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!
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reasons to make slow cooker chili
- Crowd-favorite. Chili is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, great for big crowds and family gatherings, tailgating, and game day. And the leftovers taste even better the next day, and the day after that.
- True dump-and-go recipe. All the ingredients get thrown right in the crockpot, letting the flavors fully meld and deepen for 7-8 hours on low heat.
- For all the corn chips. A big pot of chili is the most perfect excuse to open up a bag of corn chips for topping or snacking.
tips and tricks for success
- Lean ground beef is ideal. The best ground beef has some fat – 80/20 or 85/15 are both great options. Extra lean meats can be drier (and blander).
- Brown the meat first. Browning beforehand is key, deepening its rich, meaty taste.
- Use a blend of beans. Using different beans will add contrasting textures and flavors. Using a blend of pinto beans, kidney beans, and black beans offers even more variety whereas cannellini beans and kidney beans will be slightly milder.
- Use good-quality stock. The better quality your stock, the better your chili. Many brands love to pack in the salt so always opt for unsalted or a lower-sodium variety.
- Add garnishes. Garnishes are always optional but a fresh sprinkle of green onions or some corn chips will certainly take your chili to the next level, adding more flavor, texture and contrast.
what to serve with slow cooker chili
Easy Slow Cooker Chili: Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all! Ground pork or ground turkey can be used instead of ground beef.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop.
Absolutely! We have a recipe for that here.
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
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large cast iron 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.
- Stir in garlic, onion and chili powder until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- 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.
Video
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Really easy and tasty. Will make chili enchiladas with leftovers.
I’ll admit I wasn’t 100% convinced when I put it all together as it seemed very watery but oh my, what a tasty surprise. I kept it on warm in the crockpot for about 15 minutes and it was perfect. Not too watery and so tasty. Thanks!
my go to chili! I substitute brisket cubes for the ground beef, and modified for the instant pot…..so good!!!
thanks big chungah
Made this today and we loved it. I didn’t use the pepper or hot sauce, as we don’t like super spicey, but it had plenty of flavor. I made cheesy garlic cornbread to go with it and it was a hit.
I did not have pablano chili or the paprika so maybe that’s why iT tasted bland, was watery which was disappointing. Not sure if I would try this again. I’m going to look for another crock pot chili recipe and see.
You can add a slurry of corn starch to make it thicker, or even a little flour.
“I didn’t add any of the flavouring stuff, why was my chili bland?”
C’mon man… Don’t leave a review if you didn’t actually make the recipe properly.
I enjoyed this I just cooked it down a bit longer as I enjoy mine a bit thicker. Flavour was good as is but the second time I made it I added chipotle in adobo as well for personal tastes.
Recipe “reviews” which talk about all of the changes the reviewer made, the omissions, the substitutions, the add-ons which are not part of the original recipe, the changes in the amount of an ingredient used, are a pet peeve of mine, ubiquitous though they may be. I want to read about how THIS recipe turned out, not the recipe the reviewer decided ahead of time wasn’t right and then re-wrote, or the one the reviewer ended up making because he or she didn’t have the correct ingredients on hand and couldn’t be bothered to obtain them.
I’m cooking this today, it sounds delicious! Did you roast the poblano pepper before chopping?
can this be made with dried beans instead of canned ones? for example, after adding in the meat, could I add dried beans with a sufficient amount of stock and all the other ingreidents? Usually I cook dried beans in the slow cooker anyway, but it would be nice if I could cook the meat at the same time.
You can use dried beans but you need to soak them overnight before using in the crock.
First time making without tomato juice your DAM GOOD definitely make again
First time love it your right dam GOOD
It was excellent chili. I showed my sample to family members and they love it better than their own. I’m curious can I use this same recipe with turkey chili instead of beef chili and come out the same way? Just curious!
Good. Can I skip the sautéing step?
I take back what I said earlier I made a few adjustments and it nearly turned out perfect. I replaced the chili pepper with a sweet green pepper and added in less Chili powder and it turned out almost amazingly delicious 🙂 Will be definitely be adding this recipe into my collection.
I’ve made this chili twice and was delicious both times! The 2nd time I had no poblano, but instead threw in a jalapeno and a green pepper. Both times I added frozen corn and a bit of cinnamon. Perfection! I’m happy I finally have a go-to chili recipe… I think I’ll actually make this again tonight!
This is the absolute best chili recipe I’ve found. It’s a perfect blend of spices, not to hot but just right. I add a little more crushed tomatoes so it’s more like a soupy chili. It tastes and looks just like Wendy’s chili.
This turned out so delicious! Probably the best I’ve ever made. Would you have the nutrition information on it? I’d like to add it to my Noon app.
Hi Marie! Nutritional information is provided only for select recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”). Hope that helps!
Can I substitute a can of diced green chilies instead of thenpoblano pepper??
Sure! 🙂
Do the tomatoes need to be drained?
No, they do not. 🙂
Made this on Halloween for a party of parents of trick or treaters…. complete hit. Everyone raved about it. Best chili I’ve ever made- gonna be my new go-to. Damn Delicious does it again, my favorite food site, because it can always be counted on. Thank you!
Very good result. I tend towards the even easier side of using slow cookers (dump everything in and forget about it), but if the finished product is this good I’m willing to put in the effort every few weeks. For anyone else who is looking to ditch the ground beef, know that you can literally replace it with turkey without changing anything else. It tastes great with the beef broth and everything else exactly as the recipe specifies.
This recipe is very easy and delicious…one little secret is instead of black beans, i use a can of bourbon and brown sugar baked beans…gives it a nice sweet and spicey taste
I’ll be making this for dinner this week!
Do any of the canned things need to be drained?
Yes. 🙂