These chili recipes offer ground beef, braised chuck, chicken, turkey and meatless pots. Compare the beans, broth, seasoning and cooking method before choosing a bowl, with photos and direct links to every complete recipe.
Choose the meat and appliance first. Several recipes start with raw meat, while others reheat cooked shredded chicken. Use the canned or fully cooked beans specified in each recipe, and check whether dairy, toppings or extra broth are added near the end.
Beef Chili Recipes
Compare ground meat, tender chuck and a separate steak finish.
1. Beef, Bacon and Kidney Bean Chili
Bacon and ground beef are cooked in separate stages before joining onions, tomatoes and canned kidney beans. A measured amount of drippings seasons the base. This substantial pot includes optional dairy toppings, which can stay separate until the bowls are served.
2. No-Bean Ground Beef Chili
Ground beef simmers with tomatoes, jalapeno and a mild American-style chili spice blend. There are no beans in this version. Reserve broth is used gradually if the uncovered simmer thickens the pot too far before it is ready.
3. Slow Cooker Chuck Chili
Browned chuck cubes and softened vegetables enter the slow cooker with tomatoes, canned kidney beans and an ancho seasoning mixture. This is a braise rather than a ground-beef chili. Allow the long low-cooking stage and continue until the beef is fork-tender.
4. Sirloin and Bacon Chili
This broth-based version combines ground beef, bacon and separately cooked sirloin cubes without tomatoes or beans. The steak is rested and added near the end. Avoid treating it like chuck that needs a long simmer, which would change its texture.
5. Honey Cocoa Beef Chili
Honey and unsweetened cocoa give ground beef, tomatoes and cooked kidney beans a different seasoning profile. The pot simmers gently with the lid ajar. Start with the smaller salt allocation, then taste after the flavors and liquid have concentrated.
6. Beef and Sausage Three-Bean Chili
Ground beef and Italian sausage share a long tomato simmer with black, kidney and pinto beans. The recipe uses beer or the listed broth alternative to deglaze. Keep the pot gently bubbling and add water if the base begins to dry out.
Chicken Chili
These options distinguish raw chicken cooking from reheating meat that is already cooked.
7. Buffalo Chicken Chili
Thawed chicken breasts slow cook with white beans, corn and Buffalo-style sauce before being shredded. Cream cheese is added in a separate finishing stage. Choose this for a creamy, tangy bowl and check the heat of the sauce you plan to use.
8. White Chicken Chili with Sour Cream
Already-cooked chicken is reheated with beans, chiles and broth on the stove, then finished with tempered sour cream. The slow cooker is used only for hot holding in this method. It is also possible to serve directly from the saucepan.
9. Chicken Chickpea Chili
Canned chickpeas, corn and green chiles simmer before cooked shredded chicken is added. Avocado, crushed chips and cilantro finish the portions. This is an assembly option for safely stored cooked chicken, whose original preparation time is separate from the chili method.
10. Black Bean Cream Cheese Chicken Chili
Thawed raw breasts cook with black beans, corn, tomatoes and taco seasoning. After shredding, softened cream cheese is blended with hot liquid before being folded through. Keep that final dairy stage in your schedule rather than expecting the chili to finish immediately after shredding.
11. Pressure Cooker Chicken Chili
The chicken and broth cook under pressure first, followed by a natural-release interval and a temperature check. Canned beans, creamed corn and salsa join afterward. Ranch, cream and cream cheese finish the chili without another sealed pressure cycle.
Turkey and Meatless Chili
Pumpkin, sweet potato, olives and beans give these pots different textures.
12. Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Chili
Plain pumpkin puree gives body to a pot of tomatoes, peppers and cooked canned beans. Small sweet potato cubes simmer until tender, with cinnamon among the measured spices. Choose plain puree rather than sweetened pie filling, and add fresh toppings at the table.
13. Three-Bean Vegetarian Chili
Black, kidney and vegetarian chili beans join fire-roasted tomatoes and peppers in vegetable broth. The chili-bean sauce stays in the pot while the other beans are drained. Avocado, cilantro and lime provide a fresh finish without changing the simmered base.
14. Sweet Potato Turkey Chili
Ground turkey is cooked before half-inch sweet potato cubes, corn and tomatoes join the broth. The potatoes provide body without beans. Continue to fork tenderness and keep enough liquid in the pot rather than relying on the timer alone.
15. Turkey Chili with Olives
Ground turkey, kidney beans and sliced olives simmer with tomato puree and bell pepper before corn and parsley join. An optional cold-water starch slurry can thicken the sauce. This is a different profile from the sweet potato turkey version, with briny olives in the bowl.
Before You Choose Your Recipe
For a long slow-cooked pot, try the chuck or cream cheese chicken versions. For a saucepan meal with prepared chicken, browse the chickpea option. The pumpkin and three-bean recipes offer meatless choices with different textures and seasonings.
