Easy Crock Pot Chili

I realize I've been using my crock pot a lot lately, so I'm going to do everything in my power to not use it next week, just to mix things up. By "everything in my power" I mean that I'm going to think about foods that don't require the crock pot. If, however, I get the craving for another crock pot meal, you'll all just have to wait one more week.

That all said, I felt like making chili this week, so the crock pot was in full use once again.

Chili took me forever to figure out. There's rarely a time when I try to make something and it comes out HORRIBLE, and in the off chance that that happens, my second attempt always comes out perfect. Chili did not work that way. In my cooking days, I have messed up more pots of chili than I can remember, and at once point I'd honestly given up on the dish. I figured there were some things a person will just never learn to do.

But about a year ago, my friend Felicia sat me down and told me a few of the secrets to a great chili concoction, and the one that really put everything together for me was the very first thing she said: cook the meat first!

This may seem simple to some of you, but for me this was like seeing a comet crash into the Earth. It all made sense! My chili attempts before had always come out so greasy that I couldn't stomach them, and I love greasy food! But if you cook all of the fat out of the meat, then drain it, and then make chili with that meat, you can do whatever you want to your chili!

After I got over my chili road block a year ago, I've made all sorts of chilis. White chicken chili, chorizo chili, spicy as hell chili, etc. Once that fundamental building block was put into place, I was back on my usual food experimentation track, and I've been playing around with chili ever since.

For this week's Heroes Monday, though, I decided to stick with my original chili. It's easy and tasty, and goes great by itself or on a hot dog. The only thing I did different was the length of time I cooked it. I usually make this chili, start to finish, in 6 to 8 hours. On Sunday, though, I was hanging out with a friend I haven't seen in a while, and I decided to drink a 5 hour energy shot before hand. By midnight she was gone and I couldn't fall asleep, so I figured I'd get started on the chili. With chili, the longer you can cook it the better.

Easy Crock Pot Chili
2 lbs of ground turkey
1 can of either pinto beans or butter beans
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of beef broth
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 small can of diced green chilis
1 small can of tomato sauce
Half of a yellow onion
Some sort of hot pepper (I use 3 habaneros, but I like it spicy)
Minced garlic
2 packets of taco seasoning
2 packets of chili seasoning
1 bottle of your favorite beer
Worcestire sauce
Liquid smoke

To get started, chop up your onion into tiny pieces. The easiest way is to strips length wise, then width wise. Throw them in your crock pot. Chop your peppers into tiny pieces as well, and place in the crock pot. If you don't want it too spicy, discard the seeds from whatever pepper you are using. Putting the vegetables on the bottom means they will get the most heat, which will allow their flavors to rise up, into the meat.

Put the ground turkey on top of the vegetables, and cover with the two packets of chili seasoning. Using a fork, lightly mix the seasoning into the meat. I like to use turkey because it's less fatty, has a great consistency for chili when it's cooked, and it does a fantastic job of soaking up all of the flavors of the chili.

Fill the crock pot with the beer until the meat is mostly covered. Any remaining beer must be drank by the cook. No beer left behind.

Set the crock pot to low and cook for 6-8 hours, or set it to high and cook for 3 hours.

Some time later....

Your chili meat is now cooked and ready to go. Pour the contents of the crock pot into a pasta strainer, and set aside. Put your now empty crock pot back (it's ok if there's still a little meat or vegetables in there) on the counter. Now it's time to make chili!

Add to the bottom of the crock pot the can of diced tomatoes and the can of green chili peppers. Add a few spoonfuls of garlic (don't be shy) too. Using a fork, mix in the two packets of taco seasoning into the vegetables. Seasoning the vegetables is one of the key things that will make this dish outstanding!

Once evenly mixed, add in the tomato sauce, beef broth, a few splashes of the worcestire sauce and liquid smoke. Stir together, and you have one killer chili sauce ready to go. If you want it spicier, feel free to throw in a few splashes of your favorite (or hottest) hot sauce.

Add the meat and vegetables back into the pot. If there are big clumps of meat, try to break them apart with a fork or spoon.

Open each of the cans of beans and drain the liquid out. Add the beans to the chili. Congrats! All of your chili ingrediants are in the pot.

Set the crock pot to low and cook for at least 4 hours. Remember, with chili, the longer the better. Low and slow! After it's been cooking a while, feel free to start eating it! It's delicious!

Another trick Felicia taught me about chili is corn bread. Chili by itself is great, but if you take a big square of corn bread, crumble it up and mix it into your chili, then it's freakin' fantastic! I'm also a big fan of topping my chili with cheese and sour cream, but feel free to add what you want.

So that's my chili recipe. There was a little too much wine involved with last night's Heroes, so I sort of forgot to take a picture. Sorry about that guys. But as always, if you make this, let me know how it goes! Have fun cooking guys!