A little planning ahead is all that is needed to make a home-cooked meal even when you won’t be home all day! (And planning ahead is super easy if you create a weekly meal plan.) This is a favorite go-to recipe when I know I won’t have the time or energy to cook dinner and the great thing is my whole family loves it!
Time-Saving Tip: I like to precook a couple of pounds of ground meat and keep it in my freezer in individual one-cup serving sizes. This saves a lot of time for recipes using ground meat, as you’ll already have it on hand. For this recipe, I also like to precut the veggies the day before to make it even easier to just throw it all in the slow cooker the next morning and go about my day! It’s so wonderful to come home to the smell of delicious homemade chili, especially on a crisp cool evening.
Ingredients
- 4 cups of cooked soaked beans; I use a mix of black, white & pinto beans
- (or substitute with three 15oz cans of beans, drained)
- 28oz organic crushed tomatoes (include liquid)
- 15oz organic diced tomatoes (include liquid)
- 8oz organic tomato sauce
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 medium yellow or red bell pepper, diced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2-3 tbsp chili powder (depending on how spicy you like it)
- 1 tbsp of all-purpose herb seasoning (I like Simply Organic brand)
- 1/2 tbsp sea salt
- 2 cups precooked organic ground turkey (or grass-fed ground beef)
- Optional (omit if DF): 1 cup shredded grassfed havarti (or monterey jack)
Instructions
- In a 6-quart slow cooker, add all of the above ingredients, except for the meat and cheese. Mix thoroughly, until well combined.
- Cook on low 8-9 hours.
- Add the precooked ground meat during the last 30 minutes of cook time.
- Top with shredded cheese, if desired.
- Re-season with chili powder, herb seasoning and salt to taste.
- Serve over basmati or brown rice with a side of homemade organic cornbread. Enjoy!
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