This 4 Bean Spicy Crock Pot Chili is easy and healthy to make, can easily be made vegetarian and is loaded with flavor! Perfect for a crowd and we always like to serve it with cornbread. Be sure to watch the recipe video too!
Spicy Crockpot Chili has been a family favorite for several years now!
It’s a must-have at family camping trips, 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!
Spicy Crockpot Chili Ingredients
At first glance, it looks like this chili recipe has an overwhelming amount of ingredients. You probably have most of the spices already on hand and other canned goods stocked in your pantry!
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.
How to Make Spicy Crockpot Chili
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. Stir for 1 minute and then transfer to crockpot.
PRO TIP: Sautéing onions and bell pepper first coaxes maximum flavor out of them. So make sure your onions and bell peppers are soft and translucent before you add into the crockpot!
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.
You can also serve chili with hot dogs, salads, roasted veggies, baked potatoes or biscuits.
Can You Freeze Chili?
Yes! Since this recipe makes a lot of chili, freezing it is a great way to further extend the shelf life of cooked chili.
Freeze in covered airtight containers or heavy-duty freezer bags.
How long does cooked chili last in the freezer?
This Spicy Crockpot Chili will maintain best quality for about 4 to 6 months, properly stored.
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!
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.
This 4 Bean Spicy Crock Pot Chili is easy and healthy to make, can easily be made vegetarian and is loaded with flavor! Perfect for a crowd and we always like to serve it with cornbread.
In a large frying pan, brown sausage and ground turkey 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. Stir for 1 minute and then transfer to crockpot.
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 3-4 hours.
Serve with corn bread and garnish with cheese, onions and sour cream. Enjoy!!
Prep the seasonings the day before, or in advance, so it makes it easy to pour all seasonings in at once! Homemade chili seasoning recipe can be found here. You can also make this recipe on the stove. Brown the ground turkey and sausage with the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Remove from pan and sauté onions and bell peppers. Then add the meats back in with all of the other remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for at least 1-2 hours, stir occasionally. Ditch the ground turkey and sausage and make it a vegetarian friendly chili!
