Homemade Chili made as a cozy, dependable bowl with balanced seasoning and practical prep.
A Big Pot of Slow-Simmered Comfort
Cam Torres’s homemade chili for Ember Pot is the kind of bowl that arrives warm, robust, and utterly dependable—made mostly hands-off in the slow cooker.
This chili opens with the smell of browned beef and sweet onions, then settles into a warm, tomato-forward hug. Crushed tomatoes and a touch of tomato paste give the base a rich, slightly glossy texture while kidney and black beans add creamy bite. The finished pot is thick enough to coat a spoon, with pockets of tender bean, soft bell pepper, and little hits of caramelized meat—familiar, homey, and deeply satisfying.
The recipe is built on simple science: brown the ground beef in olive oil so those browned bits (the fond) develop savory complexity, then soften onion and green pepper until fragrant. Stirring in garlic and tomato paste for a minute blooms their flavors, and deglazing with beef broth and Worcestershire sauce lifts everything off the pan and into the slow cooker. A spoonful of brown sugar at the end tames tomato acidity and ties the flavors together without sweetness taking over.
This is true hands-off comfort: about 20 minutes of prep and then 7 hours in a slow cooker lets the chili slowly marry. It serves six and gets better the next day, so it’s perfect for make-ahead weeknight dinners, potlucks, or frozen portions for busy nights. Reheat gently on the stove or in a slow cooker set low so the texture stays creamy and the beans don’t split.
Finish each bowl with something to contrast the warmth—a dollop of sour cream, a scatter of shredded cheese, chopped green onion or cilantro, and a chunk of buttered cornbread or crisp tortilla chips. The result is an Ember Pot–style slow-simmered meal: low-effort, big-flavored, and exactly the kind of chili you’ll want on repeat.
Ingredients
How to Make Homemade Chili
- Prep the vegetables: peel and finely chop the onion, core and dice the bell pepper, and mince the garlic.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground beef; break it up and cook until just browned (about 6–8 minutes). Drain excess fat if desired.
- Add the chopped onion and bell pepper to the skillet with the beef and cook until softened, about 5 minutes, then stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook 1 minute more to bloom the flavors.
- Stir in the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce to deglaze the pan, scraping up browned bits, then transfer the beef-vegetable mixture to the slow cooker.
- Add crushed tomatoes, drained kidney beans, drained black beans, brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, cayenne, salt, pepper, and the bay leaf to the slow cooker and stir until evenly combined.
- Cover and cook on Low for 6–8 hours (or High for 3–4 hours) until flavors are melded and beans are tender; stir once or twice during cooking if convenient.
- Taste and adjust seasoning at the end of cooking, removing the bay leaf; for a thicker chili simmer uncovered on High in the slow cooker for 20–30 minutes or stir in a 1 tbsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp cold water slurry and cook 10–15 minutes more.
- Ladle into bowls and serve hot; optional toppings include shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped green onion, or cilantro.
Recipe Card
Homemade Chili
Homemade Chili made as a cozy, dependable bowl with balanced seasoning and practical prep.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 7 hr
- Servings
- 6
Ingredients
Instructions
- Prep the vegetables: peel and finely chop the onion, core and dice the bell pepper, and mince the garlic.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground beef; break it up and cook until just browned (about 6–8 minutes). Drain excess fat if desired.
- Add the chopped onion and bell pepper to the skillet with the beef and cook until softened, about 5 minutes, then stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook 1 minute more to bloom the flavors.
- Stir in the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce to deglaze the pan, scraping up browned bits, then transfer the beef-vegetable mixture to the slow cooker.
- Add crushed tomatoes, drained kidney beans, drained black beans, brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, cayenne, salt, pepper, and the bay leaf to the slow cooker and stir until evenly combined.
- Cover and cook on Low for 6–8 hours (or High for 3–4 hours) until flavors are melded and beans are tender; stir once or twice during cooking if convenient.
- Taste and adjust seasoning at the end of cooking, removing the bay leaf; for a thicker chili simmer uncovered on High in the slow cooker for 20–30 minutes or stir in a 1 tbsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp cold water slurry and cook 10–15 minutes more.
- Ladle into bowls and serve hot; optional toppings include shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped green onion, or cilantro.
Nutrition
- Carbohydrates
- 29
- Saturated Fat
- 3
- Sodium
- 1000
- Fiber
- 9
- Unsaturated Fat
- 9
- Protein
- 42
- Fat
- 12
- Cholesterol
- 80
- Trans Fat
- 0
- Calories
- 390
- Sugar
- 5