This is the BEST Sunday Chili! Beef, bacon, tomatoes, chopped veggies, beans, and spices – it’s a cozy weather weekend essential!
The Best Sunday Chili
RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU LOVE CHILI!
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Thanks for this recipe! I’ve been making chili for years and this is the best one yet, and now my go-to! As a matter of fact, it’s on the stove now;)
Here’s the thing – I do love chili. But here’s the other thing – I’m kind of picky about chili. I like chili that is:
- Thick! Mega thick.
- Chunky, but small, even chunks – no huge pieces of tomato, please.
- Spicy, but not like fire-in-your-mouth spicy. Just the cozy, warming, winter afternoon kind of spicy.
- Beany in moderation. I want to know that the beans are there, but not be thinking about beans with every bite.
So… with that, I’d like to introduce you to my new favorite Sunday Chili.
In This Post: Everything You Need For The Best Chili Recipe
- VIDEO for How to Make Chili
- Ingredients in This Chili
- How to Make Homemade Chili
- Bacon in Chili
- Thick or Thin Chili
- Perfect Chili Toppings
- What To Serve with Chili
- Freezing Chili
- Frequently Asked Questions
Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?
What I Love About This Recipe
It’s thick and appropriately chunky, spicy and extremely flavorful without being hot, balanced just right between meat, beans, and vegetables, and excellently scoopable (what else is chili for, really).
And not to mention it does that chili magic thing where it GETS BETTER AS LEFTOVERS.
There’s just something about a slow-simmered chili on a Sunday that’s chock-full of cozy goodness.
Ingredients For Chili
We have a really simple and delicious ingredient list for you.
- Ground beef
- Bacon
- Jalapeño pepper, onion, and garlic
- Carrots (if you want)
- Spices
- Crushed tomatoes and tomato paste
- Beans (black beans and pinto beans are great, or you can also add kidney beans)
- Broth
Easy ingredients, the perfect balance of flavors, and all ready to simmer away.
The Basics On How To Make Homemade Chili
Here we go – let’s cook!
- Crisp the Bacon: Very important step here – make an extra slice of bacon to crisp up and munch on while the rest of the chili cooks. This is essential.
- Sauté Veggies: Save that bacon grease in the pan and plop your chopped veggies right in there. Your onions, your garlic, your carrots, your jalapeño – all of that goes in the pot. Also, hot tip alert. Take a look at all the ways to cut an onion (without crying).
- Cook The Beef with Your Spices: Ooooo! Things are smelling really good!
- Add Beans and Liquid: Toss in the tomato paste, tomatoes, beans, broth, and crispy bacon bits (you know, the ones you have left at least after snacking).
- Let it Simmer: Give things a stir, cover the pot, turn the heat down to a low simmer, and go grab a magazine and a glass of wine. Or maybe more realistically in your household, unload the school backpacks, fold the laundry, and listen to the dog bark at a random squirrel in the yard because dinner is pretty much cooking itself at this point.
Scoop these big flavors into a bowl, get your toppings together (maybe cilantro, probably avocado, definitely chips!) and let’s gooooo!
Adding Bacon and Winning Hearts
The bacon! Did the bacon get mentioned yet?! You need it. It’s crispy, and smoky, and provides just the right amount of surprise. Plus, bonus! You can just sauté your veg right up in that bacon grease.
Bless it.
Plus, spices! It’s all in the spices here, friends. Use really fresh spices. Just trust! Go into your kitchen cabinet or spice drawer right now and make sure you don’t have any spices that you’re still using that are from 1986 because, yes, the hairstyles were boppin’, but no, your spices are most definitely not still boppin’ from then. We’re using chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, and salt, which are such kitchen staples that you’ll go through them really quickly.
Thick Chili Or Thin Chili?
Either beef broth or chicken broth will be perfect here for the liquid in this chili. Low-sodium broth can work in a pinch if that’s what you have on hand – just add a bit more salt to balance everything out. Personally, thick chili is the way to go IMO, but just add a bit more broth if you need to thin it out.
Let’s Talk Chili Toppings
The toppings – do we even need to discuss? – are a heavenly salad bar of possibilities. My favorites:
- Avocado
- Cotjia cheese or cheddar cheese
- Cilantro
- Green onion
- Red onion
- Sour cream
- Crushed tortilla chips or crumbled cornbread or Fritos if you’re classy… yes, yes, and yes.
What Else To Serve With Chili
There’s a lot happening here to make this recipe a meal in itself, but if you’re making a full spread, there are a few favorites you could serve alongside it:
- Cornbread: It’s a classic for a reason! It just works.
- Baked Potatoes: Bake ’em, slice ’em open, and stuff ’em with all this chili goodness. Wholeheartedly approve of this decision.
- One-Ingredient Socca: As you know, I’m currently obsessed with this and I think the golden/crispy/bready texture makes it a great dipper with this chili.
- Miracle No Knead Bread: But there’s always this delicious bread for something a little more crusty, hot, buttery, and traditional
- Simple Green Salad: For a little something fresh, green, and crunchy to brighten things up.
How To Freeze Leftover Chili
Okay, wait. You have leftovers? But how?! While we don’t fully understand how you have extras of the best chili ever (!), good news is this chili freezes wonderfully!
- Plop everything in a freezer-safe container or bag.
- Toss it in the freezer to be thawed at a later time.
- Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat on the stovetop. Your future self will thank you for leaving such an incredibly delicious meal for a hectic weeknight.
This hearty, meaty, chunky, high-protein, slow-simmered Sunday chili has BEEN THERE for me and it can be there for you, too.
Grab your toppings and your dippers and your biggest soup spoon.
Sunday + Chili + You = A Very Good Thing.
Sunday Chili: FAQs
Can I use diced tomatoes?
Sure! I really like using crushed tomatoes here, but you can also use canned diced tomatoes.
I have everything except bacon on hand. Will this work without bacon?
It will. The bacon is optional, but SUPER good! A faster alternative is skipping the bacon but sauteeing your veggies in reserved bacon fat or smoked paprika – you keep bacon fat in your fridge, right?! TIME TO START.
Can I make this chili in the Instant Pot?
You sure can! Once everything is browned up, you can add it to the Instant Pot and pressure cook it for 20-30 minutes to concentrate the flavors in less time.
Whew! Looks like a lot of veggies to chop. Any tips to speed this up?
Speedy tip coming your way! You can buy pre-chopped veggies or just chop all your veggies up in the food processor! (affiliate link) Less precise, but super fast and easy. You can also save time on veggie prep with this guide to How to Cut an Onion.
Could I use ground turkey instead of ground beef?
Absolutely! Ground turkey would work great in this as well.
How could I make this chili spicier?
Adding in some cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes with the other spices should do the trick!
Source notes: Chili recipes that helped me come up with this version: Oh Sweet Basil’s Instant Pot Chili and Pressure Cook Recipes Instant Pot Chili. (The last few weeks I started making a Sunday chili in the Instant Pot but realized I preferred a regular stovetop version better, which is how I got here!)
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The Best Sunday Chili
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings (a generous 1 1/2 cups each) 1x
Description
This is the BEST Sunday Chili! Beef, bacon, tomatoes, chopped veggies, beans, and spices – it’s a cozy weather weekend essential!
Ingredients
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- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 6 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
- half of an onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeno, minced
- 4 carrots, minced (optional)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 tablespoons cumin
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3–4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 28–ounce can fire roasted crushed tomatoes
- 2 14–ounce cans beans, rinsed and drained (I like black beans and pinto beans)
- 2 cups beef broth or chicken broth (plus more to thin as needed)
- toppings: avocado, cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, red onion, cilantro
Instructions
- Mix salt with ground beef. Set aside so it can get nice and salty while you prep the other ingredients. In a large Dutch oven over medium high heat, fry your bacon pieces until crispy. Drain on paper towel lined plates. Pour off most of the bacon fat, but leave 1-2 tablespoons for sautéing.
- Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, and carrots. Sauté until soft and fragrant.
- Add the ground beef and spices. Brown until fully cooked.
- Add the tomato paste. Sauté for 2-3 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, beans, broth, and bacon. Bring to a low simmer. Cover it and let it hang out over low heat for at least 30-45 minutes, but ideally 2+ hours (this helps the flavors develop and this is why it’s Sunday chili). You can alternate between keeping it over a low flame and just letting it rest in the hot pot. It will thicken, so use extra water or broth to thin it out to desired consistency.
- BOOM! Top with all your favorite toppings. Make plans to revisit this again next Sunday.
Equipment
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Notes
Instant Pot Instructions: Once everything is browned up, you can add it to the Instant Pot and pressure cook it for 20-30 minutes to concentrate the flavors in less time.
Slow Cooker Instructions: Once everything is browned up, you can add it to your crockpot on low for 3 hours. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: chili recipe, beef chili with bacon, classic chili
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One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our coziest comfort food recipes page. Check it out!
Filed Under: All Recipes Avocado Carrot Dairy-Free Dinner Fall Gluten-Free Jalapeño Legume Main Dishes Meat and Chicken Most Popular Soups Stovetop Sugar-Free Tomato
October 1, 2021
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram so we can find you!
My husband offered to make this for dinner since I’m 41 weeks (and counting?!) with our 4th… basically dinners here had become frozen nuggets 😉
This is not my normal style of chili AT ALL, but I was so surprised by how good it was! I’m pretty sure he followed the directions as written (although he did sub carrots for sweet potatoes to use them up), and my 1, 3, and 4 year old all ate… some! Like a bite. Which, after however many meals of chicken nuggets, is a pretty big win in my book!
As is the case with any good chili, this one was even better the next day. I thought we’d get 2-3 days of leftovers, but we barely made it to the next dinner because it was truly so good!
This recipe was AMAZING! And easy.
I’ve never been a big chili gal but my husband loves it so we make it every now and then. This recipe was a game changer, it is our go to now! Loved it!!!!!!
another pinch of yum hit! we’ve now made this at least 5 days, and freezing the extra portions works great. we like to add extra beef to it.
I’m super excited to try this recipe out! Question: After browning the meat, would I be able to throw all these ingredients in a slow cooker on low for 6 hours or high on 3 hours and it still come out okay? I don’t have a ton of experience with slow cookers but I like the idea of being able to set this to the side and let it do it’s thing, as well as prepare it in larger quantities all at once!
This is my new go-to chili recipe! It has even replaced my mom’s family recipe for chili (sorry, mom!). I’ve made it 3 times now. I like to use a food processor to pulse the garlic, jalapeño, onion, and carrots into small pieces. I find it get so much more flavor from them into the chili! I haven’t tried it with bacon yet because it’s just so good as is!
Great post, very well-detailed! Definitely going to try adding bacon next time what an amazing idea.
So I am not a great cook. That said, this recipe is so easy and even my father (who is a great cook and a bit of a grouch) admits this is really good. I replaced the carrots with a sweet potato and highly recommend that to others! Thanks for making me a hero!
Hi! If I only have regular crushed tomatoes, how do you recommend getting that “fire-roasted” flavor? Any spices that would help?
Hi, Liesl! Regular crushed tomatoes will work in place of fire-roasted tomatoes. You could always add a little bit of smoked paprika for that smoky flavor if you want. Enjoy!
Sweet potato! Great idea, Al!
This chili recipe looks great. I am excited to try and just in time for football season.
This delicious chili has been a part of my “favorite recipe rotation” since it was posted here. It has everything you need. As a veggie lover, I love the addition of all the vegetables and it’s great for the meat lovers of the house too because the veggies don’t compromise the traditional chili flavor. It is such an incredibly easy, yet incredibly flavorful dish.
I usually omit the bacon because, honestly, I’m just too lazy for the bacon addition but even without it… *chefs kiss*
Can we use any other meat than beef? will it be good and delicious as beef?
For sure! Any ground meet will work!
I love this recipe – I make it a lot and it’s just me and my husband so we freeze leftovers in two-portion containers and it’s always delicious. That said, I don’t eat pork. I tried to replace bacon with turkey bacon and it didn’t do the job. I always just add a little extra oil and salt, but is there anything else you would recommend to replace the bacon?
We don’t have a great replacement for the bacon, so what you’ve been doing with extra oil and salt is a great a idea!
Aurora and Krista,
I don’t eat pork either but came across beef bacon at Whole Foods (some retailers online sell it as well) and it serves as a perfect replacement!
Glad to hear it, Chasity!
So easy and delicious! Had been wanting to try and make chili for a while, so glad I made this one!
5 stars! This chili is so good, it’s addictive. I married a Texan so we usually increase the ground beef to 2 lb, add a little more of the spices, and only add 1 can a beans. Any way you do it, it tastes wonderful!
Thanks for this I was debating just these alterations for my family!
It specifically says “Dutch oven”-would it be ok to cook this in a stainless steel pot? Also, is the bacon streaky or back bacon? Can’t wait to make this.
Yes, you can cook this in a stainless steel pot. For the bacon, I’m not super familiar with the difference, but I believe you’ll be looking for streaky bacon. Enjoy, Luna!
Pretty solid chili. I will make it again but I had to make some additions. It was fairly bland so I needed to add an additional teaspoon of salt. The recipe also didn’t call for sugar and you have to use sugar when cooking with this much tomatoes. I added some at the beginning and it needed more after it was done. The chili was also a but too soupy. Next time I’ll use about 3/4th of the liquid. Overall it was solid though.
This is my third time making this chili. I used peppered bacon that I cook in the oven first. We don’t care for onions so we leave them out and I just used onion powder instead. This is the best chili recipe.
Lindsay – you asked on FB about chili (beans or no). I can’t answer on fb, but I thought I’d write here. Funny chili story: I was in charge of the football parents at Northwestern (College) when you and all my boys were there. We did a get-together meal before every home game, and chili was a favorite every year. We would plan to combine our chilis into large kettles; however, families from different states made their chili differently. Some added noodles, some not, one put the chili over rice; some spicy, some not. We had so much fun with all the differences. Food is not just a great chance to gather, but a geographical/historical lesson. Love your blog 🙂
Made your Sunday Chili yesterday and it was fabulous. Never have I included bacon or carrots before in my chili and they added such a great flavor and consistency.
I plan to make more of your recipes. Thank you.
This is a great chili recipe and it has the added bonus of bacon for extra flavor. I always get lots of compliments whenever I take it or serve it to friends and family.
I usually substitute 2 stalks of celery for the 2 carrots and often substitute a bottle of pureed tomatoes for the chunky canned tomatoes. It doesn’t alter the texture or flavor one little bit. Try it — and you’ll be hooked.
Did you mean 2 tsp of cumin? I found 2 tbsp VERY overpowering!
extremely tasty and easy like my other Pinch of Yum favs!
It’s crazy! I get soooo hungry browsing this blog. Your images are soooooo real!!! I LOVE food too and this Monday Chili is going to be All Week Chili in my kitchen!
Thank you for having a veggie section!!!
I use plant based beef like Beyond Beef or Impossible meats and add Edward and Sons Not Beef or Not chicken bouillon. No one knows the difference! I even throw in some lentils for more fiber! A favorite in my home!
I also use Morningstar farms bacon! I fry it first and crumble it finely and add to the chili.
made this last night! SO GOOD. I did not have bacon so I left it out and it was still DEISH! Thanks again!!
Absolutely delicious! My husband and I both loved it. The smokeyness of the bacon adds something special. This will be our go to chili recipe from here on out!