It’s a must-have at family camping trips, game day, Fourth of July, backyard BBQ’s or just a cozy, rainy Sunday. This chili is made in the crockpot/slow cooker but can also easily be made on the stove too if you do not have one! It’s hearty, filling and perfect for loading up with all of your favorite toppings (like shredded cheese, green onions, tortilla chips and sour cream). This spicy crockpot chili is the ultimate comfort food and a great recipe to have on hand for the chili lovers in your life! If you’re looking for more chili ideas, check out my Pumpkin Chili, Green Chicken Chili Soup, and Slow Cooker Lamb Chili for more delicious recipes! (For the full recipe, scroll down to the recipe card below)
Italian Sausage and ground turkey: feel free to use ground beef, ground chicken, or other ground meats of your choice. Veggies: onion & bell pepper. I like to saute them before adding into the slow cooker to enhance their place and tenderize them a bit. Canned Beans: I like using cannellini, black, pinto and kidney beans. Feel free to use your favorite combination! Canned items: diced tomatoes, diced green chilies, El Pato tomato sauce Jarred items: salsa (any thick and chunky variety) and chili sauce (Heinz) Beer and wine: the red wine adds a nice well balanced flavor to the chili and the hops from the beer enhances the overall flavor. Chili seasoning: I love making my homemade chili seasonings. But feel free to use a packet seasonings for convenience.
What Are the Best Beans for Chili?
Chili is such a forgiving meal making it a hard recipe to “mess up”! Beans are so versatile, so there really is no “best” bean to add to your chili. This recipe uses Cannellini beans, black beans, pinto beans and kidney beans. First, cook the meat and sauté the bell pepper and onion: In a large frying pan, brown sausage and ground turkey with olive oil over medium-high heat. Once cooked, pour into bottom of crockpot (crock pot does not need to be turned on yet). Turn the heat to medium and sauté onions and bell pepper for ~5 minutes. Then, pour all remaining ingredients onto the meat/onion mixture into the crockpot. Stir all ingredients together and set crockpot on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. (The longer it cooks the better!) Serve with corn bread and garnish with cheese, onions and sour cream. Allowing the flavors to mix together over a 4-6 hour time period in the crock pot is essential to the bursting flavor. The longer it simmers on the stove or cooks in the crockpot, the more the flavors will meld together. In fact, chili is just the kind of thing you want to make a day ahead: it gets better with a night in the fridge. Freeze in covered airtight containers or heavy-duty freezer bags.
Tips for Making Spicy Crockpot Chili
Cook/brown the meat and sauté the bell pepper and onions in advance! That way, when you go to make the chili you can dump all of the ingredients in and that’s it! Prepare the chili seasoning in advance also. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup chili seasoning. So instead of taking out all of the seasonings from the pantry, you can already have a container or baggie of the chili seasoning ready to go! OR use your favorite chili seasoning packet from the store. Always top your chili off! Cheddar cheese, onions and sour cream are some of my favorite toppings. If you have the time, soak your beans overnight instead of using canned beans.
