The Best Chili I've Ever Made. In My Life.

My mom used to say, "This is the best chili I've ever made!" pretty much every time we had Chili when I was growing up. We always thought it was hilarious/crazy, but now that I'm an adult who actually cooks meals, pretty much every time I make chili, I can't help but find that it's almost always better than it was the time before. Or it's noticeably terrible, haha, but everyone has an off day in the kitchen, right?

And that's it for the blab. Here is my recipe for amazing chili that is fast and easy and not very expensive. I make this in my instant pot, so, pretty much the most time consuming part is opening the cans of beans, but you could also do this on a stovetop, modifying basically nothing except you have to simmer it on the stove until the barley is cooked.

Ps if you're on the fence about the instant pot, I'm very firmly on team GET ONE OF THESE THINGS. But I'm also on team, wait till Black Friday and order it on Amazon or find one secondhand from someone who made an impulse buy last Black Friday, because you can pretty much always find one for a deal. (That's an actual team, now).

Here we go:

Ingredients

A little dollop of cooking oil (I use avocado Oil)

1/2 an onion, diced (I usually use red or white. Whatever's cheapest)

3-5 cloves garlic, minced

1 can of chick peas

1 can of black beans

1 can of pinto beans or black eyed peas

1 can of beans in tomato sauce

1 can of corn (or 1 cup frozen corn)

10 diced or sliced mushrooms. (I dice mine up good so my kids can't find them, and the texture is nicer than a big, slimy slice, imo)

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 cup of barley (at the store, I've found something called Pearl Barley and Pot Barley. I have no idea what the difference is. I've tried both, they both seem exactly the same).

2 cups vegetable stock (I use water + vegeta seasoning)

Spices

3 tsp Chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp smoked paprika (don't settle for regular paprika. It's not as good)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I add this and my kids don't complain about spicy)

salt and pepper

Garnish

Sour cream

cilantro

shredded cheese

Steps:

1. Turn on the instant pot to sauté mode. Heat your cooking oil, and add your onions. Let them cook for a minute or two.

2. Dump everything else into the instant pot (except the garnish). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Stir it up, and put the lid on.

4. Set the Instant Pot for MANUAL 10 MIN. Make sure the valve is set to sealing so your pot comes to pressure.

5. Clean up (this is basically putting all your cans in the recycle because this is the easiest recipe in the universe).

6. When the pot beeps, let it sit for 10 more minutes, and then flip the valve to let the rest of the steam out.

7. Open the pot, dish it in to bowls, garnish and eat!

Seriously, so easy. On the stove, I'd cook the onions, then dump in everything else, bring it to a boil and then simmer it until the barley is cooked.

This chili is so good. It's nice and thick, not soupy, so I find it more filling. No one notices that there's no meat in it, and it's even better the next day. It makes a ton, too, so I always have enough to freeze into lunch containers that my husband takes to work, or I can save it in the freezer for a night when I just don't have it in me to cook anything.

Guess what? I'm no good at food photography. But this chili is super good, I promise. Also, this is a picture of an old batch because I wolfed mine down last night before I remembered I was going to blog about it.

Notes: If you have to add meat, add ground turkey, and buy it at Costco, because that's the best price. Consider trying it without meat, though. I don't think you'll miss it in this one.

If you want to skip the barley... I wouldn't. But If you do, only add 1/2 cup of broth, otherwise you'll have a runny chili.