Slow Cooker Beef Chili

Ingredients

• 2 lb / 900 g Ground beef
• 1 large Yellow onion, diced
• 1 Green bell pepper, diced
• 4 Garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cans (15 oz / 425 g each) Kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 oz / 425 g) Pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (28 oz / 794 g) Crushed tomatoes
• 1 can (15 oz / 425 g) Tomato sauce
• 3 Tbsp Chili powder
• 2 tsp Ground cumin
• 1 tsp Dried oregano
• 1 tsp, plus more at the end Kosher salt
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• 1 Tbsp Brown sugar, optional
• ½ cup, if the pot looks stiff Water

Method

1. Set a wide skillet over medium-high. Cook the beef, onion, and bell pepper together, breaking the meat into small crumbles, until the beef is browned and the onion is soft. Pour off the fat. Stir in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper and cook 1 minute so the spices smell toasted, not raw.
2. Scrape the skillet into a slow cooker that holds at least 6 quarts. Add both beans, the crushed tomatoes, the tomato sauce, and the brown sugar if you want a little roundness. Stir.
3. Cover and cook on low for 6–8 hours, or on high for 3–4 hours. If the chili is thicker than you like, splash in the water. Canned beans are already cooked. They are in the pot for flavor, not to soften from dry.
4. Taste before you serve. Add salt a pinch at a time. Cheese, sour cream, and sliced green onion can go on at the table. A wedge of Sweet Skillet Cornbread is the usual partner.

Nutrition

Kitchen estimate only, not lab-verified. A bean-and-beef bowl. The beef fat you pour off, and whatever you add at the table, move the numbers.

Guest diet / allergy swaps

Short kitchen notes for guests. A fuller gluten-free or dairy-free ingredient list, when we have one, is in the panels below.

• Low-sodium friendly

  Use no-salt-added crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Rinse the beans well. Leave the teaspoon of salt out of the skillet and salt the finished pot lightly, if at all.

• Gluten-free style

  The pot has no flour or pasta. Some chili powders are blended with wheat starch. Read that jar, and the cumin if you are strict.

  • United States: The pot has no flour. Some chili-powder blends add wheat starch. Read that jar.
  • United Kingdom: Beans, beef, and tomatoes are the pot. Check the chilli powder if you avoid gluten strictly.

• No beef

  Brown ground turkey instead, or use 4 cups of cooked lentils and skip the meat. Lentils make it a bean chili. Drain any turkey fat the same way.

• No pork

  This pot is beef and beans. Do not stir in sausage or bacon.

• Dairy-free

  The chili itself has no milk or cheese. Leave off the cheese and sour cream at the table.

• Spicy

  Add ¼–½ tsp cayenne with the chili powder, or one minced jalapeño with the onion.