I was in the mood to make chili today, but it’s been years since I’ve cooked it and I don’t think I ever wrote down my recipe. (If I did, it was on Google+. Sad trombone.) So here’s my chili recipe, archived on Yore so I won’t lose it again — and shared in case you’d like to try it out.
This chili focuses on flavorful heat over heat for its own sake. It’s hearty and, for me, on the mild end of the spiciness spectrum.
My slow cooker chili recipe
It takes me about 15-20 minutes to prep and cook stuff before I turn on the crock pot. I use a single non-stick pan for efficiency, but you can use two if you prefer. Crock pot cooking time is 4.5 hours, and this recipe makes four substantial bowls of chili.
1 lb. vegan beef crumbles 1 large white onion, chopped 1 Tbsp. vegan butter spread 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 15 oz. can black beans, drained 1 15 oz. can pinto beans, drained 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes 1 4 oz. can diced chile peppers 1.5 cups vegetable broth 2 Tbsp. chili powder 2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder 0.5 tsp. Cholula hot sauce Salt and pepper to taste
- Put the beef crumbles in a non-stick pan (use 1 Tbsp. olive oil if needed) and salt and pepper it to taste. Cook the beef on medium-high heat until it’s nicely browned.
- While the beef is on the stove, chop the onions. Put everything except the onions and garlic in the crock pot.
- When the beef is done, add it to the crock pot. Put some butter into the same pan you just used and then sauté the onions and garlic on medium-high heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. When the onion looks “wet” and is slightly translucent, it’s done.
- Add the onions and garlic to the crock pot and give it a good stir to mix it all up. Cook for 4.5 hours on low.
- If it’s convenient, stir it a couple times while it’s cooking.
Notes
These days I make the vegan version of my chili, but back when I used beef it was generally 85% lean. I used margarine instead of the vegan spread (butter would be fine, too).
I love making crock pot chili because it’s quick and fun to prepare, the ratio of work to payoff is extremely high, you can experiment with it pretty much endlessly, and it’s really hard to fuck it up too badly.
Want it to be milder? Take out or reduce the amount of diced chile peppers, chili powder, and/or Cholula. Hate black or pinto beans? Swap in kidney beans, or whatever kind of beans you enjoy. Prefer Tabasco to Cholula? I find it a bit too bitter in this chili, but you do you. Only have a yellow onion? It’ll still be great. Same goes for smaller cans of beans, different broth, or whatnot: Use what you’ve got, it’ll be fine.
Just to name a few examples, I’ve seen cumin, coriander, beer, tomato sauce, green peppers, and Worcester sauce in plenty of chili recipes — and some folks have strong feelings about whether beans should ever be in chili.[1] Make it your own; that’s half the fun.
Trust me on the cocoa powder!
[1]: I love beans, and I’d much rather have a philosophical discussion about what counts as a sandwich[2] than whether beans belong in chili. One True Ways are bullshit.
[2]: Warning shot: Is a Subway sub — where the bread isn’t cut on one side — a sandwich? If it is, then so is a hot dog. And if a hot dog is a sandwich, so is a taco. Shots fired: Is an open-faced turkey sandwich a sandwich? If so, then pizza is a sandwich. Please never talk to me about sandwiches again: If I put a slice of bread between two slices of turkey, is that a sandwich? No? Okay, how about if I put one crumb of bread under the slice of turkey, and one crumb of bread on top of it?