Slow Cooker Smoky Chipotle Chili

This chili is comfort food at it’s best – warming and filling, yet it doesn’t weigh you down. Perfect after a long day on the slopes or while you’re watching the big game. Smokey and spicy with a hint of sweetness to balance it all out; it will soon be a regular in your winter dinner rotation. 

Smoked paprika. Have you cooked with it? This spice is EVERYTHING. I discovered it a few years back; I think while cooking through my first Ottolengi cookbook, Jerusalem, and it’s so good, it’s one of the few spices I actually use before it expires. 

Side note – do you replace your spices every year? I recently found more than one jar in my cabinet that I think I’ve had since I moved to Boston 8 years ago. You’d think I would have gotten rid of them in one of the 5 times I’ve moved over the last 8 years (yes, you read that right). Long past their expiration date, I still had a hard time bringing myself to throw them out (I really hate food waste). I know keeping spices for that long is a major culinary sin, but does anyone actually replace them every year like you’re supposed to? If you do, I want to hear from you.  How do you keep up with it? Do you actually use up spices or do you just throw them out?

I digress. Let’s get back to the chili. I first made some version of this chili when my now husband (boyfriend at the time) and I hosted a chili cook-off several years ago.  I was determined to find a chili recipe I liked (clearly I wasn’t the instigator of this event). Because, you see, I really dislike cumin. And it seems to be in nearly every chili recipe I’d seen, so I just never made it.  Well this cumin-free smoky chili was a big hit (I can’t say I won, but I don’t think we actually ever got to the voting part of the event), and it quickly became a regular in our fall/winter dinner rotation. 

A little squeeze of lime really balances out the spice and brightens up the dish. This chili is filling from all of the fiber and protein, but doesn’t weigh you down like a lot of chilis can – what more could you ask for?

This chili is comforting on a cold winter day and would make the perfect crowd-pleasing dish for Superbowl Sunday. Put out a bunch of toppings and serve with some crusty bread for dipping and you’ve got a winner. Because football is all about the food, isn’t it?

I’ve made this chili on the stove or in a crockpot, so if you don’t have a slow cooker, that’s not a problem. But it is nice to just set it and forget it on a Sunday afternoon, don’ you think? I like to make a big batch and then freeze half for a quick meal when things get busy. It freezes well for up to 3 months.