Try this Thick and Hearty Chili recipe, or contribute your own.
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped
- - garlic powder
- 1/2 onion; diced
- 1- 14 oz. can pinto beans
- 1- 14 oz. can kidney beans
- 1- 14 oz. can black beans
- 1- 10 oz can tomato puree
- 1- 10 oz can rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies (chili fix
- 1/2 tsp each of:
- - onion powder
- - cumin
- - red pepper flakes
- - salt
- - pepper
- 1 tbsp hot sauce (optional)
- sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese for garnish
- Carbohydrate 27.3431099841528 g
- Cholesterol 308.4428116 mg
- Fat 68.8316155 g
- Fiber 3.38819990634918 g
- Protein 85.819681583 g
- Saturated Fat 26.7166364242 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (594g)
- Sodium 330.3909642 mg
- Sugar 23.9549100778037 g
- Trans Fat 10.0487781839 g
- Calories 1093 calories
Step-by-step
- Brown ground beef till no longer pink, drain, and add to crock pot.
- To the crock pot add the bell pepper, onion, diced tomatoes, tomato puree, and all the beans.
- (drain about 85% of the liquid from the beans before adding to the slow cooker.)
- Add all the spices, and give it a good stir.
- If you like it more spicy add a tbsp of your favorite hot sauce.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Browning ground beef thoroughly before it enters the slow cooker is essential for developing deep umami flavors through the Maillard reaction. Crowding the skillet traps steam instead of searing the meat, leaving you with gray crumbles that lack savory depth. Cook the beef over medium-high heat in small batches if your pan is under twelve inches wide, ensuring direct contact with the hot metal surface until deep brown crusts form on the edges.
Draining approximately eighty-five percent of the liquid from the canned beans prevents the slow cooker from turning into a thin soup during the six to eight hour simmer. Bean canning liquid contains starches and sodium that dilute the tomato puree and spices, making it difficult to achieve the desired clinging thickness without over-reducing. Rinse the remaining fifteen percent clinging to the legumes lightly if you need to control the overall sodium levels in the pot.
Fresh red bell peppers and diced onions introduce water content as they break down under sustained heat, unlike dried powders which concentrate flavor immediately. Preserved ingredients like canned tomato puree and Rotel tomatoes provide consistent acidity and pectin that stabilize the sauce during long cooking cycles. Fresh alliums add pungency that mellows significantly over eight hours, whereas garlic and onion powders deliver a sharp, lingering backbone that survives extended holding times.
Compact slow cookers retain moisture more efficiently than wide Dutch ovens, which alters how quickly starches from the flour and beans thicken the liquid. Stir the mixture vigorously thirty minutes before serving to incorporate any flour that settled near the heating element at the base of the unit. Store leftovers in airtight glass containers within two hours of cooking, keeping them refrigerated for up to four days or freezing them for three months.
