Beef
Beef Chili
Thick, smoky, cook-off-worthy chili. Feeds a crowd and tastes better the next day.
Chili is probably the single most-cooked slow cooker recipe in America, and everybody thinks theirs is the best. Ours has one thing in it that most home recipes don't: cocoa powder.
That's not a gimmick. Unsweetened cocoa is a traditional chili ingredient in Texas and in Cincinnati-style chili, and it does two specific things — it deepens the color to a proper dark red, and it rounds off the sharp edge of the chile without adding sweetness. Nobody tastes chocolate. Everybody notices it's better.
This is the one recipe here that asks you to brown the meat first. It's five extra minutes and it's worth it.
Why you'll love it
Feeds eight, easily.
Chili is the crowd food. This makes a full pot.
Cocoa powder in the blend.
A real chili-cookoff technique that most home recipes skip.
Better on day two.
Genuinely. Make it the night before if you can.
Toppings make it a meal.
Set out cheese, sour cream, onion and let people build.
What's already in the packet
Sixteen grams of chili powder with cumin, tomato, smoked paprika and a little cocoa for depth.
Choose your setting
LOW · 6–7 hours
Low and slow gives collagen time to melt and flavors time to build. It is the setting this recipe was written for.
HIGH · 3–4 hours
For when you started late. It gets dinner done, but the texture is better on LOW.
Done at 160°F
Ground beef minimum. Brown it first and it's already there — the rest is flavor.
You'll Need
- 2 lbs Beef (pick one below)
- 2 cups Water or beef broth
- 1 packet Cook SLO Beef Chili
- 2 cans (15 oz) Beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (28 oz) Diced tomatoes, with juice
Pick your beef
2 lbs
Ground beef, browned and drained
2 lbs
Beef stew meat
1 + 1 lb
Ground beef and chorizo
Roasts 145°F, ground beef 160°F
Add vegetables
Diced onion (fresh or frozen) at the start, on the bottom; bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen), jalapeño slices and diced green chiles at the start; canned kidney beans and canned pinto beans at the start, or the last hour if you want them whole; canned corn in the last thirty minutes.
When to add what
| When | Add | Why |
|---|---|---|
| At the start, on the bottom | Diced onion (fresh or frozen) | Root vegetables cook slower than meat. They belong closest to the heat, and they hold the meat up out of the liquid. Cut everything an inch and a half or larger — smaller pieces disintegrate. |
| At the start, to soften into the sauce | Bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen)Jalapeño slicesDiced green chiles | These break down and give their flavour to the pot. Right for a gravy or a fajita, wrong if you want them to hold their shape. |
| Canned beans, drained and rinsed | Canned kidney beansCanned pinto beans | At the start for chili and stews, where they take on the seasoning and a few break down to thicken the pot. In the last hour if you want them whole. |
| Canned corn and hominy, drained | Canned corn | Last 30 minutes. Fully cooked already, so anything longer turns it to mush. |
Two ways to do this
If you're home
Follow the timing table above and add things when they're due.
If you're out all day
Put in at the start as normal: diced onion (fresh or frozen), bell pepper strips (fresh or frozen), jalapeño slices, diced green chiles, canned kidney beans and canned pinto beans. These need the full cook anyway.
Add canned corn when you walk in the door. Forty-five minutes to an hour on LOW is enough for all of it, and it will taste better than if it had cooked all day.
If you would rather not touch it at all, put everything in at the start and use frozen where you can. It will be softer than the timing above intends and the greens will lose their colour, but it will taste good and dinner is ready when you walk in.
Frozen is the better choice for a long day. Already cut, holds its shape better than fresh over eight or nine hours, and goes in straight from the bag with no thawing. Frozen diced onion and pepper strips remove the only real prep this recipe has.
Beans — use canned
Every recipe in this book that uses beans uses canned beans. Drain and rinse them, and they are ready to go. Do not substitute dry beans.
Canned beans are fully cooked during canning, so they are safe and they only need warming through. Dry red kidney beans are a different matter: raw, they contain a lectin called phytohaemagglutinin, and the FDA is explicit that a slow cooker does not get hot enough to destroy it. The toxin needs boiling at 212°F for at least ten minutes, and a crock pot on LOW often reaches only about 167°F — hot enough to soften the bean, not hot enough to make it safe. As few as four or five undercooked kidney beans can cause severe vomiting within a few hours. Canned beans have none of this problem.
| Canned beans | Drain and rinse | Rinsing removes the starchy canning liquid, which otherwise clouds a soup and dulls the flavour. |
| When to add them | Start, or the last hour | At the start for chili and stews — they take on the seasoning and a few break down, which thickens the pot. In the last hour if you want them to hold their shape. |
| Canned baked or refried beans | Last 30 minutes | Already sweetened or seasoned. Added early they scorch against the crock wall. |
| Dry beans of any kind | Not in this book | If you want the savings, cook them fully on the stove first — soak five hours, drain, boil thirty minutes in fresh water — then use them in place of canned. Two cups cooked equals roughly one 15-ounce can. |
One 15-ounce can drained gives about one and a half cups of beans. Most recipes here want one or two cans.
Two 15-ounce cans, drained and rinsed — kidney, pinto or black, or a mix. They go in at the start with everything else, where they take on the chili seasoning and a few break down to thicken the pot. Texas-style chili has no beans at all. Add another pound of meat instead.
Corn
| Canned corn | Last 30 minutes | Drain first. It is fully cooked already, so it only needs heating — added early it goes to mush. |
| Canned fire-roasted corn | Last 30 minutes | Same timing. Worth seeking out for the smoky note, especially in chili and anything southwest. |
| Canned hominy | Last 30 minutes | Drain and rinse. Bigger and chewier than corn, and what turns a pork stew into posole. |
Pasta and noodles
**In the pot.** For chili mac, add two cups of dry elbow macaroni and two cups of hot broth for the last twenty-five minutes, then stir in cheddar at the end. **Or separately.** Cincinnati style over cooked spaghetti, with cheese, onion and beans on top.
Before anything goes in the pot
- 1
Brown the ground meat first
Raw ground beef never breaks up in a slow cooker. It sets into grey pellets and stays that way. Brown it and pour off the fat.
- 2
Deglaze the pan and pour it in
This is the step almost everyone skips, and it wastes half the benefit of browning. Most of the flavour you just made is stuck to the pan. Pour a cup of the recipe's water into the hot empty pan, scrape everything loose with a wooden spoon while it bubbles, and pour that into the crock pot. Count it toward the total liquid.
These happen outside the crock pot, before it's switched on.
Tonight's Plan
- 1
Put the beef, beans and tomatoes with their juice in the crock pot.
Rinse the beans first.
- 2
Pour in the water or broth and sprinkle the whole packet over the top.
Two cups only — the tomatoes are already wet.
- 3
Stir everything together and put the lid on.
One good stir.
Vegetables
Stir well. Leave the lid off the last 30 minutes if you want it thicker.
Chili should hold a spoon up.
Ladle into bowls and set the toppings out.
This is a build-your-own dish.
Stirring
Stir once at the halfway point
Tomato solids and the thickener both settle and can catch against the base. One stir is enough.
Swaps and add-ins
Use stew meat instead of ground.
Two pounds of cubed chuck, no browning needed. A chunkier, more Texas-style chili.
Add chorizo.
One pound alongside one pound of ground beef. Smoky and rich.
Skip the beans.
Texas-style chili has no beans at all. Add another pound of meat instead.
Make it hotter.
Chipotles in adobo, jalapeños, or cayenne — all at the end, not the start.
Tips for success
- Brown the beef first. Raw ground beef dropped into a slow cooker clumps into grey pellets. Five minutes in a pan fixes it.
- Rinse the canned beans. The liquid in the can is starchy and dulls the whole pot.
- Make it the day before. Chili is genuinely better after a night in the fridge. The spices settle.
- Drop in a liner before anything else. Smooth it against the sides and fold the edges over the rim. When you're done, lift it out and throw it away — the crock never needs scrubbing.
Finish it right
A squeeze of lime.
Chili is heavy and rich and lime cuts straight through it. Most people never try this and it's a revelation.
Raw diced onion.
Sharp and crunchy against the soft. Traditional in Texas.
Sharp cheddar and sour cream.
Cold and creamy on hot chili. The temperature contrast matters as much as the flavor.
Serve it over
Tomorrow night
Chili cheese fries.
Over fries with cheddar, broiled.
Frito pie.
In a bowl over corn chips with cheese and onion.
Chili dogs.
Over hot dogs with mustard and onion.
Chili mac.
Stirred into macaroni with cheddar, baked.
Keeping it
Fridge
Airtight, up to 4 days. Better every day.
Freezer
3 months. Chili is one of the best freezers there is.
Reheating
Stove or microwave. Add a splash of broth if it's very thick.
Questions people ask
Recipe card
Beef Chili
You'll Need
- 2 lbs Beef (pick one below)
- 2 cups Water or beef broth
- 1 packet Cook SLO Beef Chili
- 2 cans (15 oz) Beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (28 oz) Diced tomatoes, with juice
Tonight's Plan
- Put the beef, beans and tomatoes with their juice in the crock pot.
- Pour in the water or broth and sprinkle the whole packet over the top.
- Stir everything together and put the lid on.
No major allergens declared.
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