Crowd Pleasing Slow Cooker Chili Recipe

The blending of pre-packaged chili seasoning mixes and some of the other tips in this recipe make a batch of chili unlike others. You can easily make modifications to suit your taste as you go along, but this is a guaranteed winner that keeps people coming back for more.

The trick to making this chili is that after cooking the ground beef, peppers, and onions in a frying pan, the meat and everything else can be placed in a Crock Pot and left to cook. The longer and slower you let it cook, the better it becomes. Slow cooking gives all the flavors enough time to blend together.

Slow cooker times:

2-4 hours on high
6-8 hours on low

Keep in mind that if you can't find the exact brands of chili season packets mentioned below, you can make substitutions. If you do, try to find chili seasoning packets with masa (one of the key ingredients in the Caroll Shelby mix) and one that has a tex-mex combination of spices. These really help the flavor of this chili.

Here's what you'll need for this chili recipe:

Ingredients

- 4 lbs ground beef (I prefer the 80/20 blend for better flavor)

- 1 medium onion

- 4-5 large green peppers

- 3-4 large banana peppers

- 2-3 jalapeno peppers (fresh not canned)

- 1 box Caroll Shelby Chili Mix

- 1 package McCormick Tex-Mex Chili Mix

- 2 packages Casa Fiesta Chili Seasoning Mix

- 2 cans diced tomatoes (lightly drained with about ½ cup juice reserved)

- 2 15 oz cans of tomato sauce

- 1 can black beans (drained)

- 1 can kidney beans (drained)

- 1 can Great Northern beans (drained)

- ½ tsp chili powder

- ½ tsp cayenne pepper

- Pinch of salt

- 2 tsp vegetable oil

- 2 cups water

Preparation

Take a large skillet and sprinkle a pinch of salt over the bottom and turn heat to medium-high. Place the ground meat in the pan once it's hot and cook until browned. Drain off the fat and set the meat aside. Do not rinse out the pan.

While the meat is cooking, cut each type of pepper in half length-wise and remove the seeds and core. Chop the peppers into ½ inch pieces and place in a bowl. Peel the onion, dice, and add to the peppers.

In the same pan that the meat was cooked in add 2 tsp vegetable oil and turn the heat back up to medium-high. Add the peppers and onions and sauté until they begin to soften. Do not overcook!

While the peppers and onion are cooking, open each can of beans, pour contents into a strainer and allow the juices to flow through, but do not shake off excess or rinse. You will need some of this to help thicken the chili.

Once you have everything above ready, take a large Crock Pot (5 quart or more) and add the meat, peppers, onions, sauce, diced tomatoes (and juice), and beans. Carefully stir the contents so as not to mash up the beans in the process.

Add each of the packets of chili seasoning (except for the masa flour in the Carroll Shelby box - set that aside for later) and then pour in 2 cups of water. Don't worry about the amounts that are indicated on the chili seasoning packets - you will make up for it with the juice from the tomatoes and the juice from the beans and you can add small amounts of water later. Again, stir to mix evenly.

Place the lid on the slow cooker, turn the heat to your desired setting and allow to cook, stirring about half-way through. If the chili seems a bit too dry, add small amounts of water - up to 1 cup.

After cooking for all but the last hour, make the masa flour as per the instructions on the Carroll Shelby box and slowly add it to the chili.

Let the chili cook for the remaining time and you're ready to eat!