Who says everyday crock pot chili needs to be blah? A wonderful tasty red ground beef chili recipe made crock pot easy. A great hardy meal but good enough for that Superbowl party.
Editor’s Note: Originally published January 19, 2015. It is one great chili, but the post is three years old. I have updated some photos and the presentation. Essentially, I “painted the room.” The recipe is unchanged. Please enjoy this wonderful chili.
I have a lot of chili recipes, 17 at last count, and I love them all. But my wife (Wifo) ask for plain red chili. Just an “everyday” red ground beef chili. Not chicken, black bean, or anything else “special’. Just a “plain chili” as she calls it. An “all-American” chili so to speak.
It needed to be ground beef, with kidney beans and tomato based. A nice medium heat was mandatory. Not hot, read that as no jalapeno although it would be a nice addition to this recipe.
I had an older chili recipe Crock Pot Red Beef Chili that was published only the second month of this blog and had a fair amount of heat. A little change here… a little tuck there and I had a recipe that I really could eat every day. I have “retired” the previous recipe.
My Rating
A very solid 5 and yes, I could survive on this alone. I suggested an all chili diet but got slapped down. But she did love it.
Pro Tips: Notes on Crock Pot Chili
Precook the ground beef.
Ground beef needs to be precooked for crockpot recipes. This is not a safety thing but a texture thing. While ground beef will cook well past the 165 safe temperature in a crock pot, it will cook in clumps and not broken apart which makes good chili texture.
Modifications:
This is a great recipe for what it is. It is an everyday ground beef red chili. And this is now our standard beef chili.
You can make it hotter with a minced jalapeno pepper or a bit more cayenne pepper.
If you want, you can modify the beans or the meat and still come out great. And yes, ground turkey would work.
This is a thick chili. Add more water or a can of beef broth if you like your chili more like soup.
A sodium note. Chili can get out of hand on sodium content. I rinsed the beans that help the sodium. I always use low sodium beans any more. And if you add broth to thin the chili, use low sodium broth. With all that, even with adding some salt for taste, the sodium number 760 per serving.
Number of Servings
This is an easy recipe to cut in half. Use the serving adjustment just below the ingredients in the recipe card area. That will do the math for you. It will not adjust to numbers in the instruction section, however.
A full recipe uses a larger crock pot (5 qt plus). A half recipe will fit in 2.5 qt minimum. Cooking time will remain the same.
Serving size is about 1 1/2 cups. It will freeze well and is good in the refigerator for 3-4 days.
Other Great Crock Pot Chilis to Try
Ultra Simple Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
Crock Pot Three Bean Turkey Chili
Low Fat High Taste Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
Tailgate Chili and Nachos
The ingredients are what you would expect.
Start by browning two pounds of ground beef. After 3-4 minutes add one large onion chopped. Add minced or crushed garlic near the end of browning. About 8 minutes total. Drain and add to large crock pot.
Chop one green pepper. Rinse and drain two cans light kidney beans.
Add two 14 oz cans diced tomatoes, one 6 oz can tomato paste, 1 cup water, 6 tablespoons chili powder, two teaspoon cumin, one teaspoon oregano, one teaspoon salt (to taste), 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional and adjust to taste).
Cook on low for 8 hours.
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If you enjoyed this recipe, the pleasure of a rating on the recipe card below is requested.
Crock Pot Chili
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 onion - large chopped
- 2 cloves garlic - minced or crushed
- 28 oz light kidney beans
- 1 green pepper
- 28 oz diced tomatoes
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 1 cup water
- 6 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper - optional and adjust to taste
Instructions
- Start by browning two pounds of ground beef. After 3-4 minutes add one large onion chopped. Add minced or crushed garlic near the end of browning. About 8 minutes total. Drain and add to large crock pot (5 qt plus).
- Rinse and drain two cans light kidney beans.
- Chop one green pepper.
- Add two 14 oz cans diced tomatoes, one 6 oz can tomato paste, 1 cup water, 6 tablespoons chili powder, two teaspoon cumin, one teaspoon oregano, one teaspoon salt (to taste), 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional and adjust to taste).
- Cook on low for 8 hours.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Precook the ground beef and throw the chopped onion in with it.
- Rinsing the beans will decrease the sodium load.
- Add salt to taste only.
- This is a thick chili. Add more water or a can of beef broth if you like your chili more like a soup.
- Serving size is about 1 1/2 cups.
- An easy recipe to cut in half. Use the serving adjustment just below the ingredients. Cooking time will remain the same.
- A full recipe uses a larger crock pot (5 qt plus). A half recipe will fit in 2.5 qt minimum.
Check Out Other Great Recipes
Nutrition is generally for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.
All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
Originally published January 19, 2015
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Tom
I’ve made this recipe a few times now. I have found that you can up the recipe to between 12-14 servings in a standard full size crockpot. Living in an irish family, no one can handle anything spicy so I cut back to just a pinch of cayenne. I also cut back about 15-20% on the chili powder and subbed half of that with taco seasoning. Finally, I like to do half black and half light kidney beans. Recipe is great as written, just my pallet adjustment.
The recipe freezes and reheats extremely well. I often freeze a few servings to have for lunch on a cold day.
Jasmine
Can this recipe be made in an instant pot instead?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Jasmine,
Welcome to the blog.
I’m sure it would but I rarely use a pressure cooker. I suspect about 1 hour would do it but please compare to simular recipes.
Dan
Hayley
Man, I haven’t lived with my mom (or had her chili) in 8 years now, and I was really starting to miss it. For some reason, chili is the one thing I don’t settle on: its gotta be moms or better, or I don’t want it!
I don’t tweak this recipe at all and it turns out just like hers, everytime. This recipe is my favorite comfort of all time. I brought a bowl over to my dad and he demanded I send him the link, and the past year both of us have been lovin this recipe. And I’m sure for many years to come. Thank you for sharing this recipe! I’ll definitely have to give some of your other chilis a go!
Tigger
Just made this recipe for the first time for my boyfriend and I and it is definitely a keeper! For easy to prepare. My boyfriend loved it! I can’t wait to make it my next family pot luck.
Diane
Thank you ….. my husband loved the chili 😊
I only used pinto beans & made two crockpots of chili as a side for Mother’s Day… I look forward to trying your other recipes ! So easy to make too!
Doug
Made this on a snow and it was great! Not easy to make a “small” crock pot of chili but this recipe halved quite nicely. Substituted Bush’s seasoned black beans and added a diced fire roasted Hatch green chili for added heat. It is a keeper.
Tor Hembre
I am a Norwegian guy, been living in Texas since 2011, and I finally decided to cook a chili. Been looking around for recipes , and when I found this one, why not! Got everything I needed, so started to put stuff together today, and after 8 hours I finally go t to taste it. I love it, my wife love it, but the only thing I don’t liked was the wait! 8 hours of delicious smell, without being able to dig into it…… Really happy , it was easy, good and will def make it again ! Thanks !!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Tor,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad you enjoyed the chili. I’m surprised it, I thought in Texas, you had to eat chili weekly. It’s the law, I thought. Just kidding….
This is our favorite chili most of the time. You can cook it on high for 4 hours or simmer in a large pot on the stove top for about 2 hours.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan