I just realized I forgot to give you my bison chili that I made a couple weeks ago when the weather was perfect for making and eating chili! It came out so delicious.
I had to cut corners on the veggie chopping, which I normally love, due to a rough bout of tendinitis in my elbow. Luckily the mire poix (onions, celery, carrots) comes diced up for me. So I got things start mes with that in the slow cooker on high.
Then added in green peppers (also came diced) and (the one thing I did have to self chop) the jalapeños.
I got the cans of my saucy combo ready for once the veggies started to sweat a little, about 30-45 minutes.
Fire roasted diced tomatoes, regular diced tomatoes, and a big can of tomato sauce. Add them all into the cooker.
I also added a can of sweet corn. I love how the corn give just the right little pop of sweet in a dish. I’m not really a fan of beans in my home made chili, so I nix those, but no judgment if you want to add some!
Then I added in my spices. A hefty dose of chili powder, and I always put cinnamon in my chili. You don’t have to be shy with it. It cooks in so it’s barely recognizable, but adds such a nice smooth spice to it.
You know I love me some smoky flavor, so I added in some liquid smoke.
I let it get good and hot for about an hour or so. Then I added the ground bison.
And about 3/4 bottle of a nice stout beer.
Stir everything around, make sure the ground bison (you can use any ground meat, beef, turkey, I’ve even done bear!) is evenly distributed. This can literally cook all day. Keep taste testing and add things as needed, but I tell you, this didn’t need much. It started coming together beautifully.
I had it on high in the slow cooker for about 5-6 hours and then kept it on low til dinner time. We like to top ours with cheddar and sour cream.
The first serving was a little spicy due to the jalapeños, not too spicy, but the next night they had mellowed out so nicely that it was just about the best batch of chili I can recall making in a long time. With a big batch like this, we had plenty of leftovers. Yay! One night I put it on some spaghetti squash – sooooo good!!!!!
Enjoy!! Chili is great in the winter and very forgiving since you can keep tweaking it as it cooks, but this was a great simple recipe that came out awesome!!
Eat, Drink, and Go! 