4.79 from 23 reviews

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, 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!

  • Italian Sausage (Hot)
  • Ground Turkey
  • Yellow onion
  • Bell pepper
  • Canned diced tomatoes
  • Diced geen chiles
  • Salsa
  • El Pato tomato sauce (hot)
  • Beer
  • Red wine
  • Chili sauce
  • Chili seasoning
  • Cilantro
  • Cannellini beans
  • Black beans
  • Pinto beans
  • Kidney beans
4 bean spicy crockpot chili in white bowls topped with cheese, onions and sour cream

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

a white bowl filled with slow cooker 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.

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.

chili in a crock pot with a ladle

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.

4 bean spicy crockpot chili in white bowls topped with cheese, onions and sour cream

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.
spicy crockpot chili in a white bowl topped with cheese

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.

4.79 from 23 reviews

Four Bean Spicy Crockpot Chili

Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 6 hours
Total: 6 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 15 people
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.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground Italian sausage, spicy
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh garlic
  • 2 Tbsp. Olive oil
  • 1 small yellow onion, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1, (15 oz.) can diced tomato
  • 1, (5 oz.) can Ortega green chiles
  • 1 Habanero pepper, diced
  • 1 jalapeño, diced
  • 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1, (16 oz.) jar thick and chunky salsa (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.
  • 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

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 olive oil over medium-high heat. Once cooked, pour into bottom of crockpot. I have a 6.5 quart sized slow cooker. (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!!

Equipment

Wooden spoon to stir

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
  • 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!

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1cup, Calories: 266kcal (13%)

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.

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23 Comments
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Lisa Dooley

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

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Savannah Maurais

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!!

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Last edited Posted: 27 days ago by Savannah Maurais
Lacey

Does this recipe fill a 7 quart crockpot? When using red wine is there a certain kind to get?

Amada Eyer

Where have you been all my life?!! Omg! Perfect recipe! Thank you so much!

Catherine Brown

I actually haven’t made chili yet this winter… can’t believe that!! I LOVE chili and this one looks fabulous too. 🙂

Whitney E, R.D.

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 🙂

Shannon

This is probably the prettiest chili I’ve ever seen! Def want to try this out!

Abbie Gellman

Sounds delicious!

Kelly Jones

Beans and spicy are all chili needs for me! No point eating it without some heat!! Looks great 🙂

Lauren O'Connor

Mmmm – love a good chili! (and love the engraved spoon).