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. 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 SLOW COOKER CHILLI
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.
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 (capsicum), seeded and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
- 1 pound (500 g) lean ground beef mince
- 1 pound (500 g) beef sausage, (Angus beef or Italian sausage)
- 2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes, (400 g)
- 1 (24 oz) bottle tomato sauce (American) ((700 g Passata for Aussies)
- 1 (4 oz) can green chilies, (or 120 g 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 each onion powder and garlic powder
- 1/2-1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 (15 oz) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (425 g)
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed (425 g)
Toppings:
- sour cream
- cheddar cheese
- green onions
- fresh chopped cilantro
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.
Neil Comer says
I’ve never made chili before. My wife asked for chili, so after a lot of research I decided on this recipe. She loved it! I’ve never been a big fan of chili but now I’m sold. It’s been a stressful time lately because of covid-19. Thank you Karina, for helping a guy bring some joy to his family. How do you fight covid-19? Good chili!
Kim A. says
Oh! I think I figured it out! Just putting some of the fat into the crockpot with the meat. I thought it was used for something else on the stove top. Thanks!
Terry Foss says
Karina, you make me look good 🙂 We had an all Church-staff Chili Cook-off here in Minneapolis . I used your recipe and won! #1 out of 12 Chili’s! I claimed maybe 10% credit and told everyone, “I just followed directions from cafedelites.com” 🙂
Caryn Webb says
This is the very best chili I ever made! It is my new go-to recipe. Since there are only 2 of us I cut the recipe in 1/2. I only used 1 lb of ground beef as we don’t eat sausage. I replaced the bullion cubes with 1/2 cup of no slat veggie broth. Since I am in the U.S I used tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. I made the entire recipe last time (sans sausage) I used 2 lbs of ground beef since I had my sister visiting and she loved it so much she asked for the recipe!
If you haven’t tried this you are missing out.
Cassidy says
I’m curious.. if I only wanted to use 1 pound of meat- beef – should I half the recipe?? Would it be too saucy if I made it as is but only used 1 pound of meat?
Thanks!! I’d love to make this for supper tonight.
Janice says
Is the beef sausage a ground meat? Or is it a processed sausage such as Hillshire?
Linda says
Could this be adapted for the pressure cooker? If so, suggestions?
Carolyn Wolvin says
What would you think about replacing the sausage with Chorizo Sausage in addition to the ground beef?
Lorraine says
Wow! This slow cooker chilli recipe is absolutely amazing and just what we needed on a cold night. I love your suggestions on how to use the leftovers too so looking forward to some more tomorrow.
Jeff says
This chili recipe is really good. So much better than buying a starter kit from the grocery store. It’s my new go to chili recipe.
Ginnie says
This sounds great! Its supposed to be cold here this weekend so I think this will be perfect. I will have to do one tweak tho. Hubby wont eat beans so Ill either ave to leave them out (Texas style) or swap for elbow macaroni (chili mac).
Fee says
Oh my goodness this slow cooker chili recipe is everything I’ve been looking for! Your description nails it and my chili loving hubby loved it so much and had it for breakfast with poached eggs. He’s super picky when it comes to chili and he reckons this chili is the best he’s tried.
YOU ARE A GEM!
Karina says
I’m so so happy to hear this Fee! Yay thank you for sharing your feedback!