by Holly
15 Bean Slow Cooker Chili is hearty and delicious, making it the perfect food to fuel the crowd on game day or a delicious easy weeknight meal! When serving a crowd, we put this chili on in the morning and then prepare a chili bar with toppings so our guests can help themselves!
I am so excited to have partnered with Hurst’s HamBeens® 15 BEAN SOUP® to bring you this belly warming recipe.
Slow Cooker Bean Chili
If there is a big game coming up, you can count on me to do one thing; make chili! Chili is the perfect dish to feed a crowd and keep them coming back for more!
This easy slow cooker chili recipe is packed with the wholesome goodness of a blend of 15 beans to make it hearty and healthy! The best part is that there is no soaking required meaning a quick prep time to get this into your Crock Pot and get on with your day! You can find Hurst’s 15 Bean Soup in the dry bean section of almost any grocery store (or you can order them online).
You don’t need a lot of ingredients to make a great chili, a few simple good quality ingredients definitely make the most delicious meals!
How to Make Chili in a Crock Pot
This easy slow cooker chili recipe starts with Hurst’s® HamBeens® 15 Bean Soup®, onions, bell pepper and lean ground beef. It’s all seasoned with a vegetable based seasoning packet (that comes with Hurst’s 15 Bean Soup) as well as chili seasoning and then simmered in the slow cooker until tender.
You’ll notice that the tomatoes are added towards the end of cooking, once the beans are softened. This step is important when using dry beans because tomatoes (along with any other acidic ingredients) can interfere with the rehydration process.
Fixings and Toppings
On game day, making a chili bar is a great way to add variety and make sure everyone can enjoy their chili to preference. I set my slow cooker 
to warm and offer toppings like sour cream, shredded cheese, sliced jalapenos, chopped onions, assorted crackers and tortilla chips and corn bread muffins.
Easy and Delicious
This chili is both inexpensive and easy to prepare while being totally delicious! For a family dinner, it’s great served over macaroni
noodles (or rice) and of course, with a big slice of homemade cornbread on the side! Should you be lucky enough to have leftovers, this recipe reheats well and can even be frozen to enjoy on another day! (Cook once, eat twice.. count me in)!
More Chili Recipes
15 Bean Slow Cooker Chili
Ingredients
- 1 package HamBeens 15 BEAN SOUP® w/ Ham Flavor packet
- 1 lb . lean ground beef
- 1 onion , diced
- 1 green bell pepper , diced
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomato with green chiles
- 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
- 8 cups beef broth
- 1 packet of your favorite chili seasoning mix (approx. 1.5 oz)
- salt & pepper to taste
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Instructions
- Rinse beans and remove any debris.
- Brown beef over medium heat until no pink remains. Darin any fat.
- In a 6QT slow cooker, combine beans, beef, onion, peppers, and broth.
- Stir in Hurst's ham flavor packet and 1/2 of the chili seasoning mix.
- Cover and cook on high for 5-6 hours or until beans are tender.
- Add in diced tomatoes, tomato paste and remainder of chili seasoning mix.
- Cook for additional 30 minutes.
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
I am excited to have partnered with Hurst’s HamBeens® 15 BEAN SOUP® to bring you this belly warming recipe. While I was compensated for this post, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Working with great brands I love allows me to keep bringing you the great recipes you love!
After reading all the comments I made this recipe and reduced the water to 7 cups. We didn’t find it as good as other chili recipes. It lacked something and neither my husband or I could put our finger on it. It could be due to the ratio of beans (and water/broth) to ground beef. It does make quite a large quantity. Before putting the leftovers in the fridge I added more salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and beef soup base. Also not spicy enough for our taste. It was a little better next time we ate it. I don’t think I would make this particular recipe again.
I made this today and reduced the water by 1 cup; due to the comments from previous posts. I found the thickness to be just about right. I cooked on low for 8 hours, then added tomatoes and tomato paste and cooked for an hour longer. It does need salt added. I am curious as to why the tomatoes and tomato paste are added so close to the end..
Acidic ingredients (such as tomatoes) can keep the beans from rehydrating properly.
Hi Holly, that brand of beans in not available where I live but I will be back in the states in a few months and I look forward to making this! And I am going to bring several packages of those beans back with me. I will come back and leave a review when I make this, looks great!
I can’t wait to her how it goes, I think you’ll love it Lee!
So delicious, healthy and hearty! Thank you for such a great recipe. I’ve used Hurst’s Hambeens for years, but never thought to use them to make chili. My family really enjoyed this and it will now become a regular recipe in our home. We added some shredded cheddar cheese and a small dollop of sour cream and fresh sliced jalapeños. Amazing!
Jalapenos are my favorite topping! So glad you loved it Louann!
I made this Chili yesterday and it was delicious. I will definitely make this again.
So happy you loved the chili Michele!
I found this recipe to be a little bland and very watery by following the recipe exact. I had to add a corn starch and water mixture to thicken it up some and added more seasoning for additional flavor. I suggest cutting back on the broth and adding more seasoning to taste. I probably won’t make it again. I will stick to the soup recipe on the back of the packaging.
Can you use chicken instead of beef?
That should work just fine in this recipe Gail!
I made this last night. I used Regular Rotel and Hot Chili Seasoning and it still wasn’t spicy enough for me. The taste was bland. My three boys love Chili and they didn’t finish the small bowl I made up for them. The recipe gets the job done. It is hearty, makes a lot and provides left overs. Unfortunately, no one in my family will eat it. I love this website and have made many recipes.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this recipe, we love it! You could certainly add your favorite seasonings (or additional seasonings), extra tomato paste or even diced jalapenos so spice it up a bit!
Well, don’t know what I did wrong, but mine turned out way too runny!!! It doesn’t look at all like the picture. Disappointed. The taste is good but the consistency/texture is more like soup or cowboy beans, not at all like chili.
How much broth did you add? Did you use the Hurst’s 15 Bean Soup?
Hi Holly,
I am allergic to tomatoes and this recipe looks delicious. Can I make it without the tomatoes and should I substitute them with something else?
Thank you, Judy
While I haven’t tried it, you could try substituting canned pumpkin or canned squash with some broth to get the texture of chili. Let us know how it works out for you Judith!
Hello, I finally made the soup and it turned out perfect. I had no problem finding all the I ingredients and it is such a hearty meal I still got some left in the fridge from last Sunday. Good meal for a bitter cold winter day. Very inexpensive as well!
I accidentally added in the diced tomatoes (but not the tomatoe paste). Will it still be ok? Thanks!
Ginger! I just did the same thing I added in the tomatoes. I added in everything!!! Did I just ruin it?
Hi,
What happens if I added the diced tomatoes at the beginning?! I pre-soaked the beans last night because I didn’t really know what I was going to do with them. Then I thought to make chili in the slow cooker. After putting the beans in with veggies, beef broth (didn’t measure this either! Just used about half carton/box of Pacific organic beef broth because that was in the fridge!), and cooked ground beef, I had the hindsight to Google 15 bean chili and found you!
Now I’m curious what is going to await me in 5-6 hours since the tomatoes are already in there. O_o
Just made the 15 Bean Slow Cooker Chili. It was amazing! I was a little concerned my kids wouldn’t like it with all the different beans, but there were no leftovers! Thank you.
Can you make this on the stovetop instead of slow cooker? If so, how long do you cook it for?
I want to make it tonight but don’t have time to put in slow cooker for it to be ready for dinner tonight. Thank you!
Yes, this can definitely be made on the stove top. You can find stove top directions here.
I made a hot dish with many different kinds of beans, so this reminded me of that. It was so gook & was made in the stoves oven. This one being in a slow cooker, should be easier….
Enjoy Lorraine!
Hi. Holly.
What can I use as a substitute if the 15 bean soup with ham packet is not available?
Thanks,
Caroline
You can add in a bouillon cube (beef or chicken) in place of the ham packet.
I made this last night using a 13 bean mix I got out of the bulk section at the store – so obviously no ham soup packet, but I just added some extra garlic powder, cumin, etc.. also made with venison.
I’ve won 3 chili cook offs and I will say I was so hesitant to do anything different. THIS will definitely be repeated. We all loved it! Glad I took a chance :)
Ok, this convinced me. :)
Made this Monday. It was delicious. I figured out it cost me about $13.00 to make and I will get 4 meals out of it. We had dinner and 3 containers are already in the freezer for lunches! One note though, it really needs at least 8 hours to cook or I should have soaked the beans for several hours prior to going in the crock pot. And thank you for the tip about not putting the tomato products in early, I had no idea they interfere with the bean cooking process!
I’m so glad you loved it as much as we did! I agree, a really delicious way to stretch the meal budget! :)
I agree – we let ours cook for almost 8 – 5-6 on high and then 2 on low. The beans were definitely a better texture at this point than after 5 hours (imo)
Hi Holly,
Just want to say thank you for such a great recipe. My friend made this for us in a PowerCooker instead of the crockpot. It was delicious and fast. We call it “one pot does it all “. Cuts cooking time to 45 minutes including browning the ground meat.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Tanya! Thank you for sharing your tips about using a PowerCooker, that’s amazing you can make it so fast in there!
This looks really good but I live in Canada and I’ve looked for the 15 bean soup package but don’t appear to be able to get it here, any ideas