Three bean bison chili.

We eat a lot of chicken in our house. A LOT of chicken. Red meat has never really agreed with my gut, and my gut has never really appreciated that a cheeseburger is my favorite meal. For some reason I’ve found bison to be easier on my stomach, which is great because Kyle grew up basically only eating red meat.

For this recipe, pull out ground meat from your freezer (or make it vegetarian!), beans from the back of the pantry, and your crock-pot from under the cabinet.

Serves 4

1 lb ground bison, ground beef, or ground turkey
1 bell pepper (I use either red or green), diced
1/2 white onion, diced
1 T olive oil
1-2 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (I leave the seeds to add spice)
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can great northern white beans
1 14.5 ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 cup water or broth
2 T chili powder
1/2 t ground coriander
1 1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t salt
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t crushed red pepper
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Toppings (the options are endless): scallions, red or white onions, avocado, sour cream, lime wedge, jalapenos, shredded cheese, fresh cilantro or parsley, tortilla chips, hot sauce


Heat olive oil in a pan and add garlic when hot. Saute garlic until lightly brown. Add onions (can save some for topping) and 1/2 t ground cumin (the remainder will go directly into the chili), cook until onions are translucent. Transfer onions and garlic to crock-pot. Saute bell pepper in pan with oil until soft and add to crock-pot.

Brown ground meat in a pan. Strain fat, and add to crock-pot.

Strain and rinse beans, add to crock-pot. Add majority of jalapeno (save some for topping), can of diced tomatoes, chili powder, the remainder of ground cumin, coriander, salt, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, fresh black pepper, and water to pot. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve with your favorite toppings!


Barry’s Hot Sauce

Our best friends sent us this fire flames, vegan hot sauce last week. It’s local to Boston and you won’t regret ordering a bottle (or all three)! I’m an original/jalapeno gal. Kyle wanted to bathe in the ghost pepper bottle. We added it to our chili on Monday night and will definitely be adding it to Kyle’s specialty Bloody Mary’s this weekend (which will be a blog feature soon).

Thanks Bogo and Ally!