Slow Cooker Beef Chili
with Rich, Deeply Spiced Flavor

How to make it

1. Brown the beef in a skillet over high heat, breaking it up, 5 to 6 minutes, until it is deeply browned in spots. Drain the fat and move the beef to the slow cooker.

2. In the same skillet, soften the onion 3 minutes, add the garlic and all the spices, and stir 30 seconds until fragrant. Scrape it into the cooker.

3. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans, broth, and brown sugar. Stir once.

4. Cover and cook on LOW 6 hours (or HIGH 3).

5. Thirty minutes before serving, stir in the chocolate and taste for salt.

6. Ladle into bowls and top with cheddar, sour cream, and jalapeños, with cornbread alongside for the last of the sauce.

✅ How to know it's done

The chili is ready when it is thick enough to briefly hold a spoon upright, the color is deep brick-red, and the surface bubbles lazily at the edges. Looking watery? Lid off for the last 30 minutes on HIGH. Ground beef is safe at 160°F (71°C) on an instant-read thermometer; six hours in the slow cooker takes it well past that, but check if you shortened the time.

💡 Practical tips (and what not to do)

• Brown the beef properly first. That crust is most of the flavor — a slow cooker can keep flavor, but it cannot create it.
• Toast the spices in the beef pan for 30 seconds before everything goes in — it wakes them up.
• Beans go in at the start as written, so they soften and thicken the pot; add them in the last hour instead if you prefer them firm and whole.
• Resist lifting the lid. Every peek costs about 20 minutes of cooking heat.
• Finish with something bright. A squeeze of lime or a splash of vinegar right before serving lifts the whole pot.