Recipe: Chipotle Crockpot Chili

We've been experimenting with this recipe for a while now, tweaking it, adjusting the spices and the ratios, and I think now we've got it about perfect: This chili is thick and rich with just the right amount of smooth, smoky heat.

And like all of the recipes we share here at Casual Kitchen, this slow cooker recipe is healthy, delicious, inexpensive and really easy. I hope you enjoy it!

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Chipotle Crockpot Chili

Ingredients:
3/4 to 1 lb ground beef
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 12-ounce can tomato paste
2 15-ounce cans red beans or kidney beans
1 onion, chopped coarsely
1 green bell pepper, chopped coarsely
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 Tablespoons mild chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, with some of the sauce
1 cup water
Black pepper, to taste

Directions:
1) Brown ground beef in a separate pan. While beef is browning, add tomatoes, tomato paste, spices, garlic, chipotle chiles and water to bottom of crockpot and stir until well combined.

2) Add browned ground beef and all other ingredients to the tomato/spice mixture, stir well. Cook for about 5 hours on low setting. Serve over rice or brown rice.

Serves 8.
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Recipe notes:
1) Meat: This recipe contains less meat than you'd typically see in a chili recipe. That's deliberate. However, feel free to adjust the bean/meat ratio to your tastes. If you prefer more meat, you could boost the beef to as much as 1.5 lbs. If you prefer less meat, or another meat like pork or turkey, or if you prefer no meat at all, go for it. Any of these permutations will work.

2) Fat: Should you drain the fat from the beef before adding it to the recipe? Since we've been exploring highly-regarded modern nutrition books like Why We Get Fat and The New Evolution Diet, we've essentially stopped worrying entirely about cutting fat from our diet. We've found that not draining the meat increases satiety and palatability. But feel free to drain the fat away if you'd prefer.

3) Spicy Heat: If you'd like a spicier chili, feel free to add a third (or a fourth!) chipotle chile. Or, alternatively, you can add more of the adobo sauce that comes along with canned chipotles.

4) Cooking time: One of the singular benefits of crockpots/slow cookers is that you can be incredibly inexact with cooking times. Cooking this recipe for hour more (or less) on your slow cooker's low setting won't disrupt it in the least.





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