Name: Slow Cooker Ground Beef Chili
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 7 h
Total time: 7 h 15 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil; 2 lb ground beef; 1 yellow onion, diced; 1 green bell pepper, diced; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 3 tbsp chili powder; 1 tbsp ground cumin; 1 tsp smoked paprika; ½ tsp cayenne; 1 tbsp tomato paste; 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes; 2 cans kidney beans (15 oz each), drained and rinsed; 1 cup beef stock; To finish shredded cheddar, sour cream, sliced scallions

Slow Cooker Ground Beef Chili

Brown the meat, dump in the rest, and let the slow cooker run all day while you don't think about dinner.

Serves

Prep

15 min

Cook

7 hr

Written

July 31, 2026

Method

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it apart with a spoon, until no pink remains, about 8 minutes. Drain off excess fat.

Transfer the beef to a slow cooker. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne, and tomato paste, and stir until the meat is coated.

Add the crushed tomatoes, beans, and stock, and stir to combine.

Cover and cook on low until the vegetables have softened and the chili has thickened, 7 to 8 hours.

Stir well before serving — the chili firms up considerably as it sits, more than the pot suggests halfway through.

Ladle into bowls and top with cheddar, sour cream, and scallions.

Notes

Browning the beef before it goes in is the one step worth the extra skillet — a slow cooker never gets hot enough to brown anything, so any color the meat is going to pick up has to happen now or not at all. Everything else can go in raw.

This keeps for four or five days in the fridge and thickens further each time it’s reheated, so it’s worth making the full batch even for two people. Swap in pinto or black beans without changing anything else, and pass extra cayenne at the table rather than adding it to the pot — it’s easier to add heat than take it away.