chili. I will certainly be making this though and using my crock pot. Thanks so much for this recipe and all of your others. I just discovered your site when looking for an easy recipe for Scalloped or Au gratin Potatoes and they are in the oven now. :)
Thanks for your sweet words Susie, we hope you enjoy it! And you can definitely add more meat if you like. : ) And we hope you like the potatoes as well! :D
My mouth is watering!! Just 5 ingredients? You are a genius!! Thank you sharing this :)
Thanks Mary, we hope you love it! :)
Hi, I made this recipe exactly as directed & it was delicious, except my beans remained hard. How do I fix this issue for next time?….I really enjoyed the flavor & simplicity. Help!
Thanks in advance! Great recipe.
P.S. yes, I used canned beans (1 pinto + 1 kidney).
Hmmmm, that’s odd, even the canned beans should be nice and soft right out of the can. Maybe they were past their expiration date or something? You might try the recipe again with a different brand of canned beans. Best wishes, and thanks for trying the recipe!
This is the basis of my chili, too; I’ve been cooking since I was eight years old, when Mom was in the hospital, Dad was working full time, plus was building an addition onto the house, and my three little sibs needed attention. Dad asked me to help him by doing some of the cooking, and even though Mom got out of the hospital after just a couple days, she hated cooking so much, she let me take over the kitchen. One of my first recipes was chili–and I put in a heaping Tablespoon of chili powder, way overpowering it! Dad was a good sport–nobody else could eat it until Mom managed to doctor it a bit–but asked me to please, please, please, PLEASE go much lighter on the spices.
Now my chili also includes cumin, as well as ketchup (it does some marvelous things in the traditional pot of beans and meat, as well as a meat combination of ground beef, ground buffalo and ground turkey. No football games, though–never have been a fan :-)
Very cool Joyce, thanks for sharing your story with us – that’s pretty darn impressive that you were cooking at just eight years old!
Thank You for this crazy-simple-&-delish recipe! (The only thing I added was a bit of cumin. :) ) I made this along with cornbread & all-beef hot dogs (because its football Sunday, of course!) & my family loved it; my mother-in-law, who had cochlear implant surgery last week, said she had been craving that “something” lately & this absolutely hit the spot for her. Thank you for being a blessing to her!
You’re so welcome Sarah! We’re happy you and your family enjoyed this – we hope your mother-in-law gets well soon! <3
I made this tonight for my house, and as I’ve never made chili before, I didn’t know tomato sauce was definitely a staple for the chili to thicken. Going to add it in and see how it goes, but it would definitely work to add this into your recipe!
We hope you enjoy the chili Shido! :)
Hello,
I am very interested to make this simple chili recipe for my family, it looks really awesome.
Could you please tell me what exactly this means? “3 (15 oz.) cans diced tomatoes”
Is it 3x can, each of them having 15 oz., or is it 15 oz. in total? It may be stupid question, but I have almost no experience with cooking so I have to ask you to make this clear for me.
Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Hi Daniel, you need three 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes. Not a stupid question at all! :) We hope you and your family enjoy the recipe!
Just made this chili tonight. It was amazing! My husband who isn’t crazy about chili loved this. The recipe was so simple. This is my new recipe for chili.
Thanks Sheila, we’re so happy this was a hit with you and your husband! Thanks for making the recipe, and for taking the time to comment! :)
Made this chili the other day. SOOOOOO YUMMY!!!!!
The grocery store in a festival of lame only had one can of the tomatoes that the recipe calls for. So I got that one and then for the other 2 cans of tomatoes I did 1 can diced tomatoes with Jalapenos, and 1 can diced tomatoes with green pepper and onion. I’m going to make it like that from now on, everyone loved it and had seconds. :-)
We’re so glad you and your family enjoyed the chili, thanks for sharing! :)
Love the simplicity of this! Making this for dinner tonight and since my weekly groceries are running low I’m glad this barley requires any ingredients, can’t wait to try this.
I am really considering doing this for dinner tonight, just was wondering is it spicey at all? I love spicey but my boyfriend doesn’t like to spicey so I need opinions asap before tonight!!! Thanks
Hi Jasmine, it really depends on if your boyfriend can handle a little bit of spice, or if he can’t do spicy at all. We don’t find this to be spicy, but everyone’s palate and preference is different. If you’re worried about it being too spicy for him, you can always use diced tomatoes without the green chiles (or just get the mild kind), and you can also start out with 1 TBS of chili powder, taste it and add more if you’d like. We hope this helps!
Thank you for sharing! I am curious, what would you recommend to substitute the meat for vegetarians? my first thought about tofu, yet maybe that would be too soggy? (plus I can’t get used to the texture! lol yuk)
You’re welcome Izzy! We would probably recommend soyrizo in this, we think that would be yummy and that it should have a good texture – we hope that helps! :)
I made the 5 ingredient easy chili, it was amazing….my husband said it was the best chili I have ever made…I couldn’t find the diced tomatoes with the green chiles but it worked out perfect…thank you….Bonita
Thanks for sharing Bonita, what a nice compliment! We’re happy you and your husband enjoyed this! :)
Hi ! When making the 5 ingredient chili, do you drain the liquid out of the cans of beans or do you include the liquid ?
Hi Sandra, we drain the beans — we hope you enjoy the chili!
This may be a silly question but do you keep the canned tomatoes in their juice? I would assume yes otherwise you would’ve noted to drain them but just checking! Can’t wait to try this. :)
Hi Ziva! Yes, you use the tomato juice as well. We hope you enjoy! :)
Me and my mom love this recipe so much that every Tuesday is chili night now! Ive made this chili 3 weeks in a row. I’m actually about to go to the store and buy the stuff to make it now! ☺
That’s such a sweet tradition Jessy, thank you for sharing with us! We’re so glad you and your mom enjoy are fans! :)
How many servings does this recipe give you? Making for a large group and want to have enough. Sounds great!
Hi Phil! The serving size is listed in the recipe, right above the recipe title. This should make 4-6 servings, so depending on how large your group is, you might want to double it. We hope that helps, and that you enjoy the chili! :)
OOh – 2 tbs of hot Mexican chili powder along with the green chilies was way too much heat. Next time I’ll use mild chili powder. I may try spooning it over cooked elbows ala American chop suey.
I just made this last night, and my husband loved it! Unfortunately, 2Tbsp of chili powder was too much for me :( Next time I’m going to just do 1Tbsp, and go from there :)
Hey Phoenix! We’re sorry you found it too spicy — we think starting with 1 TBS is a good plan.
If using the extra ingredients, how many tbs or cups do I use?
Hi Kyleigh, it’s totally up to you – however much you like! :) We hope you enjoy!