Slow Cooker Chili - Serve it up right

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Jan 29th 2008 @ 7:06PM

After your chili has cooked for a good 1½ to 2 hours, it's ready to eat, but if you've waited that long, what's another day?!?! Letting chili cool down overnight, or at least for several hours and then re-heating it just before serving somehow makes the chili taste about five thousand times better, if that's possible. For a party, that's incredibly convenient, since you can make the chili at least one day in advance.

For the Super Bowl, serve the chili straight from the slow cooker. The slow cooker may not be the most stylish thing to leave out on the buffet table, but it will ensure that the chili stays warm as it sits out all afternoon (or evening) long. Throw a ladle into the chili and let your guests help themselves. If you have large handled mugs (that you might use for cappuccino or soup), use those for serving. Having a handle will decrease the chance that mingling guests will spill the chili on your immaculate floor.

Chili alone is good, but with "toppings," it's even better. Shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped red onions and scallions, and diced avocado or guacamole are good things to set out as a "bar" to put on top of chili.

You may also want to serve chili with some sort of bread. The natural choice here is cornbread, but any thick, chewy bread is good, as are tortilla chips.

Filed Under: Ingredients
Tags: beef, cheese, chili, condiments, entertaining, serving, slow cooking, super bowl

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-30-2008 @10:05AM Pyrofish said... There is another option to your chili cooking arsenal, the pressure cooker. I've been making "Good Eats" based chili for about two months now and it's always devoured. With proclamations of, "The best chili I've ever had", "I don't even like chili, but this is fantastic!", and "You're making more of this right?", I've become confident in my chili making skills, thanks to my favorite Food network personality, AB.

Beef, pork, and lamb, with a bottle of beer, tortilla chips for thickening, and chipotles in adobo sauce for a big hit of flavor and how can you go wrong? The veggies couldn't be simpler, as they all come from one 16oz jar of Hot Salsa, and a Tbsp of tomato paste. The salsa always confuses people, but it sure does make things easy ;-)

-Jason

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