Gather around the kitchen for a smoky, savory and delicious dinner! This easy-to-follow Smoky Beef and Black Bean Chili Recipe is sure to be an instant hit with your family. With just a few simple steps you can prepare this hearty chili that's perfect for weeknight family dinners or holiday parties. Packed full of flavor and spice, it's even better when served up with toppings such as diced onions, cilantro, sour cream or cheese – so choose your favorite and get ready to dig in.
This homemade chili recipe is loaded with tons of peppers, topped with cheese and it's the perfect way to feed a crowd.
It's another What's Gaby Cooking DIY Bar... aka my favorite way to entertain! This time it's BEYOND simple though and it's perfect for any large gathering. This Smoky Beef and Black Bean Chili situation is everything. It's a smoky beef and black bean chili that makes a boat load and saves well. You can freeze leftovers, or keep it in the fridge for leftover lunches during the week. Or feed a ton of people at once with very little effort! I even have a vegetarian one, this black bean and sweet potato chili, which comes in super handy if you have a mix of vegetarian/vegan/non-vegetarian folks in your group.
Grab 6-10 of your favorite friends and family (even more if you double the chili recipe) and let people DIY their own bowls of chili with toppings like chives, cheese, sour cream, cilantro, avocado and green onions. Everyone can get as creative as they please. Kids will love it and adults will be obsessed so you can't go wrong. You could also throw out a bowl of bacon, some chopped red onion or tortilla chips if you want to get extra jazzy. If you ask me, the more toppings the merrier!
If you're looking for me this weekend, you can for sure find me chowing down on a bowl of Smoky Beef and Black Bean Chili Bar and pretending to watch sports 🙂
Q: What is the secret to making good chili? / What adds the most flavor to chili?
A: In short the aromatics that you add in at the beginning. The onions, the peppers, the seasonings. I also think its best to avoid beef that is to lean. Remember, fat is flavor.
If you loved this Beef Chili Recipe, make sure to check these other delicious recipes out:
- Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili Recipe
- Chili Con Carne
- Chicken Chili Verde
- Smoky Chipotle Chicken Chili Recipe
- Cheesy Chicken Taco Chili Pasta
All in all, this Classic Chili Recipe is seriously tasty, perfect for a winter night spent cozied up on the couch. And because it's so easy to make, you can have it on the table in no time flat - which means more time spent relaxing and enjoying the fruits of your labor. So what are you waiting for? Give this Smoky Beef and Black Bean Chili Recipe a try the next time you're looking for a quick and delicious comfort meal.
If you tried this recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting today
Smoky Beef and Black Bean Chili
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper roughly chopped
- 1 orange or yellow bell pepper roughly chopped
- 1 poblano pepper roughly chopped
- 1 yellow onion roughly chopped
- 1 red onion roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 chipotle chilies finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
- 1 ½ cups crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup beef stock
- 1 16-ounce can of black beans drained and rinsed
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Toppings
- Sour Cream
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- Scallions
- Diced Avocado
- Cilantro
- Chives
Instructions
- In a large heavy bottom pot, add the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the red and orange bell pepper, poblano pepper and yellow and red onion and sauté for 10-12 minutes until the vegetables start to cook down. Add the garlic and chili powder and sauté for 1-2 more minutes. Next, add the ground beef. Break it up into pieces with a wooden spoon and sauté until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper.
- Once the beef is cooked, add chopped chipotle chili peppers, adobo sauce, crushed tomatoes and beef stock. Stir to combine and reduce the heat to medium. Add the drained black beans and simmer for 1 hour until the chili thickens.
- Once the chili has thickened, you can reduce the heat to low and keep it on the stove until you are ready to serve. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Photography by Matt Armendariz / Food Styling by Adam Pearson
Hi Gaby -in this recipe looks like you use prepared adobo sauce? Which brand is your recommendation? Is it super spicy? Thanks!
Embasa is the brand I get most frequently!
Oh Gaby, you did it again! I quadrupled this recipe for an autumnal dinner for 30. I charred the poblanos and bell peppers on the grill, added extra ground beef, extra crushed tomatoes, and some Spanish smoked paprika. Served it with all the toppings. Fabulous chili! Handed out your recipe at the end to happy dinner guests.
This recipe is wonderful. I need to cook heart-healthy and this recipe works very well with low-fat ground beef, there's so much flavor you don't miss the fat. I rarely have poblanos around so I skipped them and added a few more chopped chipotles plus I substituted 1/2 T smoked paprika + 1/2 T oregano for 1 T of chili powder (personal preference). Other than that, followed the recipe exactly. We serve it topped with greek yogurt, so good! Thank you for this recipe, it's a keeper.
This is my go to chili recipe. My family loves it!
Perfect flavor! Perfect recipe! I could not figure out how to measure the adobo sauce. Having watched Gaby cook for years now I decided that it really wasn’t that important anyway. G&T are a winning team.
the adobo sauce can just be scooped out of the tin with a little measuring spoon! or if you want the peppers, chop it all up and then measure
This is a very good and easy recipe for an elevated ground beef chili. The ingredients are generally readily available. Note there is a lot of chopping involved which isn’t factored into the amount of time the recipe takes, but that is typical of recipes. Also, assuming you a using a fresh poblano, it must be roasted and rested before using. Adding the ground beef after the peppers and onions makes for a bit of a gooey mess at first, but rest assured it will come out well as long as you use good ground chuck or leaner meat. Since everything is already cooked by the time you get to the simmer, I found it doesn’t really need a full hour, but rather just enough to meld the flavors, because it really wasn’t watery. I let it simmer about a half hour. Nicely spicy, you could cut down on the chipotle or adobo if you want a little milder.
Would ground venison work in this recipe? Would I need to make any alterations?
sure thing and no!
Made for a football watching party at my house, was delicious! Love the smokiness from the chipotle peppers.
Absolutely delicious! Made with ground turkey because that’s all I had and it was sooooo flavorful!
This was so good!!! I’ve made many chili recipes looking for the right one. This is it for sure!!! Just the best flavor! I made it and let it sit in the crockpot till dinner and it was bomb!!! This is my only chili recipe now!