When the weather turns cooler, I use my slow cooker to cook up some hearty, warm meals for my family. One of my favorite things to make in my slow cooker is chili. If you have never made chili in the slow cooker before you must try it. Once you see how easy it is, you may never go back to your traditional chili making ways. The wonderful thing about chili is that you can make it as bold as you want it. My kids are not fond of spicy foods, so we normally have pretty tame chili. But sometimes, you just have to kick things up a notch and make some good old fashioned bold chili. So I made some for the grown ups in our house. Let’s just say the kids had no idea what they missed out on.

If you, like my kids are not such big fans of spice, then it is easy to tweak this recipe. Replace the medium salsa with mild, replace the diced tomatoes with chilies with plain diced tomatoes and skip the red pepper flakes.

When I make chili, I often use ground turkey to shave off some fat and calories. Feel free to use ground beef if you have that on hand or prefer it. I have found that the ground turkey doesn’t change the flavor at all.

This is a simple meal to prepare as you just add the browned turkey and other ingredients to the crock pot and walk away. While you are gone, the chili will do its thing.

When you return 6 hours later, you will have a filling bowl of boldly flavored chili that will earn you rave reviews. When I dish this out, I add some sour cream and cheese. The sour cream cuts down on some of the kick. Drinking a glass of milk with the chili will have a similar effect. I love to add shredded cheddar cheese to my chili because in my opinion, cheese makes everything better. Especially this big, bold chili.

Bold Crockpot Chili Recipe Instructions

Bold Crockpot Chili Recipe

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 8 Servings

Ingredients

• 1.25 lbs ground turkey/beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 10 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, don’t drain
• 1 15 oz can of kidney beans, drained
• 1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 cup of medium salsa
• 1 tablespoon of chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste

For topping:

• Sour cream (you will use a dollop for each serving)
• Shredded cheddar cheese (you will sprinkle some in each bowl)

Cooking Directions

1. Brown the chopped onion and ground turkey in a pan, breaking up the turkey. When the turkey is fully browned (about 10 minutes), remove from heat.
2. Add the turkey/onion mixture to the crock pot and add the remaining ingredients except for the sour cream and shredded cheese. Stir.
3. Cover and cook for 6 hours on low heat.
4. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of the cheddar cheese.