Slow Cooker Super Easy Chilli

Inspiration this week came from an social media request to do a slow cooker chilli. I’ve tried quite a few slow cooker recipes recently and it’s really nice to use it again as it’s so practical. At the bottom of the blog I’ve included a link to one that’s fairly similar to mine. On slow cookers in general I’d also recommend buying some slow cooker liners for some recipes. Chill is fairly simple to clean up.

So onto the recipe. There’s a fair mix of spices here but I think it gives a really rounded flavour. However, if you really love garlic add some more or want it super hot add some more chilli or maybe cayenne too. It’s a fun recipe to play with. Remember you can always serve it will cold soured cream or nice cheeses if you’ve accidentally made it too hot, you won’t ruin the whole meal.

Ingredients:

• 400g mince meat
• 1 tin red kidney beans
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 150ml water
• 1 tsp onion flakes
• 1 clove garlic chopped
• 1 onion chopped finely
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp chilli paste
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp of sugar
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Salt & Pepper

Method:

1. Dump everything into slow cooker
2. Cook on high for 4 hours

Making chilli

Chilli Done

I love to serve my chilli with rice or chips but we particularly love it with soured cream on baked potatoes. See below for my slow cooker baked potatoes that obviously you can bake low and slowly in the oven whilst your chilli is cooking.

https://modernmrsbeeton.blog/2019/05/30/slow-cooker-baked-potatoes-have/

If you don’t have a slow cooker here’s one I’d recommend:

https://amzn.to/3CqgIkh

Lamb stew and homemade dumplings in a slow cooker

This is the first time I’ve ever made homemade dumplings and I have to say I am completely in love them. Granted I absolutely underestimated how big these get after they’ve been steamed so if you try this I’d recommend one large or two small person. It does however now completely make sense that this was done in more frugal times in history to make a really hearty meal. Complete genius if you ask me.

Stew Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 500g lamb cubed
• 1 garlic clove
• 100ml of Guiness beer (or any dark beer) (https://amzn.to/3VqM8zF)
• 1 carrot peeled and chopped
• 1 large potato peeled and chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• Thyme
• 1 tbsp of plain flour
• 1 tbsp of tomato paste
• 1 onion chopped and diced
• Salt and pepper
• 200 ml of water
• 1 beef stock cube
• 1 splash of sunflower oil
• 50g peas

1. Add your lamb to a pan with the oil and brown on a high heat to get a good crust on the outside but not cook them through
2. Add your onions to give them a little colour
3. Add the flour to coat the beef and dump everything into a slow cooker. If you don’t have one I’ve dropped a link below to one similar to mine
4. Add all of the other ingredients and mix. Set the slow cooker to low for 4-6 hours
5. Stir occasionally
6. 30 minutes before the end add the dumplings

Slow Cooker:

https://amzn.to/3yA3Rei

Dumplings Recipe:

• 100ml milk
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 50g butter
• 125g self-raising flour
• Salt and pepper

1. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. I cheat on rubbing in recipes and use my pastry cutter as it reduces the time your warm hands handle the mix which tends to help with most recipes and keeps your hands less sticky. See a link below of mine from Amazon.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and form into balls
3. 30 minutes before the end of the stew cooking add gently to the top of the slow cooker and close the lid
4. Serve!

Pastry Cutter

https://amzn.to/3TeI2ZM

Dumplings Before

Dumplings steaming!

Slow Cooker Chilli (Chilli Nachos)

Over the past week we’ve stayed in a couple of hotels and consequentially eaten out a lot at day and night. One of the items we ordered was from a standard bistro style pub in the hotel lobby which consisted of some standard nachos topped with the most amazing chill (and cheese and soured cream!). It was such a nice light meal to share and I haven’t had chilli for such a long time I decided to try and make a standard chill in my slow cooker to see how it would turn out. Then I could use the chilli to top nachos; baked potatoes or simply serve with rice.

 

Ingredients

1 splash sunflower oil

500g lean mince

1 can of chopped tomatoes

100ml of water

2 cloves of garlic, minced or I use the squeezy garlic tubes

2 chillies; chopped and de-seeded or use the squeezy tubes (or frozen/dried version described in tips below)

1 large white onion, chopped finely

1 can of kidney beans (rinsed in cold water)

1/2 beef stock cube

1 squirt of tomato puree

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon sweet, smoked paprika

1 teaspoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

Salt and pepper

 

Method

1. Brown the mince in a frying pan; add the onions and garlic at the end to slightly brown over a medium heat
2. Add the mince and all of the other ingredients to the slow cooker and set on high
3. Cook for 4 hours
4. I took the lid off for the last 20 mins to boil off some of the water
5. Serve a big blob over nachos and sprinkle with cheese

 

Tips

Use less water if you want it thicker as slow cookers don’t allow the water to boil off so it becomes more liquidy the longer you cook it

When I have too many chillies I either hang them to dry out or chop them an put them in a blob of oli in the freezer so they don’t go off

I know people add a small block of high quality cooking chocolate to their chilli recipes but I’ve never made this work as all I can then taste is chocolate. If anyone has any tips of this I’d be grateful!?