Everyone loves a good bowl of chili, and this slow cooker chili recipe is one of my best! Filled with lean ground beef, veggies, and beans, this satisfying homemade chili is extra hearty and so easy to make.
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Why I Love This Slow Cooker Chili Recipe
I love a good set-it-and-forget-it recipe, don’t you? The crockpot is the perfect tool to make hearty, hands-free meals, like this easy slow cooker chili recipe. This beefy chili is one of my favorite cold-weather meals, and you’ll see why! It’s packed with bold flavor and spice, with tender ground meat, veggies, and beans. Here are more reasons to love it:
- Easy ingredients. This slow cooker chili uses flavorful chili spices and most of the ingredients are pantry staples (hopefully saving you an extra trip to the store!).
- Hands-free. Load up the crockpot in the morning (or even the night before) and leave it to cook. This chili simmers for hours over low, slow heat, letting all the flavors come together. Dinner? Done! All you need are your favorite toppings and a slice of sweet cornbread.
- Cook once, eat twice (or three times!). A big batch of chili is super versatile. Serve it one night as-is with toppings of your choice. In the days afterward, serve leftovers with baked potatoes or over hot dogs. Yum. And if freezing extra meals is your jam, this is perfect for that, too.
You can make a pretty mean chili on the stovetop (see my classic beef chili and chili con carne). Still, there’s something about slowly simmering chili to really let the flavors meld and deepen. Nothing beats a crockpot for that! For another easy recipe, try my slow cooker white chicken chili.
What You’ll Need
This slow cooker chili relies on a few simple ingredients that, together, absolutely load the crock pot up with smoky, savory flavor! I’ve included some notes below to get things started. Scroll down to the recipe card after the post, where you’ll find the printable step-by-step recipe with ingredient amounts.
- Ground Beef: Extra lean ground beef is my go-to, but you can use any kind.
- Onion: I use diced yellow onion. If you don’t have yellow onion, choose another mild variety.
- Carrots and Bell Pepper: I used green bell pepper, but you can use any color. Dice up the carrots into small chunks.
- Chiles: Fresh chiles add the perfect amount of heat. You could use roasted chiles, but a can of diced mild green chiles makes this step extra easy.
- Corn: Canned sweet yellow corn, drained. Frozen corn would also work great.
- Tomato Sauce: Make sure to use tomato sauce, and not paste. Tomato paste is much more concentrated and won’t work for this particular recipe.
- Beans: I like pinto beans and kidney beans. You can use any kind of beans you prefer, such as black beans, Cannellini beans, navy beans, and even chickpeas or lentils. Rinse and drain canned beans before adding them to the chili.
- Seasoning: Homemade chili seasoning is great, or you can use a packet of store-bought mild chili seasoning works too. I love Williams Chili Seasoning if I’m using store-bought.
- Beef Broth: I recommend low-sodium beef broth or stock. You can also use chicken broth.
How to Make Slow Cooker Chili
While cooking chili in the slow cooker is easy, I HIGHLY recommend browning the ground beef and sautéeing the veggies before adding them to the crockpot. It only takes a minute, and it really is the secret to the best-tasting crockpot chili. Follow the recipe steps below, and scroll to the recipe card for the printable instructions.
- Brown the ground beef. First, brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste and break up the meat as it browns. Once no pink is left, drain any excess grease.
- Saute the veggies. Add your onion, bell pepper, and carrots to the skillet with the beef. Cook for another 5 minutes to slightly soften the veggies.
- Add everything to the crockpot. Next, add the cooked beef and veggies to the (cold) crockpot. Add the green chiles, corn, tomato sauce, pinto beans, kidney beans, mild chili seasoning, and beef broth. Give everything a stir, and cover.
- Slow cook. Cook the chili on HIGH for 4 hours, or on LOW for 6 hours. If you can, stir the chili every hour or so. The chili will thicken as it cooks. After 4 hours of cooking, taste and adjust the seasonings as desired.
- Enjoy! Serve your slow cooker chili topped with sour cream, cilantro, chips, cheese, red onion, or any of your favorite toppings. See below for more serving ideas.
Can You Overcook Chili in a Slow Cooker?
While it might seem surprising, yes, you can overcook chili in a slow cooker! It’s not exactly easy to do, and this recipe can happily cook for up to 6 hours on LOW, or 4 hours on HIGH. However, you may find that going over these cooking times will make your chili a little overdone, with dry or crumbly beef.
Recipe Tips
- Use Lean Beef: I almost always use 93/7 extra-lean ground beef when making homemade chili, so there isn’t so much fat to drain after browning. If you’re using fattier ground beef (for example, anything under 90/10) I’d suggest draining off the excess grease before you add the veggies to the skillet.
- Beef Substitute: Swap out the ground beef in this slow cooker chili with ground turkey, chicken, or chorizo. I love using homemade chorizo when I have it on hand.
- Adapt the Heat: I keep this chili recipe mild, but if you prefer more spice, simply choose a hotter chili powder or you can add in crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, or extra chiles.
- No Beans: Feel free to skip the beans to make this recipe a bit more like Texas chili. You can replace the beans with extra veggies or ground beef if you prefer.
What to Serve with Chili
Around here, we love serving this slow cooker chili as an easy, hearty dinner with a side dish or two to round out the meal. Here are a few of my favorite sides that work beautifully with chili:
- Bread: Any type of cornbread is good with chili, but this jalapeño cheddar cornbread is especially delicious with a chili pepper kick. This thick and dense beer bread is also perfect for dunking in a steaming bowl of chili!
- Potatoes: Chili is great spooned over a baked potato, and it’s just as tasty on top of a baked sweet potato. If you want to add a little cinnamon and maple syrup to that potato, you go right ahead!
- Chips: Ahh, tortilla chips and chili. A classic combination, especially if you’re throwing a little sour cream and cheese on there. These air fryer tortilla chips are so fresh and so good!
Storing and Reheating Chili
- Refrigerate: Store any leftover chili in the refrigerator, tightly covered or packed into airtight containers for 3-4 days.
- Reheat: Reheat chili in the microwave for 30 seconds or so at a time, stirring in between. You can also reheat this chili on the stovetop.
- Freeze. Cool the slow cooker chili to room temperature and transfer it to freezer bags or freezer containers. Seal ’em up, leaving a little room for the liquid to expand as it freezes. Freeze the chili for up to 3 months, and thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.
Slow Cooker Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound extra lean ground beef
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 1 cup diced yellow onion, about 1/2 a large onion
- ½ green bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 4 oz 1 can diced mild green chiles
- 1 15.25 oz can sweet yellow corn, drained
- 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 15.5 oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 15.5 oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 oz mild chili seasoning, or 2 tablespoons homemade chili seasoning
- 2 ½ cups beef broth
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Instructions
- Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Add in ground beef and salt and pepper to taste. Break meat apart as it browns. Drain off excess fat if desired and place back into pan.
- Add the onion, bell pepper, and carrot, and cook another 5 minutes to slightly soften the veggies. Pour into the bottom of a cold crockpot.
- Add in the green chiles, corn, tomato sauce, pinto beans, kidney beans, mild chili seasoning and beef broth to the crockpot. Stir well and cover.
- Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6 hours. (If you can, stir every hour, or as you remember.) Chili will thicken as it cooks.
- After 4 hours, taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
- Serve chili with any desired toppings such as sour cream, cilantro, tortilla chips, cheese, avocado, red onion, etc.
Notes
- Store and Freeze: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Lean Beef: Using 93/7 extra lean ground beef makes this dish extra easy, because you don't have to drain any extra fat. Why? There's just not much to drain off when you use meat that lean! Of course, you can also use fattier meat. If you are using anything under 90/10, I would recommend draining.
- Beef Substitute: You can also use ground turkey in this recipe – it's a good substitute and turns out very tasty, although it may not be quite as "meaty" tasting.
- Add Heat: This chili is mild, not spicy. However, if you want more heat, that's easy to fix: just add some cayenne pepper or crushed red pepper flakes, to your taste.
- Beans: You can use different types of beans depending on what you prefer. If you like a lot of beans, you can add an extra can of beans. This recipe is super flexible!
- Bell Pepper: I love the distinctive flavor of a green bell pepper, but if you'd like a more subtle pepper flavor, swap the green for a red, yellow, or orange bell pepper instead.
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i live in a hot climate, but it’s always chili season in our house. this recipe comes together really easy. i love the addition of veggies. adds a nice texture.