Hearty Steak Chili — Family, Food & Frolic

Growing up, the only chili I knew came from a can. As an adult, I learned that true chili was a totally different style than the stuff that came in a can. One great thing about chili is that it is one of those meals that you can toss in a crockpot and let it cook itself.

While some people like to use hamburger to make chili (it is a cheap alternative that can make the meal stretch), I prefer steak. This week, I thought that I got a good deal on a multipack of beautifully marbled steaks that looked similar to ribeye. However, after grilling up the first one, I realized that they were a tough cut. I decided that we had not eaten chili in a while and it would be the perfect solution for tenderizing one of these steaks.

The best crockpot setting for chili is slow cooked for about 8 hours. With that said, I totally spaced getting my chili in the morning and it still worked great cooking it for 4 hours on high.

Ingredients:

Steak- whatever type suits you. I used about a pound of steak this time as I like my chili hearty.
One 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
One 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
Two 16 ounce cans kidney beans (drained)
Half of a sweet onion chopped.
Extra veggies (I'll cover that in a second.)
2 cloves of garlic (diced)
2 Tablespoons Chili Powder
1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Tablespoon Paprika
1 (or more) Tablespoons Red Pepper Flakes
Other hot peppers if you have them

Preparation:

I will say that if you want to do this the super simple way, just toss everything into a crock pot, stir it occasionally, and voila. However, since I was cooking it in a shorter time frame, I wanted to ensure that my steak was cooked well enough. So, my first step was tossing the steak in with the can of diced tomatoes. I wanted the tomato juice to help cook the steak before adding any vegetables in.

Place the steak at the bottom of the crock pot and cover with the can of diced tomatoes.

After about an hour, I began to add the other ingredients.

For sharing recipes, I have to actually measure out the ingredients. However, my truthful style is to just completely cover the tomatoes with chili powder and then sprinkle the other seasonings to fit my mood.

After the seasonings, I added the can of crushed tomatoes. This gives it a nice thicker sauce.

Chopped onions are a must (for me) to get the right flavor profile.

After that, I add the extra veggies. I told you that I like my chili hearty. With my old website, one request I received was a question on how to get kids (or picky husbands) to eat more vegetables. The answer is that I hide them (or not so hidden) into more commonly accepted foods. Celery is definitely a common vegetable that I see other people toss into chili. Bell Pepper is also; however, we aren't a huge bell pepper family. Truthfully, depending on your family's tastes (or how small you chop the food) almost any vegetable can go into chili. Zucchini can be a nice addition. Usually, it's a matter of what do I have in my fridge that needs to be used up.