This flavorful Crock Pot Chili recipe with ground beef, beans, onion, peppers, and tomatoes is an easy choice for a family dinner, potluck, or party!
A slow cooker is the best way to make food for a crowd. You can put it all in the crockpot and let it cook while you prepare everything else. Plus, your family and friends can eat whenever they get hungry, and the food will stay warm.
Ingredients Needed
- Ground Beef: The ground beef is seasoned with Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, and black pepper while browning.
- Seasonings: This slow cooker chili is seasoned with chili powder, brown sugar, minced garlic, ground cumin, kosher salt, and dried oregano.
- Vegetables: This recipe calls for diced onion, diced green peppers, and diced tomatoes with green chilies. You can add additional chopped vegetables such as carrots, celery, or corn.
- Beans: We used a combination of kidney beans and chili beans to make our crock pot chili. You can use any canned beans you prefer, although the chili beans include mild chili sauce that adds flavor, so if you leave it out, you may want to add more seasonings.
- Liquids: The liquids in this chili are tomato sauce and water, in addition to the undrained canned ingredients called for in the recipe.
How To Make Chili In A Slow Cooker
Crock Pot Chili is so popular because it is an easy, hands-off way to make chili. Once the meat is browned, you simply add the other ingredients and allow the slow cooker to do the rest. Plus, it keeps the soup warm while serving.
- Meat: Season the ground beef and brown it. Drain the grease and place the meat in a large crock pot. Don’t forget to add a slow cooker liner for easy cleanup!
- Seasonings: Add the seasonings and stir until combined.
- Beans and Veggies: Stir in the diced vegetables, canned beans, tomato sauce, and water.
- Cook: Cover the crock pot and cook until the chili is hot and you are ready to serve it.
Toppings Ideas
While this fantastic chili can be served just as it is, we all know that the chili toppings make it even better! Choose something salty and crunchy, something cool and creamy, as well as some garnishes that add flavor and color. Here are a few popular options to try:
- Salty and Crunchy: corn chips, tortilla chips, croutons, or saltine crackers
- Cool and Creamy: shredded cheese, sour cream, or cottage cheese
- Flavorful Garnishes: sliced green onions, cilantro, sliced jalapenos, or diced avocado
What To Serve With Chili
Chili can be served as a main dish, a starter, a side dish, or as a topping! If you are making chili as the main dish, you’ll need some sides to serve with it to complete the meal. Here are a few ideas:
- Bread: cornbread, breadsticks, sliced Italian bread, or dinner rolls
- Salad: broccoli salad, coleslaw, or potato salad
- Dessert: brownies, chocolate chip cookies, or blueberry cheesecake dessert
Serving Ideas
You can also serve it as a topping or as an appetizer. When serving this at a party or potluck, keep everything warm by using multiple slow cookers on the lowest setting. Try it on top of one of these items:
- Baked Potatoes: Slice open the baked potatoes, mash up the potatoes with a little butter and sour cream using a fork, then top with a spoonful of chili.
- Chili Cheese Fries: To make chili cheese fries, cook the French fries, top them with cheese sauce, and then put a scoopful of chili on top.
- Chili Cheese Dogs: Make chili dogs by putting the hot chili right on top of the hot dog in a bun, along with the rest of your hot dog toppings.
- Loaded Nachos: Top tortilla chips with cheese sauce, chili, and all of your favorite nacho toppings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can put raw beef in the slow cooker. But we suggest that you brown it ahead of time. Browning the ground beef adds additional flavor. Plus, the excess grease is drained off and discarded rather than being incorporated into the soup.
To make vegetarian chili, you’ll need to replace the meat with more vegetables and beans. Add more tomatoes and peppers as well as diced carrots and celery. Then, add another can of your favorite chili beans, plus the Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, and black pepper that we used while browning the meat.
Yes, you can use ground chicken or ground turkey in place of the ground beef called for in this recipe.
Crock Pot Chili
Video
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
- ½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 medium onion diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 green pepper diced (about 1 cup)
- 16 oz can kidney beans rinsed and drained
- 16 oz can chili beans in mild chili sauce undrained
- 14.5 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes undrained
- 10 oz can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies undrained
- 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Place the ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat and break it apart. Drizzle with Worcestershire sauce and sprinkle with seasoned salt and black pepper. Cook until browned and drain the grease.
- Transfer the cooked ground beef to the crock pot. Top with chili powder, brown sugar, minced garlic, cumin, kosher salt, and dried oregano. Stir to combine.
- Add the diced onions, diced green peppers, kidney beans, chili beans, diced fire-roasted tomatoes, Rotel, tomato sauce, and water. Stir to combine.
- Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 4-5 hours stirring occasionally.
