The Best Chili Recipe
Calling this the Best Chili Recipe ever is a big claim, but I stand by it—and the fact that it’s an award-winning chili recipe backs me up! This sweet and spicy chili is cooked in a crock pot to let all the flavors develop, and a secret ingredient makes it fan-freaking-tastic.
This sweet and spicy chili recipe is our absolute favorite, and it has been on repeat in our home for decades now. While we do love Creamy White Chicken Chili and Turkey Chili, THIS is the recipe we always go back to. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy and absolutely packed with ground beef! (No beans? No beans. Although you can add them if you’d like. They’re just not my thing.)
This recipe is an adaptation of one my husband gave me, he received it from a co-worker, who got it from his wife’s brother? Who got it from his cousin’s, grandmother’s, sister’s farmer? Something like that. It’s a Texas Chili which means it’s a No Bean Chili with beef, peppers and tomato sauce.
So I don’t really know where this classic chili recipe originally came from but once I got my hands on it, I tweaked it to make it my own. It’s super simple to throw together in a large pot and it cooks all day, so you can get it started in the morning and have a hearty dinner waiting for you in the evening or to feed friends on game day.
Ingredients
- Ground Beef – I use 80/20 ground beef for the best flavor. You can substitute with lean ground beef or ground turkey.
- Bell Peppers – Red and Green bell peppers are a great balance of flavors but you can use whatever color bell peppers you have on hand.
- Onion – A sweet onion variety like Vidalia adds a subtle sweet flavor with a peppery bite.
- Garlic – Minced garlic cloves are a no-brainer. We use 5 but you can measure this ingredient with your heart.
- Jalapeños– If you want a mild chili, be sure to remove the seeds and membrane from the jalapeños. For a spicy chili, leave the seeds and membranes while chopping the jalapeno.
- Spices – I use a blend of chili powder, cumin, ground cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, salt and black pepper to create a homemade chili seasoning. You can substitute with your favorite chili seasoning
- Tomatoes – While a traditional Texas chili uses beef broth for the base, I love to add tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes for a rich tomato flavor.
- Sweet Peppers – The secret to this sweet chili is jarred sweet peppers and the juice. We also add a but of brown sugar for richness.
For a full recipe list and instructions, see the recipe card below.
How to Make the Best Chili Recipe Ever
Roll up your sleeves and get ready to win first place in the chili cook-offs! You can make this CrockPot Chili or cook the whole thing in a dutch oven on the stove top.
- Brown the ground meat. Heat a dutch oven or skillet over medium heat and add the beef. Cook it until it’s no longer pink and transfer it to the slow cooker.
- Sauté the vegetables. In 2 tablespoons of the fat or olive oil, cook the onions until softened, then add the peppers and cook until those soften, followed by the garlic and jalapeño. Once fragrant, transfer to the slow cooker.
- Finish assembling. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
- Cook. Turn the slow cooker on to high and cook for 3 to 4 hours, or low for 5 to 6 hours.
We love this programmable slow cooker with auto warm setting by CrockPot! It’s a great way to make dinners easy and keep them warm until you’re ready to eat. We pull this one out at least once a week and the price can’t be beat!
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Tips for Making the Best Chili
This chili recipe is simple, but these tips will help make sure it turns out perfect.
- Browning the beef—optional, but is it really? If you’re in a rush, you can absolutely just break up the raw ground beef and add it to the slow cooker with the other ingredients. Buuuut it’s not quite the same. By browning your ground beef first, you’re developing a layer of flavor that makes this chili amazing.
- Cook the veggies too. The above is also true of the vegetables. You can put raw onions and peppers into your slow cooker, but if you’ve done it before, you probably know how they turn out—they never quite soften. If this doesn’t bother you, go for it. To me, that texture is distracting, so I really like softening them first.
- Adjust the heat as needed. This chili recipe is super spicy so you can tame the heat a bit by using just 1 tablespoon cayenne and 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper; you can also adjust the heat by removing the seeds and ribs of the jalapeño (less heat) or leaving them both in (more heat). We love our chili spicy and the sweetness of the sugar does take it down a notch.
- Make the most of your leftovers. This chili can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for 2 months.
How to Store Leftovers
Transfer any leftover chili to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
This chili freezes beautifully. Transfer to any freezer safe container or freezer-safe bags and freeze for up to 3 months. I, personally, like to make a double batch to freeze for easy weeknight dinners.
Favorite Toppings for Chili
Here are a few of our favorite chili toppers for this recipe:
- Crushed Fritos, corn chips or Tortilla Chips
- Sour Cream or Greek yogurt
- Quick Pickled Red Onions
- Slices or pickled jalapeños
- Oyster crackers
- Shredded cheddar cheese or pepper jack cheese
- Pickled radishes
- Green onion or chopped onions
- Pickled okra
- Black olives
- Avocado
- Cilantro
The Best Foods to Serve With Chili
These recipes are excellent served alongside chili, or use this chili to give them an upgrade!
- Nachos
- Hot dogs
- Buttermilk cornbread
- Bread bowls
- Homemade Cornbread
- Loaded Tater tots
- Crispy baked sweet potato fries
More Chili Recipes
- Chili Mac
- Instant Pot Chili
- The Best Hot Dog Chili
- Easy Chili Cheese Dip
- White Chicken Chili
- Vegetarian Black Bean Chili
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Get the Recipe: The Best Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef, I used 80-20
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 large jalapeno peppers, minced (remove the seeds and veins for less heat…leave them for more heat)
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 3 tablespoons ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons ground cayenne pepper, Or more if you like a lot of heat!
- 2 tablespoon crushed red pepper
- 6 ounce jar of chopped sweet peppers and juice
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 28 ounce can tomato sauce
- 28 ounce can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
- salt and pepper to taste
Equipment
- slow cooker crock pot
Instructions
- In a large frying pan, brown the ground beef until no longer pink and transfer to the slow cooker using a slotted spoon. Drain off all but two tablespoons of fat and add the onions to the pan.
- Cook the onions over med-high heat until they begin to soften. Add the peppers to the onions and sauté until softened. Add the garlic and jalapeno peppers, cooking for one minute longer. Transfer the mixture to the slow cooker with the beef.
- Add the chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, sweet peppers and juice to the beef mixture and stir to combine.
- Add the brown sugar, tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes stirring thoroughly to be sure all the ingredients are incorporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook in the slow cooker on high for 3-4 hours or low for 5-6 hours.
- Serve with your favorite chili toppings, we love greek yogurt, sour cream, shredded cheddar, green onions, and pickled jalapenos…just to name a few.
Video
73 Comments on “The Best Chili Recipe”
I’m confused on the sweet peppers also what should I be looking for and is it 1-6oz or 16oz
Why are you confused about the sweet peppers….how can I help? And it’s 1 – 6 ounce jar.
Can you substitute brown sugar for regular sugar
You sure can!!! I’d pull back just a little bit on the white sugar though, maybe a few tablespoons less.
I have everything but the jarred peppers, will it still work?
Yes, it will still work…it just won’t have that sweetness from the peppers.
Love this recipe. I think it’s the perfect base as far as beef, onion, pepper, garlic and tomato sauces. Everyone can tweak the spices to their own liking. I cut the cayenne and red pepper flakes in half, added a little extra brown sugar and you still get plenty of lingering heat. I may have to cut more heat next time to satisfy everyone’s taste buds.
I’m so glad you loved it!
HI. We love your chili! I’m making it for a chili cook off tomorrow but I have to work all day tomorrow, should I just prep everything this evening and let it cook all day tomorrow or cook it tonight and just heat it up at the party?
Thanks for any advice
Lynn
Either way works (sorry I’m just seeing this now, I was on a business trip.) I do tend to like it the next day reheated because it gives the flavors a chance to get happy! 🙂
Can I use ground turkey, would love to try this? Thanx!! ☺
Absolutely! It’s great with ground turkey!!
We love spicy food so can’t wait to make this.
Could you please give me an idea where you start from to salt to taste? Or what do you put in it fit your taste.
I, usually, add a bit of salt when all the ingredients are mixed together and then again at the end. I hope you love it as much as we do!
Y’all must be used to eating extremely hot food cause that was a lot of hot and I mean a lot so the first time I only left out 1 tablespoon of cayenne… this time I only put 1/2 tablespoon altogether let’s Just say that my husband doesn’t get this whole pot! I really do love this recipe though because I am not and never will be a fan of beans either! Thank you for sharing!
You’re very welcome! And, yes, we do love our food pretty spicy so a half tablespoon cayenne would be perfect for someone who’s more sensitive to heat. 🙂
The best chili recipe. I would only use 1 tablespoon of cayenne instead of 3. I like spicy, but 3 is too much. Other than that amazing!
So glad you loved it and I like things really spicy so it really is adaptable to many palates. 🙂
What kind of jarred sweet peppers did you use?
I use either Cento or Mezzetta brand sweet peppers, whatever I can find at the store. You could also use jarred piquillo peppers.
Thank you for responding so quickly. I look forward to trying this chili soon!
What section are these peppers in? Can’t find any sweet peppers in can/jar.
Sometimes they’re in the aisle with pickles and olives and other times there with the italian products, like pasta and sauces.
I`m making this tonight. I`m backing off the cayenne ALOT!! Are you sure that`s not a typo?
I`m going to start with about 1/2 t, and go from there.
It’s definitely not a typo….we like our chili spicy so definitely start with a smaller amount if you’re sensitive to spice.
How many people does this recipe feed
Anywhere from 10-16 depending on the serving size.
A little too hot. Back off the cayenne and only use one jalapeño
I just used this recipe for a friendly chili cook off and it turned it out GREAT!
Instead of chili powder I puréed 4 Ancho chilies and I made the tomato sauce from scratch. I also backed off the cayenne a little.
I thought it was a little hot halfway through the cooking so I added more the of jarred sweet peppers.
The sweet and hot worked wonderfully together. This may be the best chili I’ve had, and I also won that cookoff.
Congratulations on your win! I’m so glad the recipe turned out well for you. It’s one of our favorites but I’ll have to try your modifications. I could see the anchos making it a bit spicy so Bravo with the addition of the extra sweet peppers. Great tips, thanks for sharing!
What is sweet peppers in juice??? Can’t find at store.
They’re just jarred sweet peppers and then you use the brine/juice that’s in that jar.
It’s very hard to find them here I used sweet cherry peppers and took the seeds out
Perfect substitute!
I love a good chili recipe and slow cookers are the best. I like your sweetness in this. I will be adapting this and adding beans.
How did you add the beans? Do you drain them? Cook them with the above recipe? I would like to add them as well.
There are no beans in this recipe. But if you want to add them, drain and rinse them well before adding with the tomato sauce.
I love slow cooker recipes. Great ingredients, especially the jalapeno…always love spicy! Thanks for sharing!