This is a very basic slow cooker or crockpot chili recipe my family has been enjoying over the years. We use basic ingredients most of us have handy most of the time. For example, we use celery, beans, onion, and lean meat. Because we use real ingredients for this chili, it is a nutrient-dense meal. It is rich in iron, calcium, protein, fiber, Vitamin A, B, C, K, potassium, niacin, phosphorous, molybdenum, folate, copper, manganese, magnesium, folic acid, selenium, and phytonutrients.
Slow Cooker or Crockpot Chili Ingredients
Lean Meat
For this recipe, we use ground turkey as our choice of lean meat. You can, of course, substitute it with ground chicken, ground beef, or even ground pork depending on your taste. When you brown the meat over medium heat, you can opt to drain the liquid from the meat prior adding it to the slow cooker.
Vegetables
Tomatoes
Many chili recipes call out for tomato sauce or tomato paste. In our crockpot chili recipe, we use marinara out of a glass jar which contains less harmful ingredients than its canned counterparts. If you read the ingredients of the Mezzetta marinara, you will notice all ingredients are real ingredients. They are tomatoes, fresh onion, olive oil, and spices. There are no chemicals, preservatives, additives, or unknown ingredients. In short, we love the jarred marinara and include it in many of our recipes.
Beans
We use kidney and cannellini beans in our chili. Feel free to substitute it with beans of your choice. We preserve the liquid from 2 out of the 3 cans. If you prefer more soup/watery type of chili, feel free to leave the bean liquid from all the cans. Respectively, if you like a thicker chili, drain the liquid from all the cans. You can also make your own beans from scratch for a healthier alternative.
Seasoning
We use dry spices for this recipe. We use the basic basil and oregano spices found in many tomato-based dishes. And of course, chili powder as the name suggests is used for chilies. Feel free to use fresh spices instead of the dried ones. Also, some marinara already have spices such as basil in them already.
Save Time And Buy Recipe Ingredients Online
In today’s very busy world, saving a few minutes from long grocery store lines is a treat. Hence, we recommend using our “Get Ingredients” button located at the button section of our recipe card to buy this recipe ingredient online. Check out our video at the 42 seconds mark to see how the “Get Ingredients” button work or just test it out yourself. There are several time-savers in doing this:
- Save time compiling a list of ingredients. The service we use on our site already moves the ingredients for the recipe to the online grocery store of your choice automatically. All you need to do is just review the list to update it as needed.
- Save time and money from driving to the store. The service we use offers home delivery options.
- Save time to wait in line to check out. Depending on the online store you chose, there could be an option for store pick up. This means that you have ordered everything you need online, and just stop by at the grocery store to pick up your groceries.
Serving Suggestions
We love serving this chili with some grated cheddar cheese on top along with some green onions. Feel free to top it with any of your favorite chili toppings. My husband likes to top it with spicy sauces and my children like to add tortilla chips.
Equipment
We use a slow cooker, also known as a crockpot, for this delicious chili recipe. Cooking this chili for about 8 hours blends the seasoning, veggies, and lean meat very well. Other than the slow cooker, the rest of the kitchen tools are basic, such as pan, knife, cutting board, measuring set, and utensil set.
Basic Slow Cooker Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 3 ribs celery
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 20 oz marinara
- 1 bell pepper
- 2 cans kidney beans 15 oz
- 1 can cannellini beans 15 oz
- 1½ tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
Prep
- Wash hands with soap and water. Check out our article about how to wash hands properly
- Gather all ingredients
- Gently rub produce under cold running water. Scrub firm produce with a clean vegetable brush under running water.
- Peel and chop 2 cloves garlic and 1 onion.
- Dice 3 ribs celery
- Core and dice 1 bell pepper
Brown The Ground Turkey
- Over medium heat, in a pan, brown 1 pound of ground turkey
- Drain excess liquid
Combine Ingredients Into Slow Cooker
- In a slow cooker also known as crock pot, combine all ingredients: browned 1 pound ground turkey, 1 chopped bell pepper, 3 stalks diced celery, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 chopped onion, 20 oz marinara, 1 can kidney beans with liquid, 1 can kidney beans without liquid (drained), and 1 can cannellini beans with liquid.
- Season with 1 tsp dried parsley, 1½ chili powder, 1 tsp dried basil, ¼ tsp ground black pepper, and ½ dried oregano.
- Stir well and cook on low for 8 hours.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Chili Powder – Make sure it says gluten-free on the label if you have gluten allergies. Otherwise, the chili powder may contain trace of gluten.
- Feel free to top your amazing chili with some grated cheese if you don’t have dairy allergies
- We are extremely excited to announce we are now using the saferecipeguide.org guidelines to make our recipe safe-friendly. We will slowly be incorporating the safe recipe guidelines into our recipe instructions!
Nutrition
We strive to provide the most accurate information possible, however, it is at your own risk when you decide to use it. For example, the nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by our recipe plugin. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. If we list a recipe as a nut-free, for instance, we do our best to check all ingredients for nuts via an application. However, it is your responsibility to double-check our work prior to using the information as there is always room for manual error on our part or an error on the application we use.