Slow Cooker Texas Chili

Tis chili season!  Finally, I love chili and I loved this recipe because: 

1) It can be cooked all day in the slow cooker. 
2) If you get rid of that tiny bit of brown sugar it's compliant with my Whole30 plan. 
3) It's SPICY, I dig spicy. 

There is something about chili that is both comforting and energizing for me.  Probably because I eat it most often when there is a game of some sort on TV. 

I wanted to try this new recipe because I was having dinner club at my house this past weekend and it was going to be a super crazy day, so I needed a slow cooker recipe. I literally threw this together in about 20 minutes before I had to run off to a soccer game.  When I got home my house smelled so good!  I just had to clean up a little and change for the dinner club crew and I was done.  Slow cookers are a brilliant invention. 

There is definitely some kick to this recipe but not so much that you can't enjoy the taste of it. The meat just falls apart and the spices have cooked into the meat and the veggies. Great cold weather meal!

Slow Cooker Texas Chili

Recipe from The Food Network

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 2 inch cubes.
• 2 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
• kosher salt
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 - 4.5 ounce cans chopped green chilies, drained
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 3/5 cup chili powder
• 1 - 14 ounce can diced tomatoes with chilies
• 1 - 2 Tbsp green hot sauce
• scallions, fresh cilantro, sour cream or shredded cheese for topping

Cooking Directions

1. Add the oil to a large frying pan and heat on high heat.
2. Toss the meat with 1 Tbsp of brown sugar and 1 Tbsp of salt.
3. Cook the meat until browned on all sides in the hot fry pan. Do not crowd the meat, do this in several batches.
4. Transfer the cooked meat to the slow cooker.
5. In the pan you used to cook the meat, add the onion and saute for about 5 minutes.
6. Add in the garlic and cook an additional minute. 
7. Add the green chilies, cumin, chili powder, diced tomatoes and 1 1/2 cup of water and let simmer for about 3 minutes. 
8. Add the tomato mixture into the slow cooker with the meat and cook on low for 7 hours. 
9. Add the hot sauce and the remaining 1 Tbsp of brown sugar. 
10. Serve with suggested toppings or corn chips.