Best Easy Slow Cooker Beef Chili Recipe
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When I think of a perfect comfort food on a cold winter day, beef chili immediately comes to mind. A bowl of warm and hearty beef chili deeply seasoned with spices always makes me feel cozy and content. This easy recipe makes the best classic thick chili made with beef, beans, onions, tomatoes, garlic and spices, simmered for hours in a slow cooker – so delicious!
This beef chili recipe is as easy as the slow cooker recipe can get – just dump the ingredients in a slow cooker, turn it on and walk away. The best part – no meat browning required! If you search the Internet for other crockpot beef chili recipes, you will find that they all require browning the meat (and sometimes onions too) before putting it into the slow cooker. That’s the whole extra step that requires you to stand at the stove cooking the beef, plus it creates another dirty frying pan that you’ll have to wash!
How can I get away without browning the meat? Simple! The reason why other recipes require browning the beef is so you can drain and discard the fat after it’s cooked. So why not just buy an extra-lean ground beef? This way there is no fat to drain and no need to pre-cook the beef before putting it in a slow cooker :) Yes, I’m like that – always seeking shortcuts! And I’m pleased to say that this shortcut really worked – this slow cooker beef chili tastes identical to the one with pre-browned beef.
The whole point of the slow cooker is to make your life easy. If you have to separately pre-cook ingredients before putting them in a slow cooker, it defeats the purpose of the crockpot. This recipe is a true slow cooker recipe – simply put in the ingredients and come back to a yummy chili. Just 5 minutes prep – open the cans, chop the onion and mince the garlic. That’s all there is to it :)
Here’s the ingredients going into the slow cooker – beef, beans, onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin and Worcestershire sauce:
There are so many ways to enjoy your chili – plain in a bowl, over rice, over baked potatoes, with chips, on hotdogs or hamburger buns. Feel free to double the recipe portion as you can transform the leftovers of this chili into different meals! Cooked chili also freezes very well, so you can freeze extras to eat later when you don’t have time to cook.
You can also spruce up your chili with toppings! Popular toppings include sour cream, diced green onions and shredded cheddar cheese. Yum!
Best Easy Slow Cooker Beef Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb extra-lean ground beef
- 2 cans 15 oz each black or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can 14 oz tomato sauce
- 1 can 14 oz diced tomatoes
- 1 onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Optional toppings
- Sour cream
- Shredded cheese
- Chopped green onions
Instructions
- Put all ingredients in a slow cooker and stir with a spoon to break apart the meat.
- Cook for 3 hours on High or 6 hours on Low.
- Stir well before serving to break apart the chunks of ground beef.
- Laddle into bowls to serve and top with optional toppings.
If you liked this slow cooker beef chili recipe, also check out my slow cooker chicken tortilla soup recipe below – you are going to love it! And the best thing to go with this chili is my easy golden cornbread – it’s so fluffy and so delicious!
Love chili! And it’s so easy to make in the slow cooker, isn’t it? This looks terrific — my kind of dish. Thanks.
Thanks John! Yes, chili is just made for the slow cooker as it gets better and better as it simmers for hours!
You know I love a shortcut that doesn’t affect the end result! Great idea with the lean ground beef. And this slow cooker chili looks so good, it is the perfect thing to come home to on a cold winter day!
I’m the queen of shortcuts ? The greatest inventions are made by lazy people looking for an easier way of doing things!
Slow cookers were full so I put this (covered) in the oven at
200 . turned out great!
Oh Melanie. This looks just like the chili my mom used to make! Love it!
This one is a classic! This chili recipe really stood the test of time because it’s so good!
I love chili on those extra chilly days! Making it in a crock pot is just such a smart idea! I also love that you used black beans!
The classic chili is usually made with red pinto beans, but I just happened to have the black ones on hand ? They taste about the same for me after they’ve been cooking with the meat for hours!
Dear Melanie, I sure do love slow cooker recipes. This one looks great! Perfect for a certain game that’s coming up very soon! Thanks for another delicious recipe!
Chili is always a hit for the Super Bowl! Especially chili dogs! Yum!
That looks like a big hug in a big bowl! :D And I love shortcuts too!
Lol that’s an interesting way to describe it ? So true – comforting like a hug ?
I love slow cooked meals but we don’t have a slow cooker. I have been looking at getting one though ?
Slow cooker gets used a lot in my house – it really does make cooking easier, as you don’t have to watch the food and can even leave the house while it’s cooking!
Dearest Melanie you always have the greatest meals and goodies to share…. I made this chile tonight and thought” where have you been all my life!!!!” Another Ultimate creation…. Thank You….SO GOOD!
Thank you so much, Cyn, for posting a review! I’m really happy that you liked the chili!
Oh this is my very idea of comfort food! We just recently became reunited with a slow cooker (as in, I destroyed the last one a couple of years ago and didn’t replace it until this year…), and I’m thinking this needs to show up on our menu soon. It looks like the ultimate food for a cold winter day…or for a house full of people watching the Super Bowl next week!
The timing is great, isn’t it? I hope you’ll give this chili a try!
Chili is definitely classic comfort food! I am a huge fan of the slow cooker for chili, and yours looks delicious! Wish I had this when I was snowed in the house! ;) Cheers, dear!
Thanks, Cheyanne! Chili is surely a great food to keep you warm and cozy during a snowstorm! ❄️
What a great comfort food! Gotta try the slow cooker method next time.
Absolutely give it a try, it’s so much easier to let the slow cooker do the cooking than be watching the pot on the stove!
I’ve got to get me a slow cooker as this does look (as you say) “a perfect comfort food on a cold winter day”!
Thing is, I just got my spiralizer for Christmas, so I think it’ll have to wait until next Christmas! Boo!
Hey it’s never enough kitchen gadgets ? I think I have more of them than shoes!
Slow cooker recipes are my favorite during winter, especially ones that are as hardy and stick to your ribs as this chili.
Mine too! I think humans evolved to be craving warm hearty foods in the winter – back from the caveman days when we were freezing all day outside!
I love eating chili. This looks like a perfect slow cooker chili recipe. Delicious!
Sounds delicious, a perfect winter food.
I’m all for a good shortcut or two! And I’m happy to use lean ground sirloin often and it usually tastes amazing. This chili is perfect for these dark, long winter nights and for a crowd.
Chilli beef is one of my favourite meals! I love this slow cooker version!
This is very timely as this week I’m going out to buy a slow cooker. I’ve never had one before but have decided they’re a real ‘must-have’. I do love chilli beef and this looks warming and comforting xx
This is making me wonder why I STILL don’t own a slow cooker! Would you believe it? This looks so easy and super yummy, Melanie! I love the fact that you can just pop everything in there and leave it to its own devices. So convenient! :)
I love Chili and this just looks fantastic!
And I was just feeling like I was due to make a chili, must be the weather. Love the idea of low fat chuck to skip a step and go faster. Mel you chili looks great :-)
I’m actually making this tomorrow for dinner. I was looking for a super simple chili and came across this. Not only is it simple but it’s super healthy with the lean ground beef, beans and tomatoes. Anything that’s simple and healthy is a winner in my book :)
Thanks, Christina! Please let me know how it turned out!
AMAZING! It’s simple, healthy and tastes great! I’ll double the recipe next time so I have plenty of left overs. My husband loved it :)
Awesome! Thank you so much for posting your review! I’m so happy that you and your husband enjoyed the chili!
If I’m going to double this recipe, do I need to cook it in the crockpot longer? And if I added green/red peppers, any adjustments?
No adjustments needed, same cooking time.
I am making this today and it is EASY – the way crockpot recipes should be!
Hello, I want to try this recipe, but at a glance, it seems all the ingredients will not fit into my basic slow cooker. I think it’s a three quart capacity. Thanx
Just use 1/2 of all the ingredients
Awesome, later!
Thank you Melanie! I love this recipe!!! It was so easy to make and it tastes amazing! I was so happy to find a recipe where I did not need to brown the meat ahead of time. What a time saver!!!
Everyone loved how thick and hearty it was, and I was thrilled at how simple it was to make. I was able to spend more time catching up with relatives and less time in the kitchen. :)
it’s so convenient to just set it and forget it while I focus on other dishes. Thanks to these tips