Crockpot Texas Chili

What happens when you buy 2 pot roasts to make for your large family and you realize your crockpot is too small? I bought 2 and each one is about 3.5lbs but my oval shaped crockpot wouldn’t fit my 2 pot roasts (UGH!!!). Yes, I know, first world
problems but I have an idea. While I was meal prepping, I was watching Big Bang Theory re-runs. Sheldon talked about Texas Chili and how it has no beans or tomato sauce. My little foodie radar went up and I was like “Hey! I can do that!”. This works out well because one of my 4 kids is a real stinker about beans. I love him but when he starts picking out beans and flicking it at his twin brother…I question motherhood. However, I am drifting…back to the point of how to shove my 2 roasts into the crockpot. I had to trim a good amount of fat off to keep my chili from being cooked in pure fat. Then I cut them into very generous chucks, approximately 1″x 1″x 2″. Once the meat was all trimmed and cut, it all fit into my crockpot nicely. My joy could be summed up by Sheldon Cooper as “Bazinga!”. 🙂

Crockpot Texas Chili Recipe

Ingredients: Texas Chili side.JPG

6lbs of stew meat (or as I did, a trimmed and cut up roast)
1/3 cup of Taco Chili Spices
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups of sherry
4 cups of beef broth or water
1 cup of carrots
1 TBS minced garlic
2 medium onions
3 TBS of arrow root starch

Directions:

Split your meat into 3 piles, because even with my largest skillet, I found browning it in 3 batches was much better than doing it all at one time. (The reason is that you wind up getting so much liquid in your pan, it becomes more like boiling the meat than searing).
Heat up a large skillet over high heat (no oil needed) and spread out the meat on your hot skillet.
Get a nice sear on the meat and when all of the meat is brown, set it aside.
Do the same for the next 2 batches, make sure you drain the grease before you place the meat in the crockpot.
Once the meat is added into the crockpot add all the ingredients EXCEPT the arrow root starch.
Set the crock pot on high for 6-8hrs.
When your meat is tender and soft, take out 2 cups of the sauce and place in a bowl.
Quickly whisk in the arrow root starch to the sauce you have in the bowl to make a slurry.
Once your slurry is done, slowly stir it back into the crockpot and let it simmer for another 15-20min.
After the simmering time, you may turn it off and serve the chili with your favorite topping.
Please adjust the salt or seasoning to your taste….this is key as if you use broth or water…you will need to adjust the salt.
Yummy…so good!