Easy Slow Cooker Chili
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Come home to the best homemade chili! It’s an amazingly hearty, cozy beef chili that cooks low and slow for 8 hrs in the crockpot!
Is it too late in the year to still be whipping up crockpot recipes?
I mean, I did just mention it was going to be 63 degrees F this weekend, but it’s also raining today. Oh and I think I see a forecast of snow sometime next week…
But that’s another story.
Anyway, Butters is currently in his adorable ruffled yellow rain coat while I’m letting this chili cook low and slow, filling up the house with the best kind of aroma: beef chili.
All you need to do is crumble up your ground beef and then dump the rest of your ingredients in your slow cooker.
And if you have a saute function in your crockpot, you have yourself a true one pot wonder.
But as I’m waiting for this to finish cooking through, I’ve also gone through an entire bag of corn chips. You know, the corn chips that were meant to be used for a garnish here.
My bad.
Easy Slow Cooker Chili
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium sweet onion, diced
- 1 poblano chili, minced
- 2 ½ cups beef stock
- 1 16-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 16-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 14.5-ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce, optional
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 cup corn chips
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat. Add garlic, onion and chili. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 4-6 minutes.
- Place ground beef mixture into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in beef stock, kidney beans, black beans, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, chili powder, paprika, oregano, cumin and hot sauce; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 5-6 hours.
- Serve immediately, garnished with sour cream, green onions and corn chips, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Sounds delish but no crock pot, instant pot or slow cooker. How can the cooking directions be modified for and old fashioned top of the stove pot?
Thank you
Hello Janet,
To make this the old-time way, after completing step 1 of the directions, add all the remaining ingredients except the sour cream, green onions and chips to a very large Dutch oven or stew pot. Stir, bring to a boil, turn down to a low simmer for about 2 hours covered with a lid stirring occasionally. After this time, uncover and turn heat up to medium-low and stir cooking for another 20 minutes or so. Serve with the sour cream, onions and chips or whatever suits your fancy. Hope this helps!
The flavor of this chili is excellent. However, after nine hours on low, I still find it too watery for my taste, and that’s the reason for four rather than five stars. Some have suggested flour or cornstarch to thicken it, but I have read that those thickeners will not work in a slow cooker. I tried adding one tablespoon of cornmeal, as recommended online, but that didn’t seem to work either. I could have added one more tablespoon and seen what happens, but I decided instead to let the chili cook for one or two hours more on high with the lid off. But again, excellent flavor. Just the right amount of spices and tomato. I will make it again but reduce the amount of beef stock.
If I may add to my review—-after I wrote it, I decided I would add one more tablespoon of cornmeal, and let the chili cook on high with the lid off. It then took about 45 minutes to thicken to the right consistency for my taste. So that’s my advice if you find this chili too watery—two tablespoons of cornmeal and 45 minutes on high with the lid off. Now it’s perfect. In fact, I don’t think I will reduce the beef stock in the future—that might mess up the flavor. I’ll just go the cornmeal and high temperature route. Great recipe.
Janice something you might want to consider if you have issues with your chili being runny is adding in a small can of Tomato paste. It’s also used to inexpensively thicken, color, and enrich the flavor of tomato sauces and other semi-liquids such as soups and stews.
Janice, just open your slow cooker for a while when cooking until the desired amount of moisture evaporates.
I made this recipe and it was more than enough to feed 2 for 2 days. It was a little heavy on the chili powder. I’d make it again and reduce the amount of chili powder in it. Great recipe otherwise!
That was amazing, i just followed your instructions for a family dinner and they loved it!
It’s a really good base recipe. I don’t use as much stock since I like a thicker chilli. Always watch how liquid you add to a slow cooker. If you find it too thin/liquidy just take the lid off for the last hour.
I also used cayenne pepper rather than hot sauce.
Is it possible to do this in the instant pot? I’m short on time today!
Hi 🙂
Can l use turkey mince for this recipe?
Would it be the same cooking time as the beef mince?
Thank you 🙂
I use turkey instead of beef and I cook it at the same time and it turns out great! Love this recipe! My go to chili recipe now!
I use half beef, half pork. I’m sure turkey would be a good substitute. It should be the Same cooking time and it turns out just as well as straight beef.
This recipe is amazing! Thank you!
I use this recipe every time. It never fails!
Absolutely adore this, my partner as well! I have made several chili recipes (living in the cold and rainy Iceland) and this is the one! Today is my 4th time making this chili and I cannot wait for dinner!
I’ve been on a batch cooking bonanza today and this chilli recipe has been bubbling away since this morning. I’ve just portioned it out ready for the freezer and I couldn’t help but put some aside to eat now! I’ve made a lot of slow cooker chilli recipes over the week and this one is by far the best! I’ve been trying to work out why it tastes so good and I have a feeling it may be the oregano. I’m sure I’ll be making this time and time again 🙂
I am currently making as I write this. Its been on high for about an hour and my apt is smelling Yummy! I added 4 fresh Jalapeno seeds and all and diced some celery along with all the other ingridients. Oh I also added a jar of chili sauce. I think homemade fresh cut french fries and a little cheese on top sounds like a good start! Followed by a Chili dog! Um Um!!!!! I can not wait!!!!!!
Making it as we speak! Hope it turns out ok
First of all – thank you so much for your recipes! I love this blog and have been using your recipes as I learn to cook 🙂 I loved this chili so much – and I appreciate you putting “to taste” in spices because, I use a lot! haha I had a budweiser in the fridge that i used (half bud, half beef stock) and this came out sooo good. What kind of hot sauce does everyone use? I had a tamarind ghost pepper sauce
Just made this today, saved this recipe for a cold snowy Sunday. Also happens to be the Super Bowl. TIMING!!?? This chili is thick and robust with some heat. I did add a jalapeño for that zesty kick and I’m glad I did. I also added some tomato sauce for some extra depth. I was not disappointed. Cooked low and slow and filled my apartment with the most amazing smell. Garnished with some green onion, sour cream and cheddar cheese. Bowl of corn chips on the side for some crunch. This recipe did not disappoint, will be my go to chili recipe now. This recipe did make alot so I put the rest in some Tupperware and popped them into the freezer!!
I love this recipe a lot and make it quite often. I like the selection of spices which are just the right amount. I like to season my ground beef while browning for a better flavor. While I do not add any beans, I do add a can of Rotel and 3 Tablespoons of Louisiana Hot Sauce. What I really like is I always have all of these ingredients on hand. Great recipe, thank you!
Excellent chili! It took me a little more time to make than 20 minutes but it was really good! The combination of spices is excellent. I used the green tabasco for hot sauce; probably should have used the red for a little more heat. This is my go to recipe for chili.
This crockpot chili recipe is the bomb. I cook it the same way everytime . Always in a rush so I do 5 hours on max temperature.
So listen! I have made this my go to chili recipe! I made it for the first time when I was in Texas and have made it twice since I’ve been in Washington and actually am making it again today as I type. It’s so freaking delicious!!!! I use more seasoning because I like my food flavorful but it still comes out bomb as ever! Thank you to OP for sharing this gem with the world!!!
Coming back to say that I am so glad it’s getting cooler in Illinois, I have been dying to make this since I got here! Activate comfort food! This is the fifth year I will be cooking this and I cannot wait to dig in tomorrow once’s it’s done!
I made this chili and I can’t tell you how pleased I am with it. About a month ago I made crock pot chili from another online recipe and it contained tomato sauce and a little sugar. This recipe was by far more authentic w/o these two ingredients and I love the smoky flavor. The only thing I changed was that I used fresh tomatoes because I can taste the can tomatoes if I use them. I know, call me extra picky, lol. I blanched the tomatoes, then diced them. It came out amazing and I love the addition of the Frito chips! Thank you so much!! This was perfect for a cold South Florida day (in the 50’s lol).