This recipe is made possible by Hurst’s Beans. Thanks so much to Hurst’s for sponsoring this recipe. It’s always so much fun to work with such a great family-owned company.
I love this chili! My family loves this chili! My son had thirds. Thirds. And then he went to the fridge 10 minutes after dinner. He’s seven. I’m scared for when he’s seventeen. Should I scrap the college fund and start a grocery fund?
For this recipe I started with Hurst’s (famous) Cajun 15 bean soup®. It’s very similar to their original 15 bean soup, but it has a little more kick…which is perfect for chili. But don’t worry, it’s not too spicy at all. If you love the spice you can always kick it up with some jalapeno, but if you have younger kids, like me, you can keep it pretty mild.
Looks at all those pretty colors! This recipe is also naturally gluten free…so bonus for those of you dealing with dietary restrictions.

Beefy 15-Bean Chili
- Cook Time: 4-5 hours on high, 8-10 hours on low
- Total Time: 45 minute
- Yield: 8-10 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 (20 oz) package of Hurst’s Cajun 15 Bean Soup with included seasoning packet
- 1 Tbsp salt
The day of:
- 6 cups water
- 2 1/2 lbs beef stew meat (or you can cut a chuck roast into bite size cubes)
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 tsp salt
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
- 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
- 1 green pepper, diced
- Salt and pepper
- Optional Toppings: grated cheese, sliced green onions, diced red onions, sliced jalapenos
For the sour cream:
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 2 tsp hot sauce
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp cajun seasoning
Instructions
- The night before you want to make the chili you’ll need to soak the beans. This really helps get the beans to the right texture. Get a big bowl and pour the beans into the bowl. Save the seasoning packet for tomorrow! Add water to the bowl. The beans will absorb a lot of water so you’ll want to fill the bowl with enough water to cover the beans by at least 2 inches. Sprinkle in 1 Tablespoon of salt. The salt will help the beans get to a creamy, smooth texture as opposed to a gluey, mushy texture. Let the beans sit overnight for at least 8 hours.
- Drain the water from the beans by placing the beans in a colander. Rinse off the beans.
- Pour the rinsed beans into a large slow cooker. Add in 6 cups of water.
- Heat 2 tsp of oil in a large pan over medium high heat. While the oil is heating get your beef out. You’ll want to use a paper towel to blot as much moisture off the beef as possible. This will ensure that you get a nice browning on the meat. Place the beef into the hot pan and try to let each piece of meat get a space on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle half of the seasoning packet from the 15 bean soup mix onto the meat. Let the meat brown for 5 minutes, then turn the meat over with a spatula and let it brown for 5 minutes on the other side. Add the meat to the slow cooker.
- While the meat is browning, you’ll want to dice up your onion. Add the diced onion to the slow cooker.
- Add 2 tsp of salt and 3 minced garlic cloves into the slow cooker.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for about 8-10 hours or HIGH for 4-5 hours, or until beans and beef are very tender.
- Remove the lid. At this point I ladled out some extra liquid and discarded it. If you want it really thick instead of soupy, ladle out some of the liquid.
- Add in diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir in. Add in the diced green pepper. Add in the remainder of the seasoning packet (you should have half of the packet left). Then salt and pepper to taste (I added in probably another 1/2 tsp of salt).
- Make the cajun-lime sour cream. In a bowl, whisk the sour cream, lime juice, hot sauce, oil and cajun seasoning together until smooth and incorporated.
- Scoop the chili into serving bowls and top with sour cream and optional toppings of your choice. Enjoy!
Notes
Ideal slow cooker size: 6-8 quart
No store in my area carries the Cajun 15 bean soup bag. I have Cajun spices. Can you estimate how much I should use if I just buy the regular 15 bean soup bag. Thank you
I would start with 2 tsp and go from there.
Great Chili Recipe. Very easy and and absolutely delicious! Served it with a side of Cornbread for a wonderful winter evening meal.
So glad you liked it! I would love to have some cornbread right now with honey and butter on it. That sounds really good 🙂
In my opinion, this is not a chili recipe. It is a soup recipe. Very bland and not very good to be honest. I am glad I found this recipe though because it introduced me to the Hurst 15-bean bags. Next time I will use a real chili recipe and just add these Hurst 15-beans. And I probably won't use beef tips next time…I'll use ground turkey.
Please don't be offended by my response. It just wasn't my favorite…I normally like all your recipes. 🙂 I'm just more of a traditional chili person, rather than this soupy variety 🙂
It's okay! I actually forgot to add that I ladled out some of the liquid after the beans were cooked. I just corrected the recipe.
Is that the main problem? That it had too much liquid?
Really sorry about that!!!
It's probably that. II will probably use rotel next time and chili powder, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and cumin…and definitely I'll get rid of the excess liquid!
Great tip on soaking the beans with some salt! This chili looks great!
It's crazy that something that simple makes such a big difference but it totally does 🙂
Cajun lime sour cream sounds fabulous!! I add lime to my sour cream all the time, but I love the idea of cajun too! Pinning!
Michelle, it's real good!!!!
I can't wait for our weather to cool down a bit, so I can make this – we love chili, and as the mother of a 15 year old boy, YES, you will need a grocery fund 🙂
Heather, I'm scared!
Dear Karen, Cajun-Lime Sour Cream???? Sounds so delicious and the perfect topper for this mouth-watering chili recipe!!!
it's so perfect! you'll love it.
Could you use ground beef or Turkey instead of stewing beef?
yep! I think that would taste really good 🙂
Looks yummy! Any suggestion for those who can't use packets included (food allergies, etc)? I would love to try it, but I checked the ingredients in the seasoning package and it's a no go for us. Thanks!
Melissa, you can still make it! Just discard the packet and then make your own seasoning blend. I would use chili powder, cumin, Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Start with a small amount and add more to taste.
Great – thanks for the advice! 🙂