Slow Cooker Chili is rich and hearty with intense flavour and turns out perfect every single time!
Take regular chili to whole other another level with our slow cooker chili recipe. Let your crock pot cook it for you and sit down to a bowl full of tender meat, beans, optional sausage and a luscious sauce! Serve with tortilla chips, or go all out and make a batch of Easy Buttermilk Cornbread or Savory Skillet Cornbread.
SLOW COOKER CHILI RECIPE
Hours of low and slow cooking in a crock pot creates the best chili! Why? All of the flavours and spices marry into each other and the meat becomes incredibly tender, just the way a GREAT chili should be.
This is one of our family favourite easy dinners. So much so that we make this chili at least once a week! The family love it so much they almost always use leftovers for breakfast the next day with buttered toast. I say almost always because it usually disappears the day I make it, it’s THAT good.
The bonus of slow cooker chili?
- All around comfort food
- Hearty and filling
- Packed full of protein.
- Easy to make
- Food for the soul.
HOW TO MAKE CHILLI IN A CROCK POT
This is not a ‘dump it all in your slow cooker’ recipe. As much as I appreciate the ease of that idea, you just miss out on the flavours created by browning your meat first and sautéing your aromatics. It truly makes all the difference! Yes, it’s an extra step, but it is so worth it. Once you’ve cooked your meat and veggies, you can dump everything into your slow cooker and let it take over. If you’re looking to explore more with the slow cooker try our Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs
The aromas drifting through your house will just about drive you nuts. You’ll be tempted to dig in early (been there, done that), and you can do after about 5 hours of slow cooking if temptation wins. 6,7 or 8 hours though…they are the magic numbers. The longer, the better.
TIP: use a 6 or 7 quart slow cooker.
HOW TO SERVE CHILI
Well, usually, our slow cooker chili stays put in the kitchen and it’s every man, woman and child for himself (or herself).
The best way to serve it, though?
- In individual serving bowls with complimentary toppings.
- With a side of tortilla chips, corn chips, cornbread, or even warmed up flatbreads.
SLOW COOKER CHILI TOPPINGS
There are so many options to top chili with. The BEST would have to be:
- sour cream
- shredded cheese
- sliced green onions
- fresh chopped cilantro (or coriander)
- jalapeno slices
- diced or sliced avocado
HOW CAN I USE LEFTOVER CHILI?
- Chili Mac: Use leftover chili for our best Mac and Cheese recipe!
- Chili Dogs: Pour over hot dogs.
- Pasta: Boil your favourite pasta and add it as you would bolognese!
- Baked Potatoes: spoon into potatoes and serve with shredded cheese, sour cream, green onions, etc.
- Chili fries: over hot chips with melted cheese
MORE EASY CHILI RECIPES!
- White Turkey Chili
- Stove Top Beef Chili Recipe
- Slow Cooker Vegetarian Quinoa Chili
- Chili Lime Texas Caviar (Cowboy Caviar)
Slow Cooker Chili
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic chopped or minced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 pound beef sausage Angus beef or Italian sausage
- 28 ounces diced tomatoes canned
- 24 ounces bottle tomato sauce Passata for Aussies
- 4 ounces green chilies or jalapeños
- 2 cubes beef bouillon crumbled
- 2 tablespoons chili powder adjust to your tastes
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder (adjust to your tastes)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½-1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 15 ounces red kidney beans canned, drained and rinsed
- 15 ounces black beans canned, drained and rinsed
Toppings:
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- 1 handful cheddar cheese
- 1 tablespoon green onions chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Sauté onions and green peppers (or capsicum) for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant (30 seconds). Transfer mixture into a 6-quart (litre) slow cooker bowl.
- Fry beef and sausage until browned. Drain off most of the fat, reserving about 2 tablespoons of fat with the beef; transfer meat into slow cooker bowl. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chilies, bouillon, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, cumin, paprika, cocoa powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and sugar. Season with pepper to taste.
- Cover with lid and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours if time allows, (or high heat for 2 hours).
- Stir beans through and allow them to warm through (about 2 minutes). Serve with desired toppings and sides: cornbread, corn chips, tortilla chips, crackers.
Notes
Nutrition
Farfala says
Best chili recipe ever – didn’t want to stop eating it, was so amazing!
Thank you Karina for another perfect recipe – I’ve made so many and my family loves them!
Somer says
This chili was perfect!
Pam says
I made this today almost exactly. We don’t have beef Italian sausage so I just used all ground beef. I used 1 large jalapeño, without seeds and membranes. I used frozen tomatoes from the garden. It was delicious and it’s our new favorite. Thanks!
Karina says
Hi Pam, I’m thrilled to hear that you made the recipe and adapted it to what you had on hand! Using all ground beef, jalapeño without seeds, and frozen garden tomatoes sounds like a fantastic twist. I’m so glad it turned out delicious and has become your new favorite. Thank you for trying it out and sharing your experience! If you ever explore more recipes or have questions, feel free to reach out. Happy cooking!
Emily B. says
Absolutely love this chili recipe. I’m not a big sausage fan so I just use 1kg of beef mince, but even so it’s deliciously rich and hearty. I’ve shared the recipe with a lot of friends and they all love it too. And it makes heaps of chili so plenty of delicious leftovers! I especially appreciate the substitutions for Aussies – so many chili recipes online contain ingredients like Rotel tomatoes that are almost impossible to get hold of in Australia.
Becky says
I made this tonight for dinner for my hubby who isn’t a big chili fan. After he finished his first bowl, he said, “That’s some good chili! I’ll be good with eating the leftovers tomorrow.” He doesn’t usually like leftovers, either. Also, my 16-year old daughter ate it with zero complaints. It’s the best chili recipe I have had. I followed the recipe as written and added all the suggested toppings. Then, I served it with a side of cheesy cornbread with some creamed corn added to the Jiffy mix for moisture. Delicious and comforting meal!
B says
Made this yesterday; it’s delicious! It tastes like what I’ve always wished for my chili to taste like. Had it for lunch and I’m eagerly awaiting for dinner to roll around! Largely made it as instructed and it has incredible depth of flavor. I did add 2 extra garlic cloves (for a total of 6 though 2 were small), but otherwise I stayed true to the recipe and cooked it the full 6 hours on low.
To clarify some points in the ingredients list: for “1 lb of beef sausage” there wasn’t a lot to choose from at the store so I ended up using an Eckrich brand beef smoked sausage (found next to the hot dogs) and crushed it up with the ground beef when I cooked it. For my personal tastes, I feel next time I will try to omit it and possibly sub it w/ half a pound of ground chicken, but it was still delicious as-is. I saw another commenter had confusion about the tomato sauce; Passata brand in Australia is apparently an uncooked tomato puree while the standard USA tomato sauce is normally found in a can next to tomato paste and is cooked down. I used the Pomi brand of tomato sauce which was good. The tomato sauce is your liquid for your chili in this recipe and makes it fairly thick where as broth-reliant chilis I’ve had in the past were thinner, so I feel this was a good base, and I would be wary of adding much or any additional water or broth. Excited to try more Cafe Delites recipes!