Easy Does It Chili

What you need:



A couple of regular cans of beans - red, black, pinto, whatever you like. I use black beans.

A couple of cans of tomato sauce - or whole canned tomatoes, or 1 can tomatoes for the saucy stuff and a couple of fresh tomatoes...mix it up.

An onion

A can of corn

Diced fresh peppers - hot peppers, sweet peppers...depends on your tastes and your mood. They add a nice crunch though.

About a pound of meat - beef, turkey, chicken... pick one

2 packets chili seasoning

2 cloves minced garlic (or a bunch of shakes from the garlic powder jar)

Hot sauce

Cheese and sour cream

What you do:

Get out the crock pot. Dump your tomato sauce in there. If you use whole canned tomatoes don't drain them, and use a knife to cut them up roughly in the pot so you don't lose all the good juice.


Drain your beans and throw 'em in.

Cut up your peppers and onion and toss those in there. They're gonna be crunchy in the final outcome - if you don't want them crunchy you can saute them first, but this is supposed to be an easy recipe. In that case just don't bother with them at all, that's what I say.

Oh! Don't forget your corn.


Set the pot to warm. Now get out a pan or a George Foreman or whatever you use and cook your meat through. Toss it in the pot when it's done. This chili is great if you've got leftovers, like burgers or roast chicken or something like that. Just strip the chicken right off the carcass and toss it in the pot. Cut up bigger hunks with kitchen shears as you go.


Add your chili seasoning and garlic and whatever other weirdo spices you're gonna throw in there. Stir it all up good. Now you can go ahead and add your hot sauce. If you ran out of hot sauce last week, go ahead and use a handful of the Taco Bell packets hanging out in the door of your refrigerator. Nobody will notice.

Keep that pot on low for maybe an hour, hour and a half. You can set it on high if you're really hungry, but it'll be thick and kind of dry. Stir it every time you walk past for a beer.


Top with a bunch of cheese (sharp cheddar is awesome) and some sour cream. Feeds 6, or 3 Fat Kids.