Slow Cooker Beef Chili — 🍅🧅😍 Easy, hearty comfort food that’s packed with flavor that develops beautifully as this classic beef chili simmers away in your slow cooker!
Table of Contents
Slow Cooker Beef Chili Recipe
Chilly weather means it’s the perfect time for chili. I can’t believe in 8 years of blogging I don’t have a recipe for classic beef chili on my blog. Better late than never.
This slow cooker chili is easy, hearty comfort food that’s packed with flavor that develops beautifully as the chili simmers away in your slow cooker.
The ground beef chili is rich in flavor and has a tiny amount of kick, but I wouldn’t say it’s spicy. Add the spices to your taste preferences. You can add more chili powder, add cayenne powder, or use hot green chilis if you want to kick it up.
Good thing you’ll have leftovers because this easy beef chili tastes even better the next day and it freezes well. It’s comfort food at its finest!
What Readers Are Saying
You are a magician when it comes to spices, Averie. I have made SOOOOO many of your recipes over the past 5+ years since I discovered you. This is my first review. Your Slow Cooker Beef Chili was so spectacular on my recent autumn get-away, I just had to give you a shout out. I can’t wait to make your 30-minute Taco Chili. Mucho gracias!
Lisa B.
What’s in Slow Cooker Beef Chili?
To make this ground beef chili recipe, you’ll need:
- Bay leaves
- Ground beef – I use 90% lean ground beef, but any variety will work as long as you drain any excess fat
- Vidalia onion
- Red bell pepper
- Garlic
- Red kidney beans – Substitute pinto beans if preferred
- Black beans
- Diced tomatoes
- Tomato sauce
- Diced green chiles
- Spices
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Slow Cooker Beef Chili
This crockpot chili recipe is the perfect meal for busy days. Here’s an overview of the cooking process:
- Add the ground beef to a large Dutch oven or a large skillet, and brown the beef over medium-high, breaking it into pieces as it cooks. Drain any excess fat.
- Add the onions and red pepper, and cook to soften. Then, add the garlic, salt, and pepper.
- Line a 6-quart slow cooker with a Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner, and add the beef mixture. Add the remaining ingredients.
- Cover, and cook until the chili thickens.
- Season to taste, remove the bay leaves and ladle the chili into bowls.
My Go-To Chili Toppings
This slow cooker beef chili tastes great as is thanks to the slow cooking method, but I always like to load it up with toppings. A few of my favorite chili toppings are:
-Sour cream or Greek yogurt
– Shredded cheddar cheese
– Sliced jalapenos
– Chopped green onions
– Crushed tortilla chips
– Hot sauce
– Avocado
– Red onion
– Cilantro
What to Serve with Slow cooker beef chili
Recipe FAQs
I’m sure you could, although any chili made with ground turkey isn’t a classic chili recipe in my book. But yes, ground turkey, chicken, or pork could be used in place of the ground beef if desired.
I prefer to drain and rinse my beans before adding them to the ground beef chili, but you can dump the beans straight into it if you’re short on time.
Wherever possible I selected no-salt or low-salt products. If using regular versions, add less salt in the beginning and salt to taste at the end.
Yes! To help ease weeknight dinner chaos, I cooked everything on the stovetop the night before, transferred it into my lined slow cooker, added the remaining ingredients, refrigerated, and the next night turned on the slow cooker in advance of dinner. So easy.
Leftover chili will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It actually tastes better after a day or two as the flavors blend together!
Yes, once cool you can transfer the chili to a freezer-safe container, and freeze for up to 4 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight when you’re ready to serve.
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Slow Cooker Beef Chili
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef, I used 90% lean
- 1 medium/large sweet Vidalia onion, diced small
- 1 medium/large red bell pepper, diced small
- 3 to 5 garlic cloves, finely pressed or minced
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- one 16-ounce can red kidney beans, I used low-salt, drained and rinsed if desired
- one 15-ounce can black beans, I used no-salt added, drained and rinsed if desired
- one 14.5-ounce can petite diced tomatoes, I used no-salt added
- one 8-ounce can tomato sauce, plus 8 ounces water used to rinse out can
- two 4-ounce cans diced green chilis, I used one can mild, one can hot
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, regular paprika may be substituted
- 2 to 4 bay leaves
- sour cream, green onions, shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips or crackers; all optional for garnishing
Instructions
- To a large Dutch oven, add the ground beef and cook over medium-high heat to brown, crumbling it with a spatula as it cooks and tossing it to ensure even cooking. Cook through, about 5 minutes or as necessary. Drain fat if necessary.
- Add the onions, red pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until vegetables have softened, stir intermittently.
- Add the garlic, salt, pepper, and cook for about 1 minute, stir intermittently.
- Line a 6-quart slow cooker with a Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner and transfer the beef mixture into it.
- Add the beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, rinse can out with 8 ounces water and add the water, green chilis, cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, and bay leaves.
- Cover, and cook on high for about 2 to 3 hours or on low for about 4 to 5 hours. All slow cookers vary in their heat intensity. Cook until chili has thickened some. Stir, taste, and add more salt, pepper, or seasonings to taste. Remove bay leaves.
- Ladle into bowls and optionally garnish with sour cream, green onions, shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips or crackers.
Notes
- Chili will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days and in the freezer for up to 4 months. The flavors meld and marry and I think it tastes even better a day or two later.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Homemade Chili Recipes:
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Easy 30-Minute Beef Taco Chili — Don’t have all day for chili to simmer? No problem!! This EASY, hearty chili full of Mexican-inspired flavors is ready in 30 minutes! If you like TACOS, you’ll LOVE this chili!!
Easy 30-Minute Turkey Chili — This healthy turkey chili recipe comes together in just 30 minutes! It’s packed with flavor and is perfect for busy weeknight dinners.
30-Minute Cinnamon and Black Bean Loaded Chili – If you’re looking for a unique spin on classic chili, this EASY and DELICIOUS beef chili recipe is the one!!
Easy 30-Minute Smoky Beef and Black Bean Chili – Don’t have all day for chili to simmer? No problem!! This chili with lovely SMOKY heat is ready in 30 minutes!
Easy 30-Minute Chicken Enchilada Chili – This EASY, hearty, healthier chili full of Mexican-inspired flavors is ready in 30 minutes! Perfect for busy weeknights!!
Post is brought to you by Reynolds®. The recipe, images, text, and opinions expressed are my own.
You are a magician when it comes to spices, Averie. I have made SOOOOO many of your recipes over the past 5+ years since I discovered you. This is my first review. Your Slow Cooker Beef Chili was so spectacular on my recent autumn get-away, I just had to give you a shout out. I can’t wait to make your 30-minute Taco Chili. Mucho gracias!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Lisa, and I’m so glad this is a winner for you and that you’ve made so many of my recipes! I am flattered and happy to be one of your go-to’s for recipes!
great
great
Great!
I doubled the recipe and made a few adjustments by adding coffee vs water and adding black beans with the kidney beans. I prefer a chili with a little more depth of flavour and feel like I could easily increase the spices by 50%. I was short on time so I cooked it in the crock pot on high for 2 hrs and another 2 hrs on low.
I doubled the recipe and made a few adjustments by adding coffee vs water and adding black beans with the kidney beans. I prefer a chili with a little more depth of flavour and feel like I could easily increase the spices by 50%. I was short on time so I cooked it in the crock pot on high for 2 hrs and another 2 hrs on low.
Thanks for these recipes i am gonna try some of them
are the can of beans drained and rinsed or just dump the beans in as is??
I drain and rinse but you could technically just dump in as-is if that’s easier for you.
How about rinsing the cans out with a little (or lot!) of red wine?
hey girl this looks so tasty!
Slow cooker chili is SO good! And those liners are a MUST for easy clean up!
YES love them! Seriously saves me so much time!
Yes! Keep the crockpot soup/stew/chili recipes coming! Make my life SO much easier to use a slow cooker.
Ok awesome! LMK if you make it!
Yay!!!! Freezer friendly! Slow cooker anything is delicous, especially things like this because here in Ohio it’s getting to be like 25 degrees out. So cold.
Stay warm! :)
This is hearty looking! Nice chunks of bell pepper, mixed beans and plenty of beef. We had our first snow yesterday so slow cooker-comfort food weather is here. I think I need to get going on my Christmas shopping Friday and come home to this chili!
Wow, snow. Stay warm! This would be a perfect post-shopping winter meal :)
I got this going late morning and ventured out for the afternoon. The house smelled great and it was soooo nice to have dinner ready when I came home. We love your recipe and I’ll definitely make it again! Its flavorful and easy to control the spice level (I stuck with the mild chili’s this time).
So glad you tried it and that it will be made again in the future! Perfect for chilly winter days and nights!
Ohhhh that is SO smart! Because I’m the one who usually cooks, the bf is the one who does the dishes – but he’s not really happy when he needs to scrub out the pans… So I have to remember this!
And now for the recipe, I LOVE beef chilli (it’s one of my fave recipes) Next time I’ll definitely add some cumin, too.
Liners are the best! Seriously, I don’t slow cook without them now because they save so much time on cleanup!