Slow Cooker V8 Chili (2024)

The Magical Slow Cooker » Recipes » Dinner » Slow Cooker V8 Chili

by Sarah Olson on March 24, 2022 | Updated November 3, 2023 47 Comments

Slow Cooker V8 Chili has plenty of vegetables in it because of the V8 juice in the sauce! This recipe makes a big batch of chili, enough to freeze or share.

If you love making big batches of bean recipes, also try my 15 bean chili and my slow cooker red beans and rice recipes.

The recipe was given to my husband from his best friend’s mom Janet. She gave him a handwritten recipe card with this recipe on it. Her recipe is made on the stove-top and mine in the slow cooker.

What is V8 juice?

V8 juice has eight different vegetables in it. I mostly taste tomato, but it also has carrots, beets, celery, parsley, spinach, watercress, and lettuce. I love that the V8 juice adds depth to this chili recipe that canned tomatoes can’t. You can make other recipes with V8 juice such as bloody mary’s, goulash, or even spicy braised pork.

Recipe Ingredients

• Ground beef – Brown the meat before adding it to your slow cooker.
• Stewed tomatoes – Not a common chili ingredient nowadays. We love the texture and flavor stewed tomatoes bring to this chili recipe. Chop these roughly.
• V8 juice Original – Yes, an entire 62-ounce bottle! This will make plenty of sauce for your chili and stretch it out to feed a large crowd.
• Kidney beans – You’ll want to add canned kidney beans to this recipe, it’s not recommended to add raw to the slow cooker for raw kidney beans need to be cooked at a very high temperature.
• Other Seasonings – Chili Seasoning Packets, diced onion, and garlic powder.

Step-by-Step Directions

Step One – In a large skillet on the stove-top, brown the ground beef until cooked through.

Step Two – Add the stewed tomatoes to the slow cooker and cut them into quarters using a butter knife.

Step Three – Add the cooked ground beef and remaining ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir.

Step Four – Place the lid on the crockpot and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.-

Can I use ground turkey?

Yes! Ground turkey is so good in chili. I love how much flavor turkey gives the broth of soups and chili. Brown the ground turkey the same way as the beef in this recipe, you’ll have great results.

Can I make this vegetarian?

Yes! Try one or more of these options to make this V8 chili vegetarian.

• Use soy crumbles instead of beef
• Add more beans such as pinto or garbanzo
• More veggies such as bell pepper, celery, corn and sweet potatoes

What to serve with this:

This is one of the very few chili recipes that I can eat without toppings but I know it’s fun to have an array of choices. Here is what I set my table up with alongside the crockpot of V8 Chili.

• Saltine crackers
• Shredded cheese
• Diced Sweet Onion
• Sour Cream
• Cornbread

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