Instant Pot Chili

Instant Pot Chili - made March 30, 2020 from The Cozy Cook

Now that I have to cook for myself on a regular basis, I'm all about the instant pot life so here's another recipe for using it. Chili is one of the easiest things to make, with an instant pot or without one but since I have one, I used it.

I'm also not very picky about chili as long as it has ground beef and isn't too spicy (I know, chili aficianados just put a hex on me). I also had all the (Penzey's) spices needed on hand and wanted to use them so this was a perfect quick meal to make, especially as we were having late winter weather rolling in at the time (now it's 70 degrees).

The original recipe called for masa harina which I had to google to figure out what that was. It's a traditional flour used to make tortillas, in case you wanted to know. Well, I didn't have any and wasn't about to use my limited grocery shopping excursions to find it so I also googled what can be substituted for it and came up with cornmeal. Which I did have already so that's what I used.

I think the purpose is to thicken up the chili with the masa harina/cornmeal addition. I don't have the most discerning taste buds so I can't tell you that it made that much of a difference except to give a slightly coarse texture to the chili. But it's hard to go wrong with a bowl of chili on a cloudy day so this served its purpose nicely. It makes quite a lot for one person so I ended up portioning it out into single serving containers and putting most into the freezer for future meals. Luckily, chili keeps well.

2 pounds lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic, diced
14.5 ounces diced tomatoes, with juice
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup masa harina (I used cornmeal)
15-ounce can kidney beans
15-ounce can pinto beans

1. Set the Instant Pot to Saute mode. Cook and crumble the ground beef until browned; drain excess grease. Add the garlic and diced tomatoes and cook for an additional minute.
2. Combine chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and cayenne pepper in a small bowl. Add to Instant Pot mixture.
3. In another small bowl, combine masa harina or cornmeal with 1/2 cup water; whisk to combine. Add to Instant Pot mixture. Add kidney beans and pinto beans to Instant Pot, turn off Saute mode, cover and seal instant pot and set to manual for 15 minutes.
4. When it has finished, allow to natural release for 5 minutes then quick release until all steam has escaped. Serve chili hot. Garnish with cheese if desired.