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This easy Crock Pot chili recipe is a hearty family dinner made with ground beef, beans, tomatoes, and homemade chili seasoning. After a few minutes of prep on the stovetop, the slow cooker does the rest of the work.
Serve it for a cozy weeknight meal, game day, or anytime you need dependable comfort food. Set out corn chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, and green onions so everyone can add their favorite toppings.
Why You’ll Love This Easy Crock Pot Chili
Crock Pot Chili Ingredients
Onions & Garlic
This is where you can really start to change the flavor of this dish. Using yellow onions is standard and delicious, but if you’re going to crank up the heat in this chili, you may want to consider Vidalia onions that are a bit sweeter and would act as a balancing agent to the heat.
Beef broth or water: For more flavor, always opt for broth.
How to cook chili in a slow cooker
Step 1: Brown the beef
The best beef to use for chili is full of fat and flavor. You can purchase this as 80/20 or 85/15. Because it’s so high in fat, we do want to make sure to brown it in a skillet and drain the excess fat before adding it to the slow cooker. This will keep your chili from becoming too oily.
(If you love chili, try my Texas Chili too!)
Step 2: Sauté the onions
Retain a few tablespoons of that fat to saute the onions in. Onions in the slow cooker tend to not break down well. So this is another step to do on the stovetop to ensure we don’t have crunchy onions in our chili.
Step 3: Add the seasonings
The trick to developing deep flavors, in just about anything, is not adding raw seasonings to the dish. Just as your burger and onions are about done, add in the dry spices and cook for a minute or two. This is a method called “blooming” that removes unwanted bitterness from your dried spices.
Step 4: Slow cook the chili
Now dump everything into a Crock Pot and stir with a wooden spoon. Cover and allow to cook until you’re ready to serve.
As a general rule of thumb, cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. I highly recommend keeping it on low for 6-8 hours if you can. This really gives the flavors a chance to develop without risking the burning of your liquid to the side of the crock-pot.
Tips for success:
- An easy way to make this a chili everyone loves is with a chili topping bar. Include little bowls and spoons of ingredients such as cheddar cheese, hot sauce, sour cream, cilantro, parsley, scallions, saltines, and more! Serve with Homemade Corn Muffins. (I love doing this with my White Bean Chicken Chili too!)
- Be sure to have the right tools for the job. A 12-inch skillet and this spatula make browning burger a breeze!
- Do not overload your Crock-Pot. Be sure to use a 6-quart slow cooker for this recipe. Too big of a slow-cooker and your chili will get too hot too quickly and burn to the side of your Crock Pot. Too small of a slow-cooker and you risk overfilling and again the chili not heating evenly.
What to make with leftover Easy Crock Pot Chili
If you love chili and have anywhere from 1 cup to a whole second batch of chili hanging out in your fridge, you’ll want to try one of these delicious leftover chili recipes.
- Chili Cheese Dip – Replace the can with 1-1/2 cups of slow-cooker chili.
- Swap it for the taco meat in Sheet Pan Nachos.
- Rotel Dip – Use about 2 cups of this chili in place of the ground pork sausage.
- Spoon over these Hot Dogs In the Crock Pot for chili cheese dogs. (Hot dogs are another of my family’s favorite crockpot weeknight meals!)
- Make Frito Pie Casserole.
How to Store Leftover Chili
Let the chili cool, then transfer it to an airtight container. Refrigerate it for up to 4 days or freeze it for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen chili overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat it gently on the stovetop or in the microwave, adding a splash of broth if it has thickened.
More Easy Slow Cooker Recipes
- Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas
- Slow Cooker Mississippi Roast Sandwiches
- Crock Pot Ravioli Lasagna
- 4-Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
- Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese
- Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
- Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese
- Slow Cooker Turkey and Stuffing Casserole
- Creamed Corn
Need help with this recipe?
Click the buttons below to summarize it, adjust for diets, swap ingredients, or ask your own questions!
Crock Pot Chili Recipe
Equipment
- 6-quart slow-cooker
- 12-inch skillet
- spatula
- strainer
- paper towels
- knife
- cutting board
- garlic press
- measuring spoons
Ingredients
- 2 lb Ground Beef
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 30 oz kidney beans two 15oz cans, drained and rinsed
- 30 oz diced tomatoes with their juice
- 1 cup beef broth or water
- 14 oz tomato sauce
- 1 Tbsp cumin powder
- 2 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and sauté beef breaking it up with a spatula.
- Add onion to the skillet and sauté until tender (4-5 minutes). Add minced garlic and seasonings: cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, smoked paprika. Cook another 30 seconds stirring constantly. Transfer to a 6 Qt slow cooker.
- Add remaining ingredients into the slow cooker: rinsed and drained beans, diced tomatoes with their juice, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, and water. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
- Serve with toppings – cheddar cheese, green onions, sour cream, saltine crackers, etc.
I have made this recipe 3 times. Absolutely love it. I thought the amount of chili seasoning wouldn’t be enough, but it is perfect. This is my go to recipe for chili! Thanks so much for sharing.
I took this for a PTA potluck for teacher appreciation and it was a huge hit- crock pot empty at pick up and the gym teacher found me to tell me how much he enjoyed it. I have made it several times after as well. Very tasty!
This is a great recipe! My family loved it. To bring out the flavor I added 1/2 teaspoons of chipotle powder, freshly ground peppercorns using mortar and pestle plus added fermented honey garlic cloves in addition to the raw cloves (approx one clove and 1 tablespoon of honey) to add more depth of flavor.
Thank you, Andrea! We’re so glad you’re able to adjust it to suit your preferences. Sounds delicious!
This is my new favorite chili recipe! Adding that smoke paprika is A+ amazing!