A strike by Salomon Kalou on 52 minutes was the difference between these west London rivals, but in truth Chelsea had too much in all departments compared to their Championship opponents.
Chelsea saw the return of Joe Cole after nine months inaction and the midfielder was made captain. The Blues also gave a debut to £18million summer capture Yuri Zhirkov at left-back.
Two minutes into the first half Florent Malouda drove in a low left-footed effort that goalkeeper Tom Heaton snuffed out.
Kalou popped up four minutes later to force Heaton into action again as the home side took control.
Rangers' first serious effort came on 15 minutes when a long run by Wayne Routledge ended with the ball being fed to Akos Buzsaky who curled a 25-yarder over Henrique Hilario's crossbar.
It took until 33 minutes for the next effort from either side - a Malouda strike from just inside the area that smashed into QPR's side-netting.
This was neatly followed by the visitors' Alejandro Faurlin finally forcing Hilario to making a save.
On the stroke of half-time, Juliano Belletti produced the shot of the half with a 25 yard free-kick which saw Heaton produce the save of the half, tipping the ball round the post.
Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti decided enough was enough and replaced the ineffectual Malouda with Frank Lampard at half-time.
QPR were first into the action and a long ball on 48 minutes split the Chelsea defence in two with Routledge running through on goal. However Hilario was sharp enough to anticipate the counter and reached the ball just before Routledge and hacked the ball clear.
But within three minutes the home side took the lead. A quick break saw Joe Cole pick up the ball in midfield and send Kalou clear on the left.
The Ivory Coast striker raced into the penalty area, skipped past Kaspars Gorkss and let fly a low, right-foot drive across goal that hit Heaton's far post and trickled into the QPR net.
Joe Cole almost finished off an excellent move with six minutes remaining but, after his one-two with Kalou on the edge of the penalty area, he sent his shot straight into the midriff of Heaton.
Rangers had little to offer by way of a response and Ancelotti brought on Ashley Cole and John Terry to help steer Chelsea home.