Easy Slow Cooker Chili (With Sausage)
This is a classic chili recipe with a twist adding ground and smoked sausage for more flavor! Plus it's super easy to make!
Servings 6 to 8 cups
Calories 246kcal
Ingredients
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- ½ white onion, chopped
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh or dried oregano.
- 1 pound ground sausage
- 1 twelve ounce pack smoked sausage links, sliced
- One 16 ounce can of pinto beans (drained and rinsed)
- One 16 ounce can of dark kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
- One 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
- One 10 ounce can of rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies
- One 15 ounce can of tomato sauce
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 & ½ tablespoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- additional salt to taste
Instructions
- Brown the ground meat in a large pan on medium high heat. Remove the browned meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and it to the slow cooker.
- Add the sliced meat into the pan. Brown it on both sides and remove it from the pan using a slotted spoon and add it to the slow cooker.
- Place the jalapeno, garlic, onion, green pepper, oregano, tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, oregano, chili powder, cumin, pepper and salt in the slow cooker. Gently stir until all ingredients are combined.
- Cover with a lid. Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours.
- Once it finishes cooking, salt to taste as needed.
Notes
- To make it spicier add another jalapeno. To make it even more spicy, do not remove the seeds from the jalapeno (fair warning this may make it too hot for some that don’t like that much spiciness).
- To make it vegetarian you can omit the meat and substitute the chicken broth for vegetable broth.
- Add more vegetables. Corn is a pretty good addition to this recipe.
- Meat substitutions can be used if you don’t like using pork. Use a chicken or turkey sausage or ground turkey or chicken in place of the ground meat.
- Bean variations – You can use black beans or only just one bean such as just adding pinto beans. Or you can even add all three beans mentioned (black, pinto and kidney beans) to this recipe.
- Using a slotted spoon to remove the browned meat from the pan helps to drain and decrease the amount of grease you add to the recipe.
- If you would like for your sliced meat to have a crunch, add them into the slow cooker at the end of the cooking process.
Nutrition
Calories: 246kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 1078mg | Potassium: 305mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1245IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 2mg