An easy slow cooker chilli con carne recipe made without browning the mince! This simple tex-mex dish is meltingly tender, very flavourful, and perfect with rice!
Put all of your ingredients in your slow cooker basin, give it a stir, switch on, and tuck in just 6 hours later! I love minimal prep, maximum taste recipes like these.
This easy Mexican slow cooker chilli con carne recipe is one of our go-to family-friendly recipes!
Just the right amount of spice, without being overwhelmingly spicy! Perfect for chilly weeknights and lazy winter weekends!
👩🍳 Love chilli con carne? Try my extra mild chilli con carne for kids!
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✔️ Why you'll love this recipe!
Here's why this is the best slow cooker chilli con carne recipe!
- No browning required.
- Chuck it all in and switch on.
- Ready in 6 hours on low setting.
- Tasty and flavourful chilli recipe.
- Great for batch cooking and feeding a crowd.
- Freezer friendly.
Don't forget to check out all of my easy slow cooker recipes!
🛒 Ingredients
- Minced Beef - use a lean 5% fat minced beef. You could also use frozen minced beef from the freezer department at your local supermarket, which can be cooked straight from frozen
- Onion - 1 brown or red onion, peeled and chopped finely.
- Garlic - 2 garlic cloves, peeled amd finely chopped
- Red Pepper - diced. Use yellow or orange peppers if you prefer.
- Passata - or substitute with tinned chopped tomatoes.
- Tomato Puree - gives the dish extra flavour.
- Beef Stock Pot - or stock cube. I like Knorr rich beef stock pot.
- Sweet Chilli Sauce - or substitute with caster sugar.
- Worcestershire Sauce - just a dash gives the chilli a lovely savoury flavour.
- Spices - a mixture of smoked paprika, ground coriander, ground cumin, oregano, and chilli flakes.
- Kidney Beans - for extra spice use kidney beans in chilli sauce. You could also use black beans or kidney beans.
- Optional Extras - I like to garnish my slow cooker chilli with grated cheddar, chopped coriander and sliced red chilli for the adults.
🥄 Equipment
Which slow cooker? I use a Morphy Richards Sear and Stew 6.5 litre slow cooker, which means I can brown and slow cook in the same pot as the slow cooker pot is safe to use on the hob! The 6.5 litre capacity serves 6-8 main portions, so it’s ideal for families and those that like batch cooking. There is also a 3.5 litre version for smaller households
🔪 Instructions
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post
Step 1: Place the onion, garlic and red pepper in the bottom of the slow cooker basin.
Step 2: Mix in the minced beef.
Step 3: Add the passata, tomato puree, beef stock, spices, sweet chilli sauce, Worcestershire sauce, kidney beans and salt and pepper. Give everything a good stir.
Step 4: Cook on a low heat for 6 hours. Remove the lid for the last hour of cooking to thicken the sauce. Alternatively, use some thickening granules to thicken it up. Garnish with chopped coriander, grated cheddar and red chilli (for the adults!).
💭 Top tips
- Make a double batch and freeze half for another day! You would need a 6 litre slow cooker to make a double batch, or a 3.5 litre slow cooker to make the original recipe.
- We've cut out the browning stage in this easy recipe, so use a low fat beef mince (5% or less).
- If you're in a hurry, you can cook the chilli on a high setting for 4 hours.
🍴 Serving suggestions
I like to serve this slow cooker chilli con carne with rice, slow cooker corn on the cob, tortilla chips, lime wedges, sour cream, grated cheddar and chopped coriander. It's also a great filling for enchiladas.
Serve leftovers over air fryer jacket potatoes, in chilli dogs, spoon through cheesy pasta to make a chilli macaroni cheese, or why not make chilli nachos?
📖 Variations
- Make the chilli con carne spicier by doubling the amount of chilli flakes.
- Add more chopped peppers or different vegetables such as courgette, sweetcorn, and mushrooms.
- Up the protein and add another tin of kidney beans.
- Diced cured chorizo sausage gives the chilli an extra smoky flavour.
- Use turkey mince or pork mince instead of beef mince for a lighter, lower-fat slow cooker chilli.
🥡 Storage
Store. Place the cooled chilli con carne in an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Reheat. Reheat in the microwave until piping hot.
Freeze. The slow cooker chilli can be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge before reheating in the microwave.
❓ FAQs
Yes, you can! Mix the raw mince in with the other ingredients, switch on the slow cooker, and I guarantee you will have meltingly tender mince at the end of cooking. I almost never bother browning mince for slow cooker recipes.
Cornbread, tortilla chips, tacos, salad, and jacket potatoes all go well with chilli con carne.
It's believed chilli con carne first originated in San Antonio, Texas in the 19th century, created by Mexicans residing in the southern US state. In the beginning it was a simple stew with chilli peppers but it is now a world-famous tex-mex dish.
😋More slow cooker recipes to try!
Tried this recipe? Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating in the comments!
Recipe
Easy Slow Cooker Chilli Con Carne (No Browning)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Onion peeled and chopped
- 2 Garlic Cloves peeled and chopped
- 1 Red Pepper diced
- 500 g Minced Beef 5% fat or less
- 300 g Passata
- 2 tablespoon Tomato Puree
- 100 ml Beef Stock made with stock pot or cube
- 1 teaspoon Sweet Chilli Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tablespoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 tablespoon Cumin
- 2 teaspoon Chilli Flakes
- 2 teaspoon Oregano
- 400 g Tin of Kidney Beans drained
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 tablespoon Thickening Granules
Instructions
- Place the onion, garlic, and red pepper in the bottom of the slow cooker basin.
- Mix in the minced beef.
- Add the passata, tomato puree, beef stock, spices, sweet chilli sauce, Worcestershire sauce, kidney beans and salt and pepper. Give everything a good stir.
- Cook on a low heat for 6 hours. Remove the lid for the last hour of cooking to thicken the sauce. Alternatively, use some thickening granules. Garnish with chopped coriander, grated cheddar, and red chilli (for the adults!)
Video
Notes
- Make a double batch and freeze half for another day! You would need a 6 litre slow cooker to make a double batch, or a 3.5 litre slow cooker to make the original recipe.
- We've cut out the browning stage in this easy recipe, so it's vital you use a low fat beef mince (5% or less).
- Make the chilli con carne spicier by doubling the amount of chilli flakes.
- Add more chopped peppers or different vegetables such as courgette and mushrooms.
- Up the protein and add another tin of kidney beans.
- Diced cured chorizo sausage gives the chilli an extra smoky flavour.
- Use turkey mince instead of beef mince for a lighter, lower fat slow cooker chilli.
- To Store. Place the cooled chilli con carne in an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- To Reheat. Reheat in the microwave until piping hot.
- To Freeze. The slow cooker chilli can be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge before reheating in the microwave.
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Qashang | Chili to Choc
This is the perfect comfort food. So good! Thanks for the great recipe.
Dannii
I love chilli in the slow cooker. The meat is just perfectly cooked.
maryanne
I love the amount of warm spices in this recipe! My family is going to love this!
Mindee Taylor
This turned out so delicious! Loved saving time by not having to brown the meat!
Angela
Great recipe! I love things that I can dump in the crockpot and forget about. The addition of the sweet chili sauce is such a great idea.
Sue
Could you prepare/ chop everything, add spices etc. then freeze and defrost in the fridge the night before you want to cook it?
Beth Sachs
Hi Sue. yes absolutely you can do this.