Slow Cooker Chili with Skillet Cornbread
Slow cooker chili that takes less than 5 minutes to load, yes please. Homemade cornbread, baked in a cast iron skillet. Double yes please. This has the makings of a perfect fall dinner. Warm, hearty and satisfying!
Slow cooker chili that takes less than 5 minutes to load, yes please. Homemade cornbread, baked in a cast iron skillet. Double yes please. This has the makings of a perfect fall dinner. Warm, hearty and satisfying!
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 1 bag hurst slow cooker chili beans and seasoning
- 1 lb cooked ground beef
- 1 small pepper seeded and chopped
- 15 oz. diced tomatoes
- 6 oz. tomato paste
- skillet cornbread:
- 1 1/4 cups coarsely ground cornmeal
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- Carbohydrate 18.3033262609675 g
- Cholesterol 155.059284687404 mg
- Fat 40.1734237501237 g
- Fiber 1.95615626517021 g
- Protein 15.0272837528973 g
- Saturated Fat 21.2797480437223 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (248g)
- Sodium 527.834341122532 mg
- Sugar 16.3471699957973 g
- Trans Fat 5.6599369649217 g
- Calories 489 calories
Step-by-step
- Add all the ingredients to 5 qt or larger slow cooker, along with 7 cups of water. Stir together. Set the slow cooker on low and cook for 8 hours.
- Prepare the skillet cornbread. Adjust cooking time if using a different sized skillet.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and place a 9-inch cast iron skillet inside to heat while you make the batter.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk in the milk, buttermilk, and eggs. Whisk in almost all of the melted butter, reserving about 1 tablespoon for the skillet later on.
- Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Coat the bottom and sides of the hot skillet with the remaining butter. Pour the batter into the skillet and place it in the center of the oven. Bake until the center is firm and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes and serve.
- Serve Slow Cooker Chili with side of cornbread
Why does the center of a cornbread sometimes remain pasty while the edges overbake? Achieving uniform crumb structure requires managing thermal energy transfer through heavy metal. Preheating a nine-inch cast-iron skillet at four hundred twenty-five degrees before pouring in the batter creates an immediate crust formation on contact, preventing the batter from sliding and promoting an even rise. When the pan goes into the oven, reducing the ambient temperature to three hundred seventy-five degrees allows the interior starch gelatinization and protein coagulation to finish cooking at the same rate as the exterior Maillard browning reactions. Coarsely ground cornmeal provides the foundational structural integrity and graininess, contrasting against the tender matrix created by the all-purpose flour, buttermilk, and eggs. Buttermilk introduces crucial acidity that reacts with baking soda to produce carbon dioxide micro-bubbles, lightening what would otherwise be a dense batter. Meanwhile, the slow-cooked chili relies on long-duration low heat to soften dry beans and meld the tomato paste and diced tomatoes into a cohesive sauce. Cooking beans too quickly at a rolling boil destroys their cellular walls, causing them to burst and release starches that muddy the pot, whereas a steady low simmer keeps the bean skins intact while allowing moisture to fully hydrate the interior cotyledon. Testing doneness for the cornbread avoids guesswork by utilizing a physical insertion method rather than a timer; a cake tester or toothpick pushed into the geometric center should emerge completely free of wet batter residue. Letting the baked bread rest for ten to fifteen minutes allows internal steam pressure to subside and the crumb structure to fully set before slicing.
