A good crock pot chili … at last!

Consider it the Holy Grail … I’ve been searching for a good crock pot chili recipe for a long time now. In true Indiana Jones style, I’ve fled from runaway boulders on food websites, I’ve sunk in the quicksand of cookbook after cookbook, and I’ve waded through the pit of snakes, finally to come out in the empty crypt of slow cooker recipes.

For some reason, every recipe that seemed to hold promise ended up cooking off all its flavor and I was left with an embarrassingly bland chili. The Superbowl party of 2004 still haunts me.

So finally, I found a decent base recipe and took things into my own hands, to come up with not only a serviceable crock pot chili, but a delightfully tasty and hearty chili that you’d be proud to serve at any occasion (even the Superbowl party of 2004). This is not your goopy chili in non-specific brown sludge sauce. It’s fresh and vibrant and amazing.

My recipe is based loosely on this slow cooker chili recipe, but several tweaks make it more interesting.

Beef and Bean Chili in the Crock Pot

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Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef or buffalo meat, grass-fed preferred
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes, with liquid
1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz.) can white beans, rinsed and drained
heaping 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
lots of freshly ground black pepper (maybe 1/2 teaspoon or so)

Brown the beef in a skillet and drain. Add to slow cooker, along with all the other ingredients. Mix, cover, and cook on high for 4-6 hours.

Serve with some of your favorite chili toppings. We like:

grated cheese blend
chopped fresh cilantro
chopped raw green pepper
chopped raw onion, or sliced green onion
sour cream
guacamole

Cornbread is always phenomenal with chili, but you could serve cheese biscuits, or for a lighter take on the same idea, we’ve discovered spinach cheese muffins.