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Slow Cooker Beef and Refried Bean Chili is an easy chili recipe that cooks in a few hours in the slow cooker, and the refried beans thicken the chili and add amazing flavor! If chili with beans doesn’t work for you, check out my low-carb chili recipes.
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Chili is something quite a few people seem to be making these days, now that everyone is wanting comfort food and needing to use pantry ingredients. This Slow Cooker Beef and Refried Bean Chili is a delicious chili recipe that’s been popular for years, but with pinto beans, kidney beans, and refried beans, it’s definitely not a low-carb recipe.
With so many people using the slow cooker and making chili these days I thought this was a great time to improve the recipe with a new option that makes it a bit lower in carbs. (Here’s the original version for anyone who was a fan!)
My new recipe omits the kidney beans and adds one large chopped red bell pepper that’s cooked with the onion and spices. Everything else is the same, and I love the red pepper and don’t mind that there are a few less carbs either!
Either way you make it, this is a delicious chili with pinto beans, Pace Picante Sauce, a perfect blend of spices, and a can of refried beans to thicken it. There’s also a healthy amount of lime juice, and I’d serve this with slices of lime so lime lovers (like me) can squeeze even more lime into their chili! And for those who prefer Low-Carb Chili, check out my round-up with Ten Amazing Low-Carb Chili Recipes from around the web! You can also check out Healthy Chili Recipes Your Family Will Love! for more great chili recipes like this one.
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
- lean ground beef
- olive oil
- onion
- red bell pepper
- Minced Garlic (affiliate link)
- chile powder
- ground Ancho chile (affiliate link) (or use more regular chile powder if you don’t have Ancho)
- ground cumin (affiliate link)
- Mexican Oregano (affiliate link)
- Pace Picante Sauce (affiliate link)
- canned pinto beans
- can of refried beans
- canned beef broth
- fresh-squeezed lime juice
- lime slices for serving (optional)
How to make this recipe:
(Scroll down for complete printable recipe, including nutritional information.)
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the ground beef until it’s nicely browned.
- While the beef browns, chop the onion and red bell pepper.
- When the beef is browned, add it to the slow cooker and turn slow cooker to high.
- Add more oil to the frying pan and cook onions until they’re starting to brown, then add the Minced Garlic (affiliate link) and cook a minute or two more.
- Add the chili powder, ground Ancho chile (affiliate link), ground cumin (affiliate link), and Mexican Oregano (affiliate link) and saute the spices with the onions.
- While onions cook, drain the pinto beans into a colander placed in the sink.
- Rinse the beans with cold water until no more foam appears (rinsing is probably optional.)
- Add the onion mixture to the slow cooker with the pinto beans. Then add the Pace Picante Sauce (or other salsa of your choice).
- Then add beef broth to the frying pan and scrape off the browned bits that stick to the pan. Add the can of refried beans and stir, then add that mixture to the slow cooker.
- Cook chili about 3-4 hours on high (or you can cook for 6-8 hours on low if you prefer.)
- When the Ground Beef and Refried Bean Chili is done, stir in the lime juice and serve hot.
- If you have a large slow cooker I’d double the recipe because this freezes very well!
More Chili Recipes to Enjoy:
Ten Amazing Low-Carb Chili Recipes ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Slow Cooker and Instant Pot White Bean Chili ~ Slow Cooker or Pressure Cooker
Amy’s Amazing White Chicken Chili ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
The BEST Low-Carb and Keto Instant Pot Chili ~ Slow Cooker or Pressure Cooker
Healthy Chili Recipes that Aren’t Just for the SuperBowl ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Ingredients
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 2 tsp. + 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 T minced garlic (or less)
- 2 tsp. chile powder
- 2 tsp. ground Ancho chile pepper (or use more regular chile powder if you don’t have Ancho)
- 1 T ground cumin (or less if you’re not a big fan of cumin)
- 1 tsp. Mexican oregano
- 1 1/4 cups Pace Mild Picante Sauce (see notes)
- one 15 oz. can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- one 16 oz. can refried beans
- one 14 oz. can beef broth
- 2 T fresh-squeezed lime juice
- lime slices for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the ground beef until it’s nicely browned, breaking apart with a turner while it cooks.
- While the beef browns, chop the onion and red bell pepper.
- When the beef is browned, add it to the slow cooker and turn slow cooker to high.
- Add a little more oil to the frying pan and cook the onions until they’re starting to brown, then add the garlic and cook a minute or two more.
- Add the chili powder, ground Ancho chile (affiliate link), ground cumin (affiliate link), and Mexican Oregano (affiliate link) and saute the spices for a couple of minutes with the onions.
- While onions cook, drain the pinto beans into a colander placed in the sink.
- Rinse the beans with cold water until no more foam appears. (Rinsing is probably optional, but it makes the beans a bit more digestible.)
- Add the onion mixture to the slow cooker with the can of pinto beans. Then add the Pace Picante Sauce (or other salsa of your choice).
- Then add beef broth to the frying pan and scrape the bottom of the pan to get off the browned bits that stick to the pan. Add the can of refried beans and stir until the beans are partly mixed with the broth, then add that mixture to the slow cooker.
- Cook chili about 3 hours on high (or you can cook for 6-8 hours on low if you prefer.)
- When the Ground Beef and Refried Bean Chili is done, stir in the lime juice and serve hot.
- If you have a large slow cooker I’d double the recipe because this freezes very well!
Notes
I used a 2.5 quart slow cooker (affiliate link) for this recipe. If you only have a big slow cooker, I’d double the recipe. This freezes well and can be reheated in a microwave or in a small pan on the stove.
I use Pace Picante Sauce (affiliate link) because it’s low in carbs, but you can use any salsa of your choice.
Recipe adapted from Penzeys catalog recipe by Kathleen Bergeron.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6
Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 376Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 68mgSodium: 1299mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 10gSugar: 9gProtein: 31g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Slow Cooker Beef and Refried Bean Chili is loaded with low-glycemic ingredients which are approved for all phases of the original South Beach Diet. However, dried beans are limited for Phase One so you should have a small serving of this for Phase One. Use beef with less than 10% fat for South Beach Diet. Chili with beans won’t work for a low-carb diet, but if you’d like a chili like this with even less carbs, I’d use the red pepper variation and just use one can of beans. Or check out my Ten Amazing Low-Carb Chili Recipes!
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Chili Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there. Click here for more Slow Cooker / Pressure Cooker Recipes on my other site!
Historical Notes for this Recipe
This chili recipe was first posted in 2012; it was updated with a more carb-conscious recipe and much better photos in April 2020.
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