Black Bean Chili made with Ground Beef and Chipotle is a spicy-sweet and smoky chili recipe that will warm you up on those chilly days! This easy to make recipe is ready in just 35 minutes, full of comfort, and easy to adapt to your own taste.
This chili recipe is perfect for those nights when you want dinner fast and don't want to have to do too much work to get it there. Black Bean Chili is perfect in a bowl with a sweet corn muffin on the side. It is also a great recipe to make and keep warm in a crock for game day parties, or serve it over top of hotdogs for a Chili Dog!
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A warming comfort food chili recipe
I was never a huge fan of chili until my later years and now I love it so much I will order it when eating out! My favorite kind of chili will have the best of ingredients. Beef, black beans, peppers, onions, and garlic to name a few. The spicy chipotle and brown sugar combo is a perfect blend of sweet heat.
I love to make this recipe when its cold outside and want to stay warm! It is a great meal to warm up to after spending time outside in the chilly air. It brings me back to when I was a child and makes me wonder why on earth I didn't seem to love chili back then.
Ingredients for Black Bean Chili
The ingredients needed for this recipe are simple and fresh. A couple of shelf-stable pantry items, and plenty of fresh ingredients.
Ground Beef: I like to buy Certified Angus Beef for the best flavor possible.
Onions, Jalapeno and Red Pepper: buy the freshest and best-looking vegetables you can find.
Fresh Garlic Cloves: substitute with jarred minced garlic if you don't have fresh.
Dried Spices: Chili powder, cumin, and chipotle chili powder. You can substitute a couple of chipotle chilis with adobo sauce for the chili powder.
Diced Tomatoes: Substitute a quart jar of home-canned tomatoes if you have those on hand. 1-quart jar is equal to 2 (14.5 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes.
Black Beans: Be sure to rinse the black beans before adding to the chili.
Make this Black Bean Chili your way!
Slow Cooker: if you want to make this in a slow cooker, you probably could. But, you don't need to. It is literally ready in under 30 minutes and super delicious! You can make it ahead of time and store it in the fridge up to a week, or freeze it up to 3 months.
Change the protein: This recipe works great with ground turkey, chicken, or venison.
Ante up the tomatoes: Use crushed tomatoes, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, or tomatoes with green chilies
Top it the way you want it: shredded cheese, sour cream, avocado, chopped onion, jalapeno slices, and/or chopped cilantro make great toppings!
Make it keto-friendly: 4 Net Carbs and 417 calories per serving when you remove the beans and increase the ground beef to 2 lbs. Either remove the brown sugar or substitute a keto-friendly brown sugar sweetener.
Chili Toppings: optional but delicious ideas!
The possibilities are endless. You can top this Black Bean Chili with just about anything you wish! Our favorites are cilantro, cheese, sour cream, and jalapenos. I love the homemade salsa topping where Grumpy loves both the salsa and hot sauce!
Setting up a chili bar for game day or any kind of party gathering is great fun also! Set these suggestions below out and let your friends and family have at them! If you have some other suggestions, please leave a comment for me so I can add it to my list of toppings to try.
- chopped fresh cilantro
- sour cream or greek yogurt
- fresh lime juice
- crushed nacho tortilla chips or cool ranch tortilla chips
- guacamole
- fresh jalapeno slices
- Hot sauce
- shredded cheese
- avocado
- black olives
- chopped tomato
- homemade salsa
What to serve with this Black Bean Chili Recipe
Whenever my mom made chili, she always made cornbread to go with it. I remember putting a piece of cornbread in the bowl and scooping chili out over the top of it. However, Grumpy always ate his chili on top of rice! We also love to serve the scoopable corn chips with this when I don't have time to make rice or cornbread.
Cauliflower Rice or Regular rice: Fancy either one of these up by tossing it with a little cilantro while it is hot to add another layer of flavor.
Cornbread: This recipe for Skillet Jalapeno Cornbread makes a beautiful side dish and its super tasty!
Homemade Bread: Sometimes I just like a slice of bread with butter to go with my chili. This Homemade Soft White Bread recipe is the best!
Corn Chips: Buy some scoopable chips. Or, make your own by frying some tortillas in the pan then dust with a little salt and chile powder. Or, spray with cooking spray and bake them in a 350 degree oven until they are lightly browned and crispy.
This is one of the best chili recipes I have ever made. It was so good I literally ate it for breakfast! There is just enough heat to make your mouth happy and a perfect blend of spices.
*If you made this recipe, please give it a star rating*
Black Bean Chili
Ingredients
- 1-½ pound lean Certified Angus ground beef
- 2 jalapeno peppers diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 cup onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- ½ tablespoon chipotle chili powder
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
- 2 15 ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium-high heat, add onion, red pepper, jalapeno pepper, and garlic in olive oil until onions become translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Add ground beef and cook until browned, stirring occasionally.
- Add cumin, chipotle chili powder, chili powder, brown sugar, and salt to browned beef mixture and stir to combine.
- Add black beans and tomatoes. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
- Serve with the desired toppings
Pam
We are a chili family having it at least once a month. I'm always looking for new recipes to change things up.
Kristin @ Dizzy Busy and Hungry!
I love chili too! I grew up eating it over rice, but I love it with cornbread too. Using chips is something I haven't tried yet, but now I am going to!
Rachael Yerkes
Breakfast is the perfect time! I am loving that it is starting to become soup and chili weather here!
Carlsbad Cravings
Looks so good, I would be eating it for breakfast too!
Michele @ Flavor Mosaic
I love chili and your recipe looks wonderful. I'm going to have to try this.
Life Tastes Good
I made chili just today!! Great minds think alike :), but I sure wish I had this black bean version. I love black beans, and I'm sure this is amazing!
Carrie R
I love a good chili, and this one looks delicious! 🙂 Perfect for those cooler fall temps coming our way...
Renee Paj
I love a good chili, but tbh, it's the smokey part that makes me want to make up a batch of this for tonight! Yum!
RJ Flamingo
To me, chili should be its own food group! I make something similar and I love the flavors. I never thought of adding brown sugar to it, but I think that would make a great addition!
Mike always insists on having his over rice, though I prefer saltines. But, I'll also put it over salad greens for a "taco salad", and he loves it. Way to sneak some veggies in there, eh? 😉
Sherri Jo
I love the touch of sweetness... what a great idea!
honeyb
Yum! Looks great. I love chili. Kevin doesn't care for it. BUT, he actually might like it---over rice. He thinks just a bowl of chili isn't enough of a meal. (And I love cornbread, which would be easy to make gluten free.)
Patsy K
I love chili and make it often as the weather gets cooler. My boys are getting to where they like some kick to it, so I can have more fun with the flavors now that they are older.
marye
mmmm.... I love chili but you know? I have never tried it with black beans! Looks awesome.
Cate
I was just thinking yesterday that it's almost time for chili - this looks delicious!