Sweet & Spicy Chili for a Crowd

Growing up in a house full of girls there was little to no “man food” – as my mum might have called it – and even less football (sorry Dad!) My first experience with chili was with my husband – although, at the time I think we were 17 or 18 and not yet married or even engaged. My mom had given me a cookbook for Christmas with recipes for entertaining and I thought we’d try making chili for a little superbowl party (also my first one of those!)

It’s been a looong time since that disappointing evening when Green Bay beat the Patriots, and over the years we’ve tried many versions of chili, and I look forward to sharing them with you! Here’s our Sweet & Spicy Chili, wish a dash of barbeque sauce (a trick we stole learned from a friend of ours). Enjoy!

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Sweet & Spicy Slow Cooker Chili

Ingredients:

1 large green pepper
1 large sweet onion
1-2 jalapeno peppers
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 40oz can of red kidney beans
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28oz can tomato puree
28oz water
2 lbs lean hamburg
1/2 teaspoons coriander
1 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoons pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoons granulated garlic
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 cup mashed sweet potato
3 tablespoons barbecue sauce – I use my Sweet & Spicy Barbecue Sauce – find the recipe here.

Directions:

In a skillet heat up the olive oil. Simmer the onions and green peppers until tender.

(You can chop or dice your vegetables depending on how chunky you like your chili. I like to put mine in the food processor so I don’t have any big chunks.)

For the jalapeno, use 1 to 2 (seeded!) to taste and dice or mince, again according to your preference (this, along with the chili powder is the SPICY part of the recipe!).

Transfer the cooked vegetables into the slow cooker. Add the raw ground beef and use a spatula to break it up a little.

Season with salt, pepper, onion powder, granulated garlic, cumin, coriander and chili powder.

Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato puree. Rinse the cans and dump that water into the pot as well (no more than about one 28oz can total).

Add the beans, including the water in the can, to the stockpot.

Stir in the sweet potato – you could leave this out, but we had a little extra left over, and it helps thicken the chili and adds a bit of sweetness to the flavor. Other vegetable purees would be good in this too, like squash, pumpkin, carrot or even zucchini.

Season with additional salt, pepper, onion powder, granulated garlic, cumin, coriander and 2 tablespoons chili powder. Stir in the honey and the barbecue sauce (this is the SWEET part to balance the spicy!). Cover and let simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.

This makes a big batch, so if you’re not having a crowd, you can freeze half in airtight bags or freezer safe canning jars. I like the bag method, because then it’s easy to reheat in a crockpot!

Serve with your favorite toppings like cheese and sour cream – and your favorite sides, like Cheddar Bacon Muffins or Cheddar Garlic Cornbread!