Our First Miracle - Signature Chili
Our stoneware crockpot from One Pot, came with a recipe book…and we decided the safest thing for our first attempt at cooking in the crockpot would be to use one of their recipes. The Signature Chili sounded good. Check out the recipe for this slightly spicy, meaty, thick and absolutely delicious chili:
- 3-lbs hamburger
- 1-12 oz can beef broth
- 2-12 oz cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 2-12 oz cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 2-28 oz cans crushed Italian tomatoes
- 1-12 oz can tomato paste
- 1-tsp oregano
- 3-tsp chili powder
- 1-tsp cumin
- 5-cloves garlic
- 1-tsp salt
- 1-tsp black pepper
- 1-tsp cayenne pepper
- 2-serrano chili peppers-minced
- 1-red pepper, diced
- 1-green pepper, seeded and diced
- 5-10 dashes of your favorite hot sauce
First of all, you’ll want to brown the hamburger before you put it in the pot. This way, you can drain all the fat off (so you won’t have to deal with any floating in your chili). I like to add a little bit of olive oil to the pan first, and then brown the meat. If your crock pot has a removable pot that you can use on the stovetop, it makes it pretty easy to brown it in one container. Otherwise, I’d recommend using two skillets, because it’s a lot of meat. Once the meat is crumbled and browned, I recommend rinsing it with hot water in a colander. Then you’re not just draining fat, you’re rinsing all of it off!
Cooking the meat takes about 15 minutes, which gives you enough time to chop up your veggies and get everything else ready.
Next, put the meat back in your crockpot. Then, you put all the other stuff in, cover, turn your crockpot on and cook on low for 6-8 hours. We got the best flavor when cooking it for 8 hours. If we’re around we’ll stir it once an hour or so, if not, it doesn’t really matter.
signature chili
A few tips:
Chili expands in the crockpot, so if you’re near the rim when you start cooking, drain some of the water, or take out a couple of servings, freeze them, and cook them in a saucepan when you decide you want to eat them.
It’s a good idea to fish the garlic cloves out once the chili is ready. Speaking of garlic, if you like more garlic flavor, you can crush the cloves, instead of just tossing them in.
A little hot sauce goes a long way. We usually use 7-8 dashes of the Chipotle flavored hot sauce from Tabasco.
We love to eat this chili with cornbread, but our favorite option is with Fritos, shredded cheese, and a dollop of sour cream.
Have plenty of Tupperware on hand, this chili freezes really well, and this makes a lot. It’s also a great gift for single friends who never cook.
When you reheat the chili, it’s probably better to unthaw it first. We never decide what we’re going to eat until five minutes before, so Plan B is to defrost it in the microwave for about 5 minutes, and then reheat it in a saucepan.
