This is the best recipe for homemade Healthy Slow Cooker Chili! It’s quick, easy and simple to prepare because it’s cooked in a crockpot. This is amazing to serve on gameday or take it with you when you go tailgating!
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★ About This Recipe
★ Cooking Tips
★ Printable Recipe
Every so often life happens and the time to cook shrinks back into next to nothing.
That’s when I love my slow cooker most of all – it takes hardly any time to prep a nice dinner and I’ll have it right there, waiting for us when we get hungry.
We had such a day recently, and I went back to my blog archives and picked this healthy slow cooker chili to make. It was such a huge hit with everybody, both my kids and my husband absolutely love this dish.
It’s so good in fact that I made it when my parents came over on a crisp and golden fall Sunday recently. It was so relaxing because I prepped everything in the morning and then didn’t have to stand in the kitchen while company was here.
Chili is one of my favorite dinners to make during the fall and winter months (right alongside crockpot meatballs, oven fried chicken and meatloaf), but chili has definitely not been getting the love it deserves on this blog.
So I decided to snap a few new pictures for you and share it again – try it and see for yourself what you’ve been missing out on all this time 😉
My best tips for making this crock pot chili:
About the equipment needed
Slow cooker
A 4-6 quart slow cookerlike this one on Amazon* will do a great job for this recipe.
If you don’t have the time to wait for 4-8 hours, or you don’t own a slow cooker, you can also make this in a Dutch oven: Simply combine all ingredients in a large Dutch oven and simmer covered over low to medium-low heat for an hour or two.
A good knife
Whenever I need to make a quick job of chopping up veggies I use my large chef’s knife. I used to be afraid of sharp knives and only owned a tiny, dull one. But it takes ages longer to get produce cut, so I’m always happy I can do everything faster when I’m pressed for time!
I have one similar to this one* from Amazon and it’s worth the investment so much – we’ve had our set of five good knives for years now (and we use them plenty!) and it’s definitely been paid off in the long run.
Ingredients
I have made this both with the cubed and ground beef AND with ground beef only. I do like it better with the cubed beef, but if all you have is ground it works just as well!
It’s not crucial to add the blended kidney beans, but it does make for a thicker and almost creamy chili without adding any cream or cheese at all – so I’m a huge fan of that!
There’s lots of pantry and freezer staples in this recipe, if you keep them on hand you never have to shop for much to have this comforting dish on the dinner table!
Here’s the printable recipe for the healthy slow cooker chili:
Healthy Slow Cooker Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1/2 pound lean beef cubed
- 1/2 pound lean ground beef
- 2 large onions chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 can (14.5 oz) chili beans
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground oregano
- 1-2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 can (14.5 oz) kidney beans blended
- 1/2 cup corn kernels
- All your favorite chili toppings
Instructions
- Heat a nonstick skillet over high heat. Add the oil and brown both meats. Add the onions and garlic and continue cooking for another 3-5 minutes or until the onions turn translucent.
- Transfer to a 3.5 quart slow cooker and add all the other ingredients except for the puréed beans and corn kernels. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.
- minutes before the cooking time is over, add the puréed beans and the corn kernels. Stir well, taste for additional seasoning and finish cooking.
- Serve warm with all your favorite chili toppings!
Notes
This recipe can easily be doubled to feed a crowd, simply adjust the size of your slow cooker accordingly.
Nutrition (this is an estimate)
* I make a commission for purchases made through these links.
Hi! Do you know if this can be made in a instapot instead of a slow cooker?
Hi Kristina, yes you can. Please use 1 cup of water instead of 1/2 cup and make sure you stir everything very well before closing the instant pot. Cook on high pressure for 30-45 minutes. After 10 minutes of natural pressure release, manually release any remaining pressure and open the lid. Stir in the corn and the blended beans and simmer on the sauté setting, stirring often, until thickened to your liking. Hope that helps!
I TRIED THIS RECIPE YESTERDAY AND AM NOW ENJOYING IT FOR THE 2ND NIGHT IN A ROW! IT IS GREAT, BUT I DO WANT TO WARN OTHER TEXANS THIS IS NOT EXACTLY WHAT WE WOULD CALL CHILI. I INVITE YOU TO COME DOWN TO TEXAS FOR A VISIT SOMETIME AND BRING AN EXTRA SUITCASE WHICH YOU CAN FILL WITH GREEN AND RED SALSA, CHILI PEPPERS, FLOUR AND CORN TORTILLAS. 🙂
Haha your comment made me smile, Patty! Glad you enjoyed the chili despite the lack of texan flavors. Honestly, I’ve only ever been to Texas once, and that was for a 3 hour layover in Dallas. Hopefully I’ll get to see more of your beautiful state sometime, at least I thoroughly enjoyed the view while flying over it 😉
Itś January in Wisconsin! This Chili recipe was made for here. Will be having this week. A bowl of Chili like this in the crockpot gives me time to make homemade dinner rolls. This will chase away those winter blues. Barb.
We’ve been having freezing temperatures, too – nothing better than a pot of warming chili! What’s your favourite dinner roll recipe?
This chili looks delicious! I’ve been using my slow cooker so much lately – it’s so nice to have dinner ready and waiting for you! Your photos are gorgeous!
Love that this has 2 different cuts of beef in it! I bet it has some great texture! Yummy!
It was actually my husband’s idea to use both ground meat and stew meat – and I loved it so much I just had to share it 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Jess!
I didn’t know you were over in Switzerland, Nora! It must be sooo beautiful at this time of year.
Perhaps (perhaps!) just as beautiful as this chili – I really love your photos, and this is a great reminder to get that crock pot of mine busy, too!
It’s actually pretty rainy here at the moment 🙁 We’re eagerly waiting for snow! Thank you so, so much Helen!
Switzerland? How wonderful! I have a friend there but I’ve never been — it sounds amazing! And this chili will be the perfect introduction for people in Switzerland. It’s so cold there, they’ve got to try it. 🙂 I love chili myself, and this looks delicious!
Oh that’s so cool Marcie! A lot of people don’t even know where Switzerland is and confuse it with Sweden, haha! Thanks for stopping by!
You’re going to revolutionize switzerland! First the slow cooker, and now chili! I love chili, your recipe sounds amazing. Definitely adding this to the recipe rotation.
Ha, yes! A slow-cooking, chili-eating Switzerland would be amazing, haha! Thanks Natalie!
What a perfect dish for this winter-y season! Looks so savory and yummy! Pinned!
Thank you Christina!
I’m SO glad I found your blog! This sounds absolutely fantastic! I adore those flavours together, and your photography is just amazing!
Thank you SO much Alessandra! You’re too sweet 🙂
This chili looks fantastic, Nora! This is one of my favorite dishes to cook in the slow cooker when the cold weather hits. I love your healthy version, sounds delicious!
Thank you so much Gayle!
Chili just might be one of the best comfort foods during cold winter days. I’m looking forward trying your recipe one of these days, Nora. Looks delicious!
It really is an amazing food to eat when it’s cold outside! Thanks for stopping by Shinee!