This easy slow cooker chilli con carne is rich and tasty beef, slow cooked until shreddable in a spicy tomato sauce with beans and it’s utterly delicious.
Depending on where you’re from you may call this chilli con carne or just chili. While you may have grown up with a simple stove top version made with beef mince / ground beef, my version harks back to it’s Tex Mex roots using stewing beef or brisket and slow cooking it until it easily shreds.
It’s often thought of as a Mexican dish but the first chili recipe (in the style of this version) was created by “chili queens,” in San Antonio, Texas making it a classic Tex Mex recipe.
You’ll love these Mexican short ribs too.
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Ingredients & substitutions
This chilli con carne recipe is made using very simple ingredients, a few of which are explained in a little more depth below. At it’s heart, chili con carne is a dish of juicy meat in a spicy, tomato sauce and the addition of beans is widely debated.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredient quantities and instructions.
- Beef: I use brisket, stewing steak or a cheap beef roast cut. Chuck works fairly well too. You’re after a cheaper cut that has lots of marbling or connective tissue or fat as this helps to keep the meat juicy and tender even after a long cook. This chili recipe works with beef mince (aka ground beef) too.
- Chipotle in adobo: Traditional Texan chili uses multiple varieties of dried chilies for their sweetness, smoky flavour and heat like ancho chilies and arbol chilies to name a couple. As these aren’t so readily available in Australia (though specialty shops do carry them), I add the smoky chilli flavour in the form of chipotles in adobo sauce. They come in small cans. Puree the contents of the can to a paste. Use ⅓ of a cup for the recipe and the rest can be frozen in ice cube trays for another recipe.
- Herbs & spices: A combination of cumin, paprika and oregano are so classic in Mexican or Tex Mex cooking.
- Tomatoes in two forms – tomato paste (a thick concentrated tomato puree) and crushed or diced tinned tomatoes.
- Beans: Heavily debated, some will tell you a good chili must have beans while others will tell it most definitely should not. To add more balance and keep the meal easy, I add black beans. Any plain tinned beans will work so don’t feel you must stick to black beans if you have red kidney beans on hand for example.
- Sugar: A touch of sugar is added to balance the acidity you get from tinned tomatoes. If using San Marzano tomatoes or even fresh tomatoes in season, you may not need to add it. Any other type or time, please don’t skip it.
- Cocoa powder might sound like a bizarre addition but when you think of Mexican mole, a very famous Mexican dish using chocolate, it’s not strange at all. Cocoa adds depth and complexity to the beef and also helps to neutralize the acidity of the tomatoes. Don’t worry, it doesn’t make your chili taste like chocolate.
How to make slow cooker chilli con carne
The wonderful thing about many slow cooker meals including this slow cooker chili con carne is how simple they are to make. Just a short bit of prep, then you can just let everything stew away all day filling the kitchen with the most comforting aroma.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredient quantities and instructions.
1. Spice the beef
Cut the beef into 3-4 chunks and dust it with the flour and spices.
2. Brown the beef
Brown the beef in a large skillet / frying pan turning to brown it all over. Let it get just a little char here and there but you don’t want to burn it. Char adds smokiness while burn bits turn bitter.
3. Combine everything in the slow cooker
Add the leftover flour-spice mix to the bowl of a slow cooker along with the sauce ingredients, garlic, onion, capsicum (bell pepper) and the beef. Make sure it’s all well combined, then cook it on low 7 ½-8 hours (or high for 3½ to 4 hours) until tender and easily pulling apart.
4. Add the beans and cocoa
Now, stir in the beans and cocoa powder and cook for another 30 minutes on the high setting.
5. Shred the beef
Remove the beef from the sauce and shred it using two forks. Add it back to the sauce, stir well and serve.
How to serve chilli con carne
Chilli con carne is often served with plain cooked rice. A wedge of lime is great for a little tang too. I love serving it with corn chips too.
On the side, add some avocado or guacamole, sour cream and grated cheese. For a tasty garnish, I’ve used spring onions in the photos but I love coriander (cilantro) with this.
Storage
Store any leftover slow cooked chilli con carne in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
You can freeze it too. Store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
This chili recipe is also great for meal prepping. You can freeze portions using silicone freezer cubes with some rice underneath for an easy grab and go lunch.
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Ingredients
- 1 kg stewing beef rump, chuck, brisket will all work
- ¼ cup plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- ⅓ cup chipotle in adobo paste
- 2 ½ cups beef stock
- 400 g tinned crushed or diced tomatoes (14 oz)
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 brown onion , diced
- 1 large red capsicum (bell pepper) , diced
- 420 g can black beans drained (14oz)
- 3 teaspoons cocoa powder
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Slow cooker
Instructions
- Cut the beef into 3-4 pieces. In a large bowl, toss it with the flour, paprika, cumin and a good pinch of salt. Don’t discard any excess spiced flour that doesn’t stick.
- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Cook the beef on each side until browned being careful not to burn.
- To the bowl of a slow cooker leftover spiced flour mixture, tomato paste, chipotle paste, beef stock, diced tomatoes, oregano and sugar. Mix well to combine.
- Now add the garlic, onion and capsicum and stir well. Finally, add the beef and spoon some of the sauce over them.
- Cover and cook on low for 7 ½ hours- 8 hours until tender and easily pulling apart (or high for 3 ½ to 4 hours).
- Add the beans and cocoa powder and cook for a further 30 minutes or until the meat is shredding easily.
- Season to taste then serve.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Beef: You can use beef mince / ground beef in place of the chuck roast. Still brown it the same way adding the flour once it’s browned and cooking it out for a minute or two.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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