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!
You can either scroll through the entire post or jump straight to the sections by clicking the links below:
★ 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.
