Slow Cooker Ground Beef Chili
If your knife skills are efficient and you don’t mind multi-tasking while cooking, I suggest prepping the vegetables while the pancetta and ground beef cook. This will be a time saver, albeit a bit high intensity. If this gives you stress, prep all vegetables before the cooking process begins.
Ingredients
- 1/2 onion onions, diced
- 2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
- 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 4 oz package pre-cut pancetta
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 cups low-sodium beef stock
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 14- ounce can crushed tomatoes or unsalted diced tomatoes
- 1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 2 tbsp chili powder
Instructions
- Turn the slow cooker to warm and place the onions, bell pepper and jalapenos inside. Cover and set aside.
- In a large skillet, add the oil and pancetta. Cook over medium heat until the pancetta has rendered it’s fat, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pancetta and place into the slow cooker. Cover.
- Increase the heat to high and add the ground beef and salt. Brown the beef, about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and draining the fat as you cook (to brown the meat more effectively). Reduce the heat to medium and add the tomato paste. Stir to combine and brown the tomato paste, about 2 minutes. Stir often. Pour the beef stock into the pan and deglaze. Be sure to scrape any browned pieces stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Pour the beef mixture into the slow cooker. Add the milk, tomatoes, soy sauce, panko, cloves, pepper, oregano, garlic, cumin and chili powder. Stir to combine and cover. Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or high for 5 hours.
- Serve with tortilla chips, sour cream, cilantro and freshly squeezed lime juice. To make this chili go further, serve the chili with rice.
