Crock-Pot Chili Recipe (2024)

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Chili is the ultimate fall comfort food. Perfect for gameday or any chilly fall/winter day. I LOVE cooking meals in my Crock-Pot thanks to the set-it-and-forget-it approach. Dinner can be prepped and wrapped up around noon so you can be lazy for the rest of the day/evening. Plus your house will smell of pure deliciousness all day.

Serve chili on its own or over noodles, or I highly recommend some maple bourbon cornbread. One of my favorite meats to cook in a slow cooker is pork shoulder. And if you want a real showstopper that cooks hands-off, try out some beef short ribs in the oven.

Chili Ingredients

My chili recipe uses your classic chili ingredients. My only real substitution is using Guinness/stout in place of beef broth plus a few tweaks here and there. The perfect chili should be fresh with whole ingredients, and smokey with a touch of heat and sweetness from some brown sugar. Some details and substitutions below.

• 85% lean ground beef: Can go leaner if you prefer or even use ground turkey for a healthier spin. Cook before as you would beef.
• Light red and dark red kidney beans: Be sure to fully drain and rinse. Do not add the whole contents of the can. I pour into a colander and rinse with cool water. I like a mix of light and dark but you can use all of one or the other.
• Canned diced tomatoes: Can also dice your own tomatoes, canned is just much easier.
• Canned chopped green chiles: These are pretty mild and really just add flavor.
• Yellow onion: Can also use red onion. I don’t precook the onion with the beef so it’s best to finely dice so it gets nice and tender in the slow cooker.
• Minced fresh garlic: Need I say more?
• Chipotle chilis in adobo sauce: 1 chili plus a little sauce is VERY mild. You’ll mostly taste the beautiful smokiness from the chilis. I would add 2-3 for hotter chili. You can always adjust towards the end so save the can!
• Guinness: I love Guinness/mild stouts in chili however any dark ale or IPA will work. Just avoid anything with the name light in it ;). You can substitute for beef broth as well.
• Chili powder
• Ground cumin
• Brown sugar: Can substitute with table sugar.
• Optional, but not so optional toppings: Sour cream, Mexican blend cheese, chopped avocado, tortilla strips, fresh cilantro, salsa.

Cooking Chili in a Crock-Pot

This is such an easy chili recipe because everything is thrown right in your Crock-Pot/slow cooker with the exception of the beef. The beef should be cooked/browned in a pan beforehand for best results. This can also be made as turkey chili by using 93% lean ground turkey instead of beef.

You can cook the chili on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Just don’t rush the cooking process or the flavors/ingredients won’t have time to meld together/really tenderize. After your chili is done, you can keep it warm on the “keep warm” setting for a few hours. It will only improve with time.

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