Slow Cooker Chili

The best part is not only the amount of flavor in this chili, but also that the slow cooker is used.

For those of you who don’t know I am a HUGE football fan, specifically the Miami Dolphins (*sigh*). Since it doesn’t really get cold down here, I have deemed chili my football Sunday food. If I lived up north, this would be even better on a cold day and probably would be made even more.

I do cook a few things before putting it in the slow cooker to add more flavor. The onion, hatch chilis, and garlic gets sautéd together so you don’t have that raw onion taste. I love using fresh hatch chilis, but they are seasonal usually starting in late August (perfect timing for football!). I love spicy food, so one time I figured I would buy the “hot” hatch chilis since I usually get the canned hot ones. Well….the heat was way too intense lol like I was drinking milk hot. So just be careful when using the fresh ones, maybe get a mixture of mild and hot.

I remove the onion mixture and add it to the slow cooker, then I brown the meat in the pan, and add it to the slow cooker.

Next the most important part, the spices! This is where all your flavor is going to come from. I use dark chili powder, ground cumin, ground coriander, and smoked paprika. I love chili with a smokey flavor so that’s why I prefer to use smoked paprika instead of regular paprika. I also like adding these smoked, dried, chipotle peppers for more smokey flavor.

Then comes the tomato base. Another trick I use for extra flavor is getting fire roasted tomatoes. The roasted tomatoes give this chili more flavor on top of all the spices we added. I use a combination of crushed and diced fire roasted tomatoes for texture purposes.

Mix it all up, then set it and forget it! The smells that are going to fill your house will make it hard to wait, but letting the flavors meld and develop over a few hours will make it totally worth it! Once it’s done you can garnish it how ever you’d like. I’m a huge cheese girl so I spoon a little chili into a bowl, add cheese, add more chili, then add more cheese on top. Then I top with fresh sliced jalapeños, fresh cilantro, and even some diced avocados. Crackers, toasted bread, and tortilla chips are great vessels to eat the chili with.

Things you’ll need: Sauté pan and slow cooker/crockpot

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