This easy Homemade Chili recipe is a WINNER, packed with hearty ground beef, sausage, beans, and a blend of bold spices, simmered to rich perfection. It's made in one pot or a slow cooker and freezes well, too.
My classic Chili recipe is ready for your chili cook-off!
My classic Chili recipe is ready for your chili cook-off!Every year I have at least one reader who writes in that this chili recipe won an award at a chili cook-off! It's the BEST, and my go-to when I need something hearty, comforting, and easy to whip up. It's endlessly adaptable, too — sometimes I’ll toss in extra veggies or a strip of crispy bacon for added flavor, and it's just as delicious made vegetarian with extra beans. Whether we’re piling it onto cornbread waffles, chili dogs, french fries, drizzling it over nachos, or ladling it up with a side of cornbread, it’s a meal that always brings people together.
How to make our award-winning Chili Recipe:
Cook Meat and Combine: Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and sauté the onions for about 5 minutes, until soft and lightly caramelized. Add the ground beef and sausage, breaking it apart with a meat chopper as it cooks, and continue until browned. Drain grease, then stir in the vinegar and cook for 1 minute to deglaze the pan.
Simmer and Serve: Add the diced tomatoes, tomato juice, ketchup, beans, brown sugar, chili powder, garlic salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, and cayenne. Stir well and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer uncovered for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. If you need it thicker, sprinkle a big spoonful of cornmeal over the top and stir it in. Use a ladle to serve warm with sour cream, shredded cheese, and your favorite sides like cornbread, potato skins, biscuits, or a green salad.
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Recipe
Easy Homemade Chili
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion , diced
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork sausage (I use Jimmy Dean)
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes , petite, undrained
- 4 cups tomato juice*
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 15 ounce cans pinto beans , undrained
- 1 16 ounce can kidney beans , undrained
- 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons chili powder
- ¾ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more if you want it spicier)
- cornmeal to thicken, if desired
- shredded cheddar cheese , optional
- sour cream , optional
Instructions
- Saute onion: Add the olive oil to a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.1 Tablespoon olive oil, 1 large onion
- Brown meat: Add ground beef and sausage to the pot and cook, breaking apart into small pieces with a meat chopper or wooden spoon until browned. Remove the grease.2 pounds lean ground beef, 1 pound ground pork sausage
- Add the vinegar and cook for 1 minute. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato juice, ketchup, beans, brown sugar, chili powder, garlic salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, and cayenne.¼ cup red wine vinegar, 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, 4 cups tomato juice*, 1 cup ketchup, 2 15 ounce cans pinto beans, 1 16 ounce can kidney beans, 3 Tablespoons chili powder, ¾ teaspoon garlic salt, ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoons ground cumin, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
- Simmer: Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring, then reduce the heat and simmer over medium-low heat for at least one hour, or up to 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until thickened. The more it simmers, the thicker and more flavorful it will be! (and if you'd like it even thicker, stir in a sprinkle of cornmeal).cornmeal
- Serve: Ladle chili into bowls and top with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheese.shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe August 2019. Updated October 2021, September 2023 and September 2025.
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This is a great recipe ! I’ve made this about 4 times, I personally drain the beans because the extra liquid caused it to need to be cooked way longer than 3 hours. I ran out of ground beef and had to use Italian sausage instead, now it’s my go to. I also add andouille turkey sausage instead of ground pork for a little razzle dazzle. The seasonings are perfect, no need to adjust in my opinion.
I definitely rinsed the sludge out of all the canned beans because that would be gross and chalky. At first it just tasted way too Ketchupy but it mellows out if you cook it at least an hour like or says. It’s still a bit sweet for us and yet it has a strong abrupt kick.
worst chili ive ever had in my life
Hi Gary, I’m sorry you didn’t like it–is there a reason why?
Absolutely delicious! It will be my new go to chili recipe. The red wine vinegar I believe gives it that unique over the top taste. Whole family loved it.
Had to come back here and report this is the best chili I’ve ever made! My family is obsessed!
Made this last night. I used fresh tomatoes and bell peppers from the garden. My family does not typically eat Chili, but they all enjoyed this.
Thank you
Delicious! I’ve never put tomato juice in chili but this was great! One used 2 cans of beans or else it wouldn’t have fit in my crockpot.
My family doesn’t care for chili usually but I wanted to try it because we’ve loved so many recipes from tbfs. And yeah, it’s amazing! The flavors are perfect and just the right amount of kick. I used half an onion and only 1 lb beef 1 lb sausage and that’s all my crock pot would hold! Definitely using this again.
I love this recipe. I thought I could go back and edit my first comment but I can’t so here’s another. I tried to use everything as the recipe called for it but I didn’t have pinto beans and neither did our local grocery store. I bought a bag of navy beans and popped them in the pressure cooker. Game changer. I think I will do this from now on instead of buying canned beans. One think I will need to do next time is keep some of the liquid. I used hot sausage along with the hamburger because it was all I had in my freezer. The taste was amazing, although a bit nose clearing. Great with sour cream. I didn’t have cheese. I think the next time I make it I will go a little easy of the hot stuff (used diced tomatoes with chilis, too) because my other half said it was quite spicy. Oh well, that’s good for our metabolism, right? Loved it – thank you for this. Next weekend I think I will try the white chicken chili!
I made this recipe last night. So good! I like it better than my tried and true recipe that I normally use!