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Creamy Italian Sausage Chili is warm and hearty with a spicy kick. Cozy up with a big bowl of this comfort food on a cold evening. Your family will love this easy recipe!
Creamy Italian Sausage Chili
This Creamy Italian Sausage Chili is a recipe I created for a church chili cook-off. I wanted to make my own chili mostly because I hate onions (I know, right?) and most chili recipes (including a few on our site!) have lots of onions. I figured if I was going to attend the chili cook-off party I might as well have something there I wanted to eat, so I played around with ingredients until I came up with this recipe, and to my surprise it ended up winning first place! So here it is, my award winning, onion-less chili recipe. Enjoy!
Chili for Chilly Nights
This creamy chili is perfect for fall. We make it up for nights when we are out at football games or going to a corn maze or any night we might be a little chilled and need some warming up. It’s a cinch to throw all the ingredients in the slow cooker and let the spices and flavors cook in during the day so it is ready to go at dinner time. It is a little spicy, so you can decrease some of the spices to mild it down but we like it with a little bit of heat.
What to Serve with Creamy Italian Sausage Chili
- Serve a big bowl of this creamy chili with crackers or tortilla chips crumbled on top.
- Bake up our favorite Easy Cake Mix Cornbread to serve alongside this chili. My kids love to dip the cornbread right in their bowls. Yummy!
- Use this chili recipe for our delicious Chili Cheese Dogs or chili cheese fries. This particular recipe adds a spicy kick to both!
- Leftover Creamy Italian Sausage Chili would be delicious on our Navajo Tacos too!
- Make Chili Nachos by layering tortilla chips, chili, cheese, sour cream, avocado, tomatoes and diced green onions on a plate.
More Chili Recipes
If you are a big chili fan, we have some other yummy chili recipes that you are sure to love. Our Texas Chili has strips of tender beef, our Pork Chili Verde is so tasty, and our White Chicken Chili is always a favorite! If you are looking for a super easy chili try our Mom’s “Cheater” Chili. And if you want an amazing chili dip you can’t go wrong with our Chili-Cheese Dip.
How to Make Creamy Italian Sausage Chili
Creamy Italian Sausage Chili
Ingredients
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 14 oz chicken broth (1 can)
- 1 Tbsp. chili powder
- 1 Tbsp. paprika
- 2 tsp. oregano
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
- 28 oz diced tomatoes lightly blended, (or 2 cans)
- 1 c. tomato juice
- 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
- 14 oz black beans (1 can)
- 4 oz cream cheese (half of one package)
- 14 oz pinto beans (1 can)
- 14 oz kidney beans (1 can)
Instructions
- Brown the sausage in a frying pan.
- In a large pot cook the garlic in the olive oil until it is golden. Then add the broth, spices, tomatoes, tomato juice, and vinegar. Stir well and bring to a boil.
- When the sausage is browned, place it over some folded paper towels to drain off some of the grease. Add the sausage and the cans of beans (you do not have to drain the beans) to the pot. Let the chili simmer for about half an hour. Lastly add the cream cheese and stir in until completely dissolved.
- It’s especially good served with crackers, tortilla chips, or cornbread.
Nutrition Information
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Thank you so much for making such a simple chili recipe. Made it this evening after a long day and the family enjoyed it. It was a little thinner consistency than I expected but the taste was really good. Will definitely add to my fall/winter rotation!
There were a few items I did not have on hand or had to substitute (no tomato juice, used 2 cans of kidney beans-no pinto/black on hand, used apple cider vinegar in place of red wine vinegar).
I made this recipe as is and it was amazing. The simple ingredients melded together wonderfully to create a tasty meal.
The aroma of the chili simmering reminded me of Sunday dinner at my grandma’s house.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
So glad this recipe brought back such wonderful memories for you! That is our goal here at FFR!
The chili is sooooo good. I made it and loved it!
results for: I don’t use a crockpot
When cooking, especially the Pasta E Ravioli soup
I stovetop my soups have made this soup in the past its super, I simmer it until all ingredients blend togther,your recipe says white kidney beans I’ve used white navy beans and dark red kidney beans both in the soup, just wanted to share its truly a hearty and delicious soup especially for the Midwest and east coast, just sharing! Barb B Indy
Made the crockpot version for the Super Bowl. We loved it… will definitely make it again!!
Thank you for taking the time to comment! Hope the chili turned out to be more exciting than the game lol 😉
How many does this serve? I need to feed 12 to 14 people.
You will want to double the recipe. This recipe serves 6 to 8 people. Thanks for asking!
Are you using whole links and cutting up?
I’ve done that, but I usually end up using just a package of ground Italian sausage.
I made this recipe for dinner tonight. This is the first time I have served chili and my kids actually ate it! So delicious, I will be making it again. Thank you for sharing it!
Thanks Kelley! I’m so glad you and your kids like the recipe!
What does the “c” stand for when it asks for tomato juice? What size can for the beans?
The recipe call for 1 cup of tomato juice and a 15 ounce can of beans (give or take a little depending on the brand). Thank you for asking!