This Gluten Free Slow Cooker Chili is an easy recipe for weeknight dinner. Cook up the ground beef, dump everything into the slow cooker, then let it sit until dinner time. Great for a crowd, or just a hungry family. Serve with cheese and sour cream, plus some cornbread on the side!
You know those days when you just don’t feel like cooking? That would be most weekdays for me. Don’t get me wrong, I like to cook (otherwise I wouldn’t have a cooking blog), but when I get home from my day job a lot of the time I just want dinner on the table. Any recipe that helps me do that more easily is a win, which is why I love this slow cooker chili recipe.
This gluten free chili recipe is an adaptation of another chili recipe, which calls for condensed tomato soup and turkey. The problem with that recipe is
- most condensed soup has gluten in it, and
- my husband doesn’t like turkey.
So I decided to replace the soup with regular diced tomatoes and the turkey with ground beef, both of which did the trick.
When choosing the ingredients for this recipe, you’ll want plain diced tomatoes. Don’t get the kind with garlic or basil in them as it can throw off the flavors of the chili. Also, I’ve listed the green chiles as optional for this recipe. If you want a little spice in your chili, add them in, if not, simply omit them.
I’ve also listed the amount of ground beef as 1 and 1/3 pound. This is because I get the organic ground beef from Costco and it comes in 1 and 1/3 pound packages. If you only have one pound of ground beef, that’s fine. If you use 1.5 pounds, that’s fine. You could probably use up to 2 pounds of ground beef and the chili would still turn out just fine, it would just be meatier. Don’t sweat this part too much, as this recipe is pretty hard to mess up.
I like to eat my chili with cornbread. I’ve tried both the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Cornbread Mix and the Pamela’s Gluten Free Cornbread Mix. Both are very good and would be great with the chili. Bob’s Red Mill is the one pictured in these photos.
Now one final thought to help you plan for your weeknights. As with any slow cooker recipe, this gluten free chili does require some forethought.
If you’re cooking it during the work week it’s easy enough to prep the ingredients the night before, stick everything in the slow cooker and place it in the fridge (with the lid on it).
In the morning you just take the slow cooker out of the fridge right when you get up, to let it warm up a bit. Then right before you leave for the day, set it to cook and you come home to some delicious chili.
Pin This Gluten Free Slow Cooker for Later!
Need more easy gluten free dinner ideas? Check these out!
- Gluten Free Chicken Enchiladas
- Easy Nacho Salad
- Gluten Free Tuna Melt
- Slow Cooker Corned Beef & Cabbage
- Lemon Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner
Recipe for Gluten Free Slow Cooker Chili
Gluten Free Slow Cooker Chili
Ingredients
Chili:
- 1 1/3 pounds ground beef
- 1/2 large onion
- 2 cans diced tomatoes 14.5 oz each
- 1 can white beans 14.5 oz
- 1 can kidney beans 14.5 oz
- 1 can black beans 14.5 oz
- 1 small can chopped green chiles (optional) 4.5 oz
Seasoning:
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1.5 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Optional toppings:
- Shredded Cheese
- Sour Cream
- Avocado
Instructions
Items Needed:
- One Medium Pan
- One Wooden Spoon
- Paper Towel
- One Large Plate
- A Cutting Board
- One Large Knife
- One Large Slow Cooker
- One Can Opener
- A Colander
- Measuring Spoons
- One Small Bowl
Directions:
- - Cook the ground beef in a medium pan, using a wooden spoon to separate it into small pieces.
- - As the ground beef cooks, put a couple paper towels on a large plate. Then take a cutting board and large knife out and chop the onion into small pieces (about 1/4 inch). Set onion aside.
- - Once the ground beef is cooked through and no longer pink, pour it onto the covered plate to drain off the grease.
- - Bring out a large slow cooker, putting the insert in and removing the lid.
- - Using a can opener, open the canned tomatoes and beans, and green chiles if using them. Pour the diced tomatoes into the slow cooker - do not drain them! If using green chiles, pour them in as well, again do not drain them.
- - Dump the chopped onion into the slow cooker.
- - Using the colander, rinse and drain the beans. Once they are all drained and washed off, place the beans into the slow cooker.
- - With the measuring spoons, measure out the spices into a small bowl and stir them together.
- - Pour the spices into the slow cooker and mix all the ingredients together.
- - Place the lid on the slow cooker and set the timer for 8 hours on low (or 4 hours on high).
- - Once done, serve with whatever toppings you like!
Notes
- The green chiles are optional for this recipe. If you want a little spice in your chili, add them in, if not, simply omit them.
- I've also listed the amount of ground beef as 1 and 1/3 pound. This is because I get the organic ground beef from Costco and it comes in 1 and 1/3 pound packages. You can use between 1 and 2 pounds of ground beef for this recipe, depending on how meaty you like your chili.
- To make this recipe on a weeknight, prep up through step 9 then place the lid on the slow cooker and set it in the fridge. Take it out first thing when you get up in the morning to warm slightly, then put it in the heating element and turn on for 8 hours on low right before you leave for the day.
Looking for more quick dinner ideas? Check out these recipes!
Lemon Thyme Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner
Swimming Rama Loaded Sweet Potato
Pesto Prawns with Zoodles
Quick & Easy Meat Sauce
Easy Sheet Pan Dinner with Sausage & Veggies
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