Four Bean Spicy Crockpot Chili
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Creating this Four Bean Spicy Crockpot Chili
Spicy Crockpot Chili has been a family favorite for several years now!
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!
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!
(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.
How to Make Spicy Crockpot Chili
(For the full recipe, scroll down to the recipe card below)
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.
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.
My Favorite Chili Toppings
- Cheese (shredded cheddar)
- Diced onion (red or white)
- Cilantro
- Green onions
- Sour cream
- Tortilla chips
- Avocado
- Lettuce
- Guacamole
- Tomatoes
- Salsa
What to Serve with Chili
- Cornbread is our go-to. Here is a delicious herb corn bread recipe you will love!
- Fries, or something like these potato wedges!
- 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! 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.
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Four Bean Spicy Crockpot Chili
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground Italian sausage, spicy
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced small
- 1 red bell pepper, diced small
- 2 Tbsp. fresh garlic, minced
- 1, (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes
- 1, (5 oz.) can Ortega green chiles
- 1 Habanero pepper, diced small (optional)
- 1 jalapeño, diced small
- 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1, (16 oz.) jar thick and chunky salsa (or any brand is fine)
- 1, (7 3/4 oz.) can El Pato hot tomato sauce
- 12 oz. IPA beer
- 1/2 (bottle) red wine (375 ml) Merlot, Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon all work well. Use beef broth as a substitute if you prefer to leave the alcohol out.
- 12 oz. chili sauce (Heinz)
- 1/2 cup chili seasoning*
- 1, 15 oz. can cannellini beans (rinsed & drained)
- 1, 15 oz. can black beans (rinsed & drained)
- 1, 15 oz. can pinto beans (rinsed & drained)
- 1, 15 oz. can kidney beans (rinsed & drained)
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- topping ideas: cheese, sour cream, corn bread, avocado, red onions, etc.
Last step! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- In a large frying pan, brown sausage and ground turkey with olive oil over medium-high heat. Once cooked, pour into bottom of crockpot/slow cooker. You need at least a 6QT slow cooker for this recipe.1 lb. ground Italian sausage, spicy, 1 lb. ground turkey, 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- Turn the heat down to medium and sauté the onions and bell pepper for ~5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the garlic and stir for ~1 minute or until fragrant.1 small yellow onion, diced small, 1 red bell pepper, diced small, 2 Tbsp. fresh garlic, minced
- Transfer to crockpot/slow cooker with the sausage and ground turkey.
- Pour all remaining ingredients onto the meat/onion mixture into the clockpot/slow cooker. I know it's a lot of ingredients, but trust me it all comes together and is SO good.1, (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes, 1, (5 oz.) can Ortega green chiles, 1 Habanero pepper, diced small (optional), 1 jalapeño, diced small, 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce, 1, (16 oz.) jar thick and chunky salsa, 1, (7 3/4 oz.) can El Pato hot tomato sauce, 12 oz. IPA beer, 1/2 (bottle) red wine (375 ml) Merlot, Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon all work well. Use beef broth as a substitute if you prefer to leave the alcohol out., 12 oz. chili sauce, 1/2 cup chili seasoning*, 1, 15 oz. can cannellini beans, 1, 15 oz. can black beans, 1, 15 oz. can pinto beans, 1, 15 oz. can kidney beans, 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- Stir all ingredients together and set the crockpot/slow cooker on low for ~4-6 hours, or on high for ~3-4 hours. Taste and adjust any seasonings as needed.
- Serve with corn bread and garnish with cheese, onions, sour cream, avocado or any of your favorite chili toppings. Enjoy!!
Equipment
Video
Notes
- 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. OR buy a packet or 2 of your favorite chili seasoning from the store.
- Stove top: 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.
- Storage: I think this chili gets better on days 2 and 3 once the flavors really have time to meld together! When properly stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, can last for about 3 to 4 day
- Vegetarian option: Ditch the ground turkey and sausage and make it a vegetarian friendly chili!
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is automatically calculated. It should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Kroll’s Korner can’t make any guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
This is an incredible chili recipe! I have tried MANY but the variety of ingredients and flavors in your recipe give this chili such depth. Sweet, spicy and savory, truly excellent. Everyone loved it, even the kids (I’m just careful with the cayenne) and I’m making it again for Super Bowl! Awesome!
I am so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you 🙂 I am making this weekend for the big game, too and can’t wait!!
This was delicious and my whole family loved it. So much flavor, but not too spicy. I have made it twice already and it gets better after a few days. No need to try any other chili recipes!
amazing!! thank you so much Janet!
I was nervous about all those ingredients but this chili turned out delicious! The family loved it!
It’s a lot in the best way possible! haha thank you sooo much!
Delicious! Used ground beef for hubby and added VTP to mine was so good ! Have not made any of your recipes that we don’t just Love !! Keep them coming 🙂
so kind of you, thank you so much!
This chili was amazing. I made it for daughter and son-in-law last night.
Son-in-law ate seconds and took some home!
I used ground beef instead of ground turkey, and the only beer I had
was blue moon (haha)
We had it with grated cheese and cornbread.
I wish I’d remembered to take a picture for you
That beer works just fine! Hehe thank you sooo much Lisa!! Glad it was a hit!
I made this with cornbread last night for dinner for my family and it was AMAZING!! Everyone loved it so much. I used 1lb of the hot Italian sausage and 1lb of lean ground beef and added an extra habanero and it was so delicious. Thank you for this recipe!!
Does this recipe fill a 7 quart crockpot? When using red wine is there a certain kind to get?
Merlot, Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon all work well 🙂 I have a 6.5 QT slow cooker so yes that works perfectly! Enjoy!! 🙂
Where have you been all my life?!! Omg! Perfect recipe! Thank you so much!
I actually haven’t made chili yet this winter… can’t believe that!! I LOVE chili and this one looks fabulous too. 🙂
This chili is goals! Looks so delicious + full of flavor. I am totally craving some of this goodness right now. Thank you for this recipe and CONGRATULATIONS on your new job 🙂