This Family Favorite Chili is made with hearty ingredients and simple flavors. It’s budget-friendly and perfect for a quick and easy meal.
There are some recipes that are just perfect for family dinners. This Family Favorite Chili is one of them – it’s hearty, flavorful, and loved by everyone. Whether you make it on a cold winter night or even during the summertime, this chili is always a hit.
This recipe is filled with tomato-ey, spicy goodness that will satisfy even your pickiest eaters. It’s great on its own or topping a hot dog fresh off the grill.
Now, before somebody starts to explain how this is not “real” chili, I just want to say that I know that. I understand that “real” chili does not contain any beans or tomatoes.
However, there’s a whole big world of cooks out here, and we all have different ideas about recipes. That’s why I haven’t called this recipe Real Texas Chili. Or Authentic Texas Chili. Or anything remotely like that. Just so we’re clear.
This is my own version of chili, and it bears no resemblance whatsoever to chili cooked by authentic cowboys, trail bosses, or others associated in any way with Texas. Whew!
❤️What You’ll Love About This Chili Recipe
- Budget Friendly. This recipe uses some of the least expensive items in the grocery store – ground beef, canned tomatoes, and beans.
- Feeds a Crowd. If you have a large family, you’ll really appreciate the quantity that this recipe makes. It can easily feed eight people or can stretch even further.
- Adjustable. You can adjust the spices to suit your own tastes.
🛒 Ingredients Needed to Make Easy Family Chili
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- Ground Beef (I prefer chuck (or 80-20) ground beef because it has more flavor than lower fat hamburger meat. Choose whatever fits your budget best.)
- Green Pepper, Onion, and Garlic (These veggies add terrific flavor to your chili. Increase or decrease any of them as you like.)
- Pinto Beans (Lots of cooks use red kidney beans for chili, but I just prefer pintos. You can even double or triple the amount of beans to stretch the recipe further. To make the recipe super inexpensive, consider cooking dried pintos to use in your chili.)
- Spices (I’ve specified the spices we like best. They’re all fairly inexpensive and may cost even less if you purchase them from the “ethnic” foods section.)
The complete ingredient list with detailed measurements is included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
🥄 How to Make Family Favorite Chili
- In a large deep pot or Dutch oven, brown the beef over medium-high heat. Remove the browned beef from the pan and set it aside to drain.
- In the same pan, add the olive oil, green pepper, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until just tender.
- Return the drained beef to the pan.
- Add the tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, and water. Stir well.
- Add the seasonings. Stir well.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a slow simmer. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or more.
- Serve with garnishes of sour cream, cheese, cilantro, and Tabasco.
🍚 Storing Leftovers
Leftover chili stores very well in the refrigerator for about three days. Honestly, it’s even better after it sits for a while and the flavors really meld together. You can also freeze it for up to three months. I often freeze it in single servings to thaw for a quick, filling lunch.
Have a question or thought to share?
If you have a question about the recipe or if you’ve made it and want to share how it turned out, I would truly enjoy hearing from you. Just scroll down to leave a comment or add your star rating.
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📖 Recipe
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Family Favorite Chili
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ pounds ground beef
- 1 large green pepper chopped
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 30 ounces canned diced tomatoes with their juice (2 cans)
- 30 ounces canned pinto beans drained and rinsed (2 cans)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup water
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoons cumin
Garnishes:
- Sour cream
- Grated cheese
- Chopped cilantro
- Tabasco
Instructions
- In a large deep pot or Dutch oven, brown the beef over medium-high heat. Remove the browned beef from the pan and set it aside to drain.
- In the same pan, add the olive oil, green pepper, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until just tender.
- Return the drained beef to the pan.
- Add the tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, and water. Stir well.
- Add the seasonings. Stir well.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a slow simmer. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or more.
- Serve with garnishes of sour cream, cheese, cilantro, and Tabasco
Notes
- Leftovers keep very well in the refrigerator for about three days, and the flavors improve over time. May be frozen for up to three months.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
I’m Lana Stuart, an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, and lifelong cook raised deep in Southwest Georgia. I started Lana’s Cooking in 2009 to share the tried-and-true recipes I grew up with. Around here, the food is full of flavor, the traditions run deep, and there’s always room at the table.
Lana, reading your readers reviews are so entertaining. The introduction to your post are so clear that everyone’s ingredients for a dish is not carved in stone. Some responses reveal immediately that the person did not read it or failed to comprehend what you wrote.
This recipe for Southern Chili is spot on. Chili, tomato sauces and meatloaf is how I use our abundance of venison and feral pig. For tomato sauce, I use a dollop of bacon grease to brown the venison and trinity. I don’t care what people say, you do a great job. Thank You
Thank you so much, Sharon. Most people are very kind and generous, but every once in a while there’s that *one* person….. ugh.
This is a wonderful southern chili recipe. And I do agree chili is one of those dishes that means different things to people from different regions of the country. Any chili recipe that you love is authentic to you!!!! We love to vary the beans in ours. We love the pop of color and different tastes from pintos, black beans and red beans all mixed together. I have one family member who can’t tolerate sweet pepper, but can eat any pepper with heat, so I use poblano pepper. Thanks for another great recipe!!!
My pleasure, Beverly! I’m happy to know that you enjoy the recipe.
Hi Lana!
Made this several times already… it’s awesome and who cares if it has beans or not. One thing I do differently is use beef stock in place of water. I like either pintos or light red kidney beans . Thanks so much for this fine recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! We always like beans in our chili and it makes the recipe go so much further at very little cost.
While I have been impressesd with your recipes in the past & now, when you call this Chili that would denote NO Beans, this is chili & beans. Real chili is chili con carne, as in Meat not beans. I will try this one without beans. I like chili on spaghetti, beans won’t work then. Keep up the work tho thanks
Had you bothered to actually READ the post, you would have seen that I state in the first few paragraphs that I understand that “real” chili does not contain beans. I truly wish I had nothing better to do than troll the internet pointing out my superiority to others.
Hi Lana,
That recipe is remarkably like my recipe.
I use green bell pepper but red kidney beans. I also use 2T of ketchup instead of paste. I’ve marked it 5* because I know it tastes good
Regards Paul.
Thanks, Paul. I’ve used kidney beans in the past but switched to Pintos several years ago simply because we like the texture better. And yes, it does taste good!
This is the chili with which we grew up – – Texas or not Texas. Funny thing is that we both made it Sunday night, without prior discussion, in the middle of August with temperatures so high the sidewalks are melting!
If the weather is considered too hot, serve it over lettuce with all of the condiments, for a wonderful “taco salad.” Delish!
I’m still laughing about us both making chili in 100 degree August weather :-)