Be prepared! You can’t just have one bowl of this delicious vegetarian chili recipe! I recently took a pot of this awesome chili to a church potluck with my chili cheese cornbread – stay tuned to my blog for that recipe! To make a long story short, people are demanding I bring chili and cornbread again next week or there might be a riot.

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This chili recipe is super easy and quick if you use an Instant Pot, like I do. My Instant Pot cuts down on the time it take to cook pinto beans from 8 hours in the crock pot to 70 MINUTES! I love that I can set a delayed start and have a fresh pot of beans or lentils or rice, etc… waiting for me when I get home from work with hungry kids! Seriously, if you don’t have one yet, buy it now (here’s the Amazon link) and thank me later!

Ok, now to get serious!

Ingredients for the Ultimate Chili Recipe

• 2 cups Uncooked Pinto Beans – if you don’t have an Instant Pot yet and you’re really pressed for time you can use canned cooked pinto beans, but it won’t be as good)
• 2 Onions – chopped
• 3 cans of fire roasted tomatoes (or chop fresh tomatoes)
• 2 dried California chili pods
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• cumin
• cayenne
• salt

If you want to add meat to your chili like turkey or beef, you can add it when you add your seasonings and finish cooking.

Instructions

1. Cook your pinto beans in lots of water in until done. Like I said, I cook mine in my Instant Pot in 70 minutes!
2. Open the Instant Pot after it has cooled down, vented off steam and is safe to open.
3. If you want your chili on the thin side, add more water to reach desired consistency..
4. Add the fire roasted tomatoes, granulated garlic powder, crushed red pepper, cumin, chopped onion and salt (as desired) to the cooked pinto beans.
5. IF YOU WANT IT *SPICY* add lots of cayenne, serrano peppers and/or jalapenos as desired. Since individual pepper’s hotness varies, use your own judgement to get the perfect amount of pizazz
6. Next, chop or tear up dried California chilies and add to the beans.
7. Set the Instant Pot to cook for another 10 minutes
8. ENJOY!

Done!