Make Chili in the Crockpot While You're Out Having Holiday Fun

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This is the season for holiday fun, and everyone is twice as busy as other times of the year. People with kids to feed are probably extra busy, and yet you need something besides candy canes to feed the little tykes. Chili in the crockpot is a perfect family meal; not only is it easy to make and inexpensive, but it can cook all day while you're out having fun with the kids.

I'm not going to get into the whole debate about whether or not chili should have beans. Either type of chili can be made in the crockpot, but let's clarify something about making chili with beans. Crockpot chilis that contain beans need to start with beans that are already cooked, since beans won't soften when they're cooked with tomatoes. Canned beans are great for this, or if you have a pressure cooker, use that to cook beans the day before.

If you have a favorite chili recipe already, it's easy to adapt to crockpot cooking. In general, recipes made in the crockpot need about half as much liquid and slightly more spices and seasonings than recipes cooked on top of the stove. Use your own recipe, or try one of these great recipes I found, but make some chili in the crockpot this holiday season!

If you're cooking on a budget, the Slow Cooker Beef Chili from Prudence Pennywise comes in at only $8.00 for eight servings, and it certainly looks delicious. This post also has a recipe for corn muffins to serve with the chili. (Prudence's Slow Cooker Beef Chili pictured above.)

Katrina at Daily Unadventures in Cooking got a slow cooker book for Christmas last year, and one of the first things she made was Slow Cooker White Bean Chili, which was a hit.

Gluten-Free Goddess Karina uses andouille sausage in her Big Easy Chili, but she says other types of sausage or even vegan sausages can be used. (Karina's Big Easy Chili is pictured above.)

Compost Happens has Midwinter Chili for the Crockpot that uses canned black beans and chili beans and I really like the optional additional of spinach. You might not be able to sneak that one past the kids though if you're cooking for small people who are suspicious of green ingredients!

When she realizes she has a lot of food in the pantry and doesn't want to shop, Stephanie from A Year of Crockpotting makes Clean Out the Pantry Crockpot Chili. This is a recipe you can adapt to what you have on hand. (Stephanie's chili pictured above.)

At Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, Susan doesn't use the crockpot for her White Bean Chili, but she includes crockpot instructions if you'd like to use a crockpot to make it.

Kalyn Denny writes about food and at BlogHer.com and shares her passion for cooking at Kalyn's Kitchen where she makes things like Black Bean and Beef Chili with Cilantro, Lime, and Avocado Salsa.