Slow Cooker Chilli Con Carne

🤍 Recipe Highlights

I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the slow cooker chilli con carne recipe in the points below:

• Simple ingredients: you can get everything you need to make this chilli con carne from the local grocery store. They are year round available ingredients that are easy to get your hands on.
• Budget friendly: this is also a recipe that won't cause you to blow your budget! If you are looking for easy cheap recipes you are onto a winner with this one! Get the kids to help and it will be one that they make over and over when they expand on their self sufficency in later years.
• Set and forget: the best thing about slow cooking right! Throw everything in and let it cook. Whip up a double batch on the weekends and your weeknights will be sorted!
• Family friendly: I intentionally dial back the 'heat' or 'spice' factor in this recipe. The chilli is actually rather mild deliberately so that you can serve it to a wide range of age groups and not have to reduce the flavor to make it more palatable.
• Comfort food: when the weather gets a bit cooler a big bowl of chilli will be something you look forwward to and delight in the flavors of.

🥗 Ingredients

The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the crock pot chilli con carne recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.

As you can see the recipe calls for:

• Salt and pepper: we use salt and black pepper for seasoning in the recipe.
• Garlic: you can use 2-3 fresh garlic cloves, minced jarred garlic or chunky chopped garlic as I am using.
• Tomato paste: thick and rich. This adds a ton of flavor to the chilli.
• Diced tomatoes: we want to use 2 x tins of plain diced tomatoes. As we are adding all of our own herbs and spices to the mixture, we don't need 'Italian style' or other types of tomatoes that come with additional herbs.
• Garlic powder: as much as we are also using garlic in the recipe, we use some herbs and spices for the 'chilli' factor. Garlic powder is one of these.
• Onion powder: as above. The onion powder is one of the ingredients used to make the 'chilli' flavor.
• Oregano: a fragrant dried herb that is versatile and works across a wide range of recipe.
• Paprika: you can use either ground paprika or smoked paprika. I usually use smoked, however, both will work if you have one but not the other.
• Cumin: smell this and you are taken to the world of Mexico! An essential herb to make a chilli con carne.
• Red kidney beans: all we need to do for these is open the can then drain and rinse them under tap water.
• Chilli: we use 2 x long red chillis for the recipe. These are more mild than short red chillis. You can omit these or use the equivalent amount of freshly sliced jalapenos if you wish too.
• Red onions: my preference is to use red onions when making chili con carne. They have a sweeter flavor to them which works well with the rest of the more savory based ingredients.
• Capsicums: red capsicums for us Aussies or bell pepper (for my American and Canadian friends). These help to add another vegetable component to the dish and bulk it up with more than just 'minced meat'.
• Beef mince: beef mince or ground beef for my friends in the USA. This is an excellent budget friendly cut of meat that is versatile and lends itself to a wide variety of flavor combinations (including chilli!).

Tasty Tip: I like to provide you with a number of substitutions and variations giving you an array of options when making my recipes. If in doubt of any of the above ingredients, or wanting alternatives, read this section (further below) before jumping into the instructions on how to make the recipe which are coming next 😉👌.

🍳 Instructions

Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by preparing the vegetables. You will need a knife and cutting board for these inital steps.

• Prepare the chopped onion (Photo 1)
• Chop the capsicums (Photo 2)
• Slice the chilli (Photo 3)
• Add the diced onions to the slow cooker insert (Photo 4)

👩‍🍳 How to Make Slow Cooker Chilli Con Carne

To make the chilli con carne in the slow cooker, we prep all of the vegetables and then begin to add them to the slow cooker.

Start with the onion, then add the bell peppers and red chilli.

Next begin to add the ingredients to the slow cooker insert. Start with the red onion as shown in the photo above and then add the capsicum, chilli, beef mince and red kidney beans as shown in the photos below.

• Add the capsicums (Photo 5)
• Then add the red chilli (Photo 6)
• Add the beef mince (Photo 7)
• Add the red kidney beans (Photo 8)

Next we start to add our seasoning to the chilli. Start with the salt and pepper as you see below.

• Add the salt and black pepper (Photo 9)
• Then add the garlic (Photo 10)
• Add the dried oregano (Photo 11)
• Then add the cumin (Photo 12)

Then add the garlic, oregano and cumin powder.

• Add the garlic powder (Photo 13)
• Then add the onion (Photo 14)
• Add the paprika (Photo 15)
• Pour in the diced tomatoes (Photo 16)

Next add the onion powder, paprika and diced tomatoes like you see in the photos above.

• Add the tomato paste (Photo 17)

Next add the tomato paste as you see me having done in the photo above. Once you have, take a wooden spoon and gently stir the chilli to combine it as you see in the photo below.

• Stir to combine (Photo 18)

Once you have stirred the chilli, you can pop the lid on the slow cooker and set the timer.

You have the option of cooking the chilli for 3-4 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low. After which time, you can remove the lid, give it a good stir and keep it on warm or get ready to portion and plate! (Always the best bit right 😉👌).

🍽 Serving Suggestions

When it comes to serving your chilli con carne, cooked white rice is an easy and tasting pairing.

You might also like to pop some cilantro on the plate for garnish, lime wedges for a drizzle of lime juice, a dollop of Greek yogurt for good measure and corn chips or tortilla chips if you please.

If you want to add extras like cheddar cheese that will work too. When it comes to your warm bowl of comfort food, you my friend can do you!

For wine pairings, try a chilled glass of rose or a crispy cold white wine like a pinot gris.

For red wine lovers, try a smooth red like a pinot noir. It will down down a treat with the chilli 😄👍.

👍 How to Guide

How to Store

Let the chilli fully cool. Then portion into a sealed, airtight container. These leftovers can be refridgerated for 2-3 days and need to be reheated before being consumed. (Next day leftovers are even better than the day you made the recipe!).

How to Freeze

To freeze the chilli, you can follow the method above to let it cool and then portion into air tight containers. Or for a space saving measure, you can use zip lock bags with the air pushed out. These will stack nicely in the freezer. Frozen portions of chilli can be in the freezer for up to 3 months.

How to Reheat

For refridgerated leftovers, add them to a bowl and cover with cling wrap. Then heat in the microwave using high heat for 2-3 minutes until warmed through.

For frozen portions, I find it best to let them fully thaw then follow the above to reheat. Whilst you can reheat from frozen to heated through, I find sometimes the dish isn't warmed through as effectively as when it is thawed 1st.

😉 Substitutions and Variations

Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:

• I like to opt for plain style diced tomatoes. That way you know exactly what herbs and spices are going into your chilli. Ie not tins of 'Italian style diced tomatoes'.
• You can use red kidney beans or black beans (equivalent amount).
• This is a mild chilli con carne recipe. If you wish to make it a bit more spicy or intense you can add some chili powder (start off slow) to your liking.
• You can use ground chicken or turkey as an alternative protein to the beef if you wish too.
• Or you can add some freshly sliced jalapenos when adding the ingredients to the slow cooker if you want an extra vegetable in the mix.
• Sour cream can be used in place of Greek yogurt when serving.

💡 Tasty Tips

Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:

• I don't grease or oil the slow cooker insert before adding ingredients to it. If you want to you can, however, I don't find it necessary to do this for the recipe.
• I also don't brown the meat, however, I do stir all of the ingredients together using a wooden spoon to ensure that the meat doesn't cook in clumps.
• The order that you add the ingredients to the slow cooker is not set in stone. As we stir the mixture before we cook it, everything gets mixed together as it is. So if you change it up a bit, it will still work out ok.
• The lid needs to be on throughout the cook time with no removing to stir it. However, at the end, you can remove it and stir again.
• If you love slow cooker recipes then you might also like to try the Osso Bucco, Curried Sausages, Bean And Bacon Soup, Roast Pork With Crackling, Dahl, Braised Steak And Onions, French Onion Pork Chops, Sausage And Peppers, Scalloped Potatoes And Ham or the Chicken Drumsticks And Potatoes 😉👌.

🤓 Frequently Asked Questions

😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes

Here are some more recipes to inspire you to make the main meal of the day the most enjoyable task you undertake throughout the day/night. These recipes have a wide variety of proteins, cook times, methods and flavor combinations:

• Chorizo Pasta Bake
• Dumpling Noodle Soup
• Garlic Chicken Parmesan Pasta
• Chorizo Fried Rice
• Scallop Linguine
• Soy Sauce Noodles
• Roast Pork Shoulder
• Baked Ziti With Meatballs

It is time to get our chilli con carne on my friend! You can also find all of my comfort food recipes or dinner recipes in the one spot.

Adrianne

PIN and save this recipe for later! 

Hunger still got you? You can SUBSCRIBE to receive the latest recipes, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook.