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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Made today awesome….great flavor. Family loved it. Topped each bowl with shredded cheddar cheese. Served with honey corn muffins. Awesome
This is from cans, not scratch … factory/fast canned foods are not healthy scratch foods … they are harmful.
You can cook your own beans. 3/4 cup dried beans = 15 oz can. Cook them on low in a crock pot over night with 2 cups of water and 1/4 tsp. salt per 3/4 cup of beans.
Whether using canned beans or dried beans, just always make sure you’re using organic beans. Otherwise, most bean farmers spray their bean crop with Roundup a few days before harvest to dry out the plant.
My sister made this and absolutely raved over it. I went and got all the ingredients to make it, but got ground italian sausage. I got to thinking that it might have meant pork breakfast sausage. Will what I purchased be ok, or should I go get the other kind? Thanks!
Yes, ground Italian sausage will work!
My favorite chili recipe and I have made many over last 60 years! I substitute a can of mild rotel tnstead of tomatos and I use v8 instead of tomato juice.
This chili is so sweet it could be served as a dessert. It was like Hormel but sweeter. Not for us.
Can ground turkey and turkey sausage be substituted for the ground beef and pork sausage?
Sure!
Did you use Jimmy Dean sausage? I’m not sure sage would be good for this chili. If not, what type do you recommend? Thank you.
I use regular flavor jimmy dean sausage.
I’ve cooked chili beans for years!!! These are the best Chili beans by far!!! I’ve made them one time, best find ever…
This is the best chili i have made. Made it 3 or 4 times now.. I cook it in 2 instant pots. In one I cook dry beans to mix in later. I do the rest using the saute function on the instant pot other. I think from a health standpoint that there is probably too much sugar with the ketchup, but from a taste standpoint, i would recommend making the recipe as closely as possible to the original before you change it. Daughter is becoming a vegetarian so i need to find a good vegetarian chili recipe next. 🙂
Tasted too much ketchup, and I only used half of the amount the recipe called for.