palmetto belle

As soon as the weather outside starts to cool down for fall, I am usually looking up crockpot or soup recipes. Good ol’ fashioned chili is the perfect comfort food to warm you right up. I know there are hundreds of ways people make chili but I like to keep it simple. So, here’s a quick & easy recipe that can be thrown in the crockpot that is also good for the little ones (meaning it ain’t spicy!) I’m personally not a fan of spicy so while my husband refuses to eat my chili, that shouldn’t deter you from trying out the recipe!

I also hate all those silly recipe websites that take forever to get to the ingredients list and simple instructions so the paragraph above is about all the fluff you’re going to get. Let’s make some chili!

Ingredients for Easy Peasy Crockpot Chili:

• 1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (15 oz) can light kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes (with juices)
• 1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 ½ tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp ground cayenne pepper (optional for heat)
• 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 cup beef broth (or water)
• Optional toppings: shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped green onions, avocado, tortilla chips

Random cooking notes before we start:

• Onion: I don’t use a lot of onion in cooking so I rarely have a fresh one in my fridge. I do however always have dry onion flakes on hand. If you use that instead, I’d suggest about 2 tbsp.
• Tomato Paste: I get a little irritated that most recipes only need a couple tablespoons of tomato paste so you end up wasting a whole can most of the time. This time around I actually bought a glass jar of tomato paste so I have it on hand to use for future recipes without wasting.
• Green chilies: If you would like to add a little kick to this recipe, add 1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies.
• Paprika: the original recipe called for Smoked paprika which I didn’t have to I used regular. I wanted to throw that out there in case you want to substitute one for the other.

Cooking Instructions

1. Brown the ground beef over medium heat until it’s no longer pink. Drain the grease and transfer beef to the crockpot.
2. Add the onion, minced garlic, drained beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste.
3. Sprinkle in all your spices – onion powder (if you didn’t use a real onion above), chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. (Optional: add cayenne pepper for extra heat!) Pour in the beef broth.
4. Grab your favorite wooden spoon and give it all a big stir to make sure everything is mixed together well.
5. Cover the crockpot and cook the chili on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours. If you’ve got the time, I always say the longer chili cooks, the better it will taste!

Favorite Toppings to Add: sour cream, shredded cheese, chopped green onion or serve with tortilla chips or Saltines

For Leftovers: Chili is a perfect freezer meal which you can store for up to 3 months in an airtight container. If you aren’t freezing it, most recipes recommend that you eat in within 3 days after storing it in the fridge. But it’ll be so good, you’ll definitely eat before 3 days is up!

I hope you enjoy this Easy Peasy Crockpot Chili! Let me know how it turns out for you!