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.
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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Slow Cooker V8 Chili
Equipment Needed:
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. ground beef,
- 30 oz. stewed tomatoes (2 cans) not drained
- 1 white onion
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 2.50 oz. chili seasoning packets (2 packets)
- 30 oz. kidney beans (2 cans) drained and rinsed
- 64 oz. V8 juice original
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
Instructions:
- In a large skillet on the stove-top add the ground beef. Brown and drain.
- Add the stewed tomatoes to the slow cooker. I like to cut them in quarters right in the slow cooker with a butter knife. If you are skilled with a paring knife you can cut them up by hand.
- Add the ground beef to the slow cooker along with the onion, garlic powder, pepper, chili seasoning packets, drained kidney beans and V8 juice.
- Stir and add the lid. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
How to Video:
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Can you put the beef in raw and let it all cook together? I’m a teacher so browning hamburger meat at 5AM is not something I look forward to, haha!
You can, only if the meat is very lean. Otherwise brown it the night before.
I am a horrible cook and this is the easiest and most delicious recipe for chili ever!! I Would give 100 stars if I could.
I’m so glad you liked it, it was one of my first recipes I learned how to cook too.
Awesome.
Replace 1 of the pounds of ground beef with stew beef, add a jalapeno, a green and a red pepper and you have a winner. Maybe use garlic instead of powder as well..
Great ideas!
I do not have Chilli seasoning packets. But I can make my own I just don’t know how tablespoons to put in this Chilli re I’ve. I have made my own version of Chilli with V8 juice. I the only Chilli I loved. But no one else could handle the heat. I also added Rotel tomatoes also.
Just use 2 1/2-3 Tbsp Chili seasoning mix × the amount the recipe calls for seasoning packets.
Being a single gal, I love recipes that I can cut in half. I used low sodium V8. I had a lonely jalapeno in the fridge, so I put that guy in there as well. (Seemed like the right thing to do). This chili is STELLAR!!!! I was able to easily control the liquid factor by using individual V8 cans. I couldn’t find the big bottle at the store. I’m happy to have a righteous chili recipe that I’ll use for years to come!
So happy you loved this recipe! That’s why I started this website so others could also have these amazing recipes. This by far is one of our favorites.
Very good
What size is a serving for this recipe?
I do not figure that out. Sorry!
I got my math smart husband to do it! According to his calculations, a serving is a little bit less than 1 3/4 cups! We really liked this recipe…used ground Turkey for half the meat! So easy! Thank you!