Your fall and winter nights NEED this easy homemade chili! Read below to find out what my secret ingredient is – it gives the easy homemade chili (and my healthy turkey chili) a rich and deep flavor, without requiring any extra time (and you probably have the ingredients in your pantry!). And when you’ve got leftovers, be sure to use them for super simple chili cheese dip, it’s always the first to go at parties!
Easy homemade chili is just what it sounds like. EASY. CHILI. MADE AT HOME!
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Is there anything better than chili come the colder fall and winter months? I know I’m on a little bit of a chili kick, after my recent slow cooker turkey chili nachos, and my popular slow cooker turkey quinoa chili recipe.
I’m a bit of a chili fanatic, but can you blame me? It’s easy to make BIG batches of it. It’s full of nutritious ingredients like turkey, beans, and vegetables. It’s endlessly customizable. And then everyone can top their own bowls of chili. What else do you top your homemade chili with? If you’re feeding kids, be sure to let them top their own bowl!
But I wanted just a classic easy homemade chili, and so here we are. In all it’s beef-y glory, this chili is GOOD.
My Easy Homemade Chili Secret Ingredient:
Are you ready for the secret? Marinara sauce. And bone broth. Both of these add major depth-in-flavor (that’s a fancy, chef way of saying that it adds a richness and layers of flavor – which you want!), without requiring any extra cooking time, ingredients, or general fussiness. If you don’t have bone broth or don’t want to buy it, you can use beef broth, but definitely don’t skip the marinara sauce.
I love using marinara sauce in my soups and chilis! It all started with this easy minestrone soup and now I’m hooked. It gives soups and this easy homemade chili a really rich flavor, so much more than regular diced tomatoes.
You can have this chili on the table in 30 minutes (like all of my weeknight dinner recipes), or you can make it head of time and let it soak up some more flavor. The marinara and beef bone broth really help to add flavor to the chili quickly, so it doesn’t need as much time on the stove. Or if you’re like me and chili tastes a little bit better the next day, make it ahead of time.
What Ingredients go into Easy Homemade Chili?
There’s nothing fancy in this easy homemade chili. It’s a classic mix of ground beef, onions, chili spices (or chili powder), tomatoes, and beans. The marinara and bone broth are the only items that aren’t necessarily standard in homemade chili.
How to Season Easy Homemade Chili?
One of the reasons I love chili so much is that it’s so forgiving – and so customizable depending on personal preferences. Like your homemade chili spicy? Add some more cayenne, red pepper flakes, or hot sauce. Prefer a hint of cinnamon? Add it! Like it smokey? Add some canned chipotle peppers in adobo.
How do you make chili on the stove?
Homemade chili on the stove is so easy. While you can make it in the slow cooker and let it slowly simmer, the texture of ground beef is much better when you brown it on the stove first. After you brown the meat, you may as well just add the rest of the ingredients to the pot and let it simmer away.
How do you make chili with ground beef?
You can make chili with any ground meat, or combination of ground meats. I’ve done turkey, pork, ground beef… They all work well! If you are going to use ground turkey, I would not use the extra lean ground turkey breast as it will be a little drier. When it comes to ground beef, I would also not recommend going with the leanest variety, but any level of fat should work. Choose based on availability and preference. Ground beef and ground pork are fantastic together in chili.
Topping Ideas for Easy Homemade Chili
Chili toppings are definitely part of the appeal of chili, don’t you agree? I love a combo of creamy, crunchy, and cool.
Here are some easy chili topping ideas:
- sour cream or plain greek yogurt
- shredded cheddar cheese
- avocado or guacamole
- chopped onions (any kind)
- chopped cilantro
- frozen (but thawed) corn
- black olives
- pickled jalapeno peppers or salsa
- tortilla chips, corn chips, or corn bread
More Soup Recipes
If you like this homemade chili recipe, you might also like some of these other soup and chili recipes:
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Easy Homemade Chili
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: American
Description
Your fall and winter nights NEED this easy homemade chili!
Ingredients
- 1 large white onion
- 5 cloves garlic
- 15.5 oz. can black beans
- 15.5 oz. can kidney beans
- 2 lbs. ground beef (80% lean)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/4–1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 26 oz. jar garlic marinara
- 14.5 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 cup beef broth
- toppings: sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped cilantro, chopped onion
Instructions
- Prepare ingredients:
Chop onion.
Mince garlic.
Drain and rinse beans. - Heat large pot over medium high heat. Add oil to pot and when it shimmers, add onions, cooking for about 3-4 minutes.
- Add garlic to pan and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add ground beef, breaking up a bit with the back of a spoon.
- Add seasonings to ground beef, stir to combine, and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add marinara, tomatoes (don’t drain), beans, and broth to pot.
- Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for at least 15 minutes, or longer.
- Season with salt to taste.
- Serve with plenty of toppings.
Notes
- Instead of seasonings, you can use 1 1/2-2 Tbsp. of chili powder. Add salt to taste.
- Be sure that your marinara sauce is a plainer version, and not one with Italian flavors.
- Bone broth helps add a really deep and rich flavor, use it if you can!
- Toppings are not included in nutrition facts.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 1/4 cup
Keywords: chili, easy chili, beef chili, healthy chili
Tessa
My husband took this to a chili cook-off at work and WON!!!! Thank you!
★★★★★
Lenora
It’s super easy and I used ground pork because I can’t eat beef. Added a few different spices too. It was great!
Thanks for your recipe!
★
Arianne Gravunder
My whole family loves this chili
★★★★★
Lisa
We had this for Super Bowl Sunday. Even my husband that doesn’t like beans absolutely loved it! I found that this is my favorite Chili, perfect taste and not to hot but can make the spice to your liking.
★★★★★
Kristin
Delicious! I changed it only slightly as I had 1lb of Italian sausage and 1 lb of beef on hand. I added two finely chopped jalapeños as my husband and I like spicy dishes! Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
★★★★★
Emily
LOVE that swap! Thanks for sharing!
AJ
I am anxious to try this chili recipe using marinara but I have not been able to find any brand of marinara in the * 26 ounce * size listed in the recipe. Please advise on the one that you use. Thank you in advance!
Emily
Don’t worry if it’s not exact! If it’s around 22-30 oz. it will work fine! 🙂