Instant Pot Chili with Bacon, Sausage, & Ground Beef : Lamberts Lately

This Instant Pot Chili recipe uses ground beef, bacon, and sausage to give the soup tons of smokey flavor! This is easy to prep in a pressure cooker for a big crowd.

I'm back with the next meal in my Best of FMBC series today! And I'll go on and let you know – this is chili with bacon in it.

BACON.

It doesn't get much better than that. This Firefighter Chili (originally from my fall soups plan) is absolutely loaded with flavor and richness. The bacon gives it a smokey note and the sausage (yes, sausage too!) gives it a little bit of a kick. I promise, this will be your go-to chili recipe when you're feeding a crowd! It's a great way to make lots of crowd-pleasing food for not a lot of money.

As a reminder: I’ll be sharing a recipe for each week of the summer (10 weeks total). On the 11th week, I’ll have a full pack of printables, recipes, and prep instructions to make all of these recipes at once for your freezer, just like my other Freezer Meal Boot Camps! (UPDATE: The full freezer meal boot camp is now available here!) You can check out the other recipes in this series below:

Part 1 – Smokey Penne

Part 2 – Carrot & Butternut Squash Soup

Part 3 – Mississippi Roast

Part 4 – Firefighter Chili (you're here!)

Part 5 – Italian Beef Sandwiches

Part 6 – Beef Ragu

Part 7 – Turkey & Sweet Potato Chili

Part 8 – Zuppa Toscana

Part 9 – Carnitas Over Sweet Potato Mash

Part 10 – Taco Soup

In each of these posts, I’ll share how to make the recipe from either fresh or frozen. (And a note: if you’ve done my boot camps before, these recipes might vary slightly from the original version to make overall prep easier.)

Ingredient List 1: If freezing, put the following in your freezer container:

1lb bacon, cooked and drained
1lb country sausage, cooked and drained
1lb ground beef, cooked and drained
2 cups chopped onion
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 packs chili seasoning
1 can chili beans (not drained)
1 10oz can diced tomatoes & green chiles
8oz tomato sauce
2 tsp better than bouillon beef
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp garlic powder

(Don’t forget to label your meal – here’s a free printable for that!)

Ingredients Needed For Serve Day:

1 14oz can crushed tomatoes
1 loaf bread
1/2 stick butter
6-8 slices cheddar cheese

(If Prepping From Frozen) On Serve Day…

1. Thaw your meal enough to pop out of the freezer container.
2. Add frozen meal, crushed tomatoes, & 2 cups water to IP.
3. Set IP for high, 30 minutes. Once cook cycle is up, allow pressure to naturally release for 10-15 minutes.
4. While the IP is cooking, prep sandwiches with sliced cheese and grill with butter in a pan for 2-3 minutes per side.
5. Once IP cycle is done and pressure is released, stir well and garnish bowls of chili with sour cream and shredded cheese.

(If Prepping From Fresh) On Serve Day…

2. Add ingredients from list 1, crushed tomatoes, & 2 cups water to IP.
3. Set IP for high, 30 minutes. Once cook cycle is up, allow pressure to naturally release for 10-15 minutes.
4. While the IP is cooking, prep sandwiches with sliced cheese and grill with butter in a pan for 2-3 minutes per side.
5. Once IP cycle is done and pressure is released, stir well and garnish bowls of chili with sour cream and shredded cheese.

You can also download a recipe card for this meal here.