A healthy Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili recipe, filled to the brim with warming spices. This slow cooker chili goes together quickly and fills the house with the best smells! Top with chips, cheese, or peppers, for a real taco-like experience.
Mastering the crockpot takes a bit of practice. One thing I learned from the crockpot queen over at SkinnyTaste is to not use onions. After I learned this rule, my crockpot creations became much, much better. Although I normally use onions in all soups and chilis, you won’t miss them at all in this thick, spicy, crockpot chicken taco chili.
The whole allure of crockpot cooking is to have a hot meal ready when you come home from work. I don’t know about you- but browning meat to prepare the night’s dinner isn’t on the top of my to-do list at 6’oclock in the morning. I get up early enough to accomplish such tasks, but I’d rather get caught up on my favorite blogs and have a cup of coffee before rushing in to the day. Sometimes I’ll make crockpot meals and skip the browning stage– and a hot meal, ready when you get home from work, somehow will make you forget it lacks a certain depth of flavor.
For this recipe, I did brown the meat. I made it on the weekend, but if I make it for a weekday meal, I’ll simply brown the meat and add in the tomatoes and spices, and then leave it in the fridge until it’s time to start cooking.
I just signed up for The SITs Girls blog mentoring program. They have set up a forum, and are helping experienced bloggers connect with less experienced bloggers.
Since I started Vitamin Sunshine, I have been anxious to turn it in to everything I know it can be. I have been very impatient, watching it grow slowly, and watching my work on it get better, bit by bit, as I learn how to do the thousand things you need to be good at to actually run a blog.
It takes time. It takes constant attention. It takes building networks, and learning from other bloggers, to get the word out there.
And although I think I am capable of doing all I want to do with this site, time is always the limiting factor.
So- to the other bloggers out there, what are the most important lessons you’ve learned along the way? What advice can you offer to newer bloggers who want to improve and develop more professional looking (and operating) blogs?
I’d really like to add more lifestyle posts, but posting beautiful photos of the food that I make comes so much more naturally. When I am tired from work, I don’t have a problem writing all about the wonderful dinner I made last week. #Secondnature
I do lose a bit of creativity when I get tired, and find it harder to <–stretch–> out of my comfort zone.
The cornbread in the photos turned out amazing. My first attempt at gluten free corn bread. The flavor and moistness was spot on. However, I only had masa harina on hand (finely ground corn flour, used for tortillas), so it was missing that famous cornbread grittiness. Once I try it again with a coarser corn meal, I’ll be sure to post the recipe. <– and hopefully in time to share my grandma’s INCREDIBLE corn bread stuffing recipe for Thanksgiving!
Contents
Chicken Taco Chili
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken or sub turkey
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes
- 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons vegetable bouillon
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder *start with less - chili powders vary in intensity
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar
- 3 bell peppers diced
- 1 ear corn removed from cob
- 1 14-ounce can black beans rinsed and drained
- 1 14-ounce can kidney beans rinsed and drained
- cilantro to garnish, optional
- cheddar cheese to garnish, optional
- tortilla chips to garnish, optional
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a frying pan, and brown chicken over medium high heat. Season with ½ teaspoon sea salt. If cooking in crock pot right away, it's not necessary to cook the chicken all the way.
- In a crockpot, add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, and all the spices, vegetable bouillon, and brown sugar. Add the browned chicken, and mix ingredients together.
- Add chopped bell peppers, corn, and beans, then slow cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 2 hours.
- Garnish with cilantro, chips, cheese, or hot sauce.
Nutrition
Other Chili Recipes to Warm up to:
- Whole30 Chili, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Butternut Turkey Chili, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Vegan Roasted Eggplant Chili, by Sunkissed Kitchen
How gorgeous is this dish Michelle?!! It totally brightens up a dark chilly night!Perfect looking and will be trying it soon!
Hmm, I had to Google and found Gina’s post where she talks about onions and crock pot http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/01/crock-pot-picante-chicken-and-black.html . I just made a killer slow cooker chicken and spaghetti dish this week and it had a whole onion in it. I have made hundreds of crock pot dishes over years and I bet at least 1/4 had onions in them. More than that, I just can’t remember I ever threw out any food in garbage. I wonder what you girls don’t like about onions in a crock pot that much…might be just a personal taste preference because I honestly find onions in a crock pot delish. I don’t saute them though, just raw. In Ukraine, we made many soups with raw onions, no sauteing.
As for the blogging part, I think the secret to success = simple recipes+unique recipes+popular recipes+killer photos. Easy, huh?!LOL
Ha, my husband hates onions in a crock pot dish. Must be personal preference. Says they’re mushy. Dish looks amazing.
Well, I don’t pretend to know much about blogging since I’ve only been at it just over 6 months….but one thing I’ve learned is that if you can make some $$ at blogging, you can make more. No one, (believe me, no one) is more shocked that I am that I’m actually making some $$ at blogging now. But of course I’m thrilled! Nothing crazy, but enough to keep me motivated. And people have come to me. I just read on a blog that is so not the way to go, you need to go out and find leads if you want to make money. So if I exert myself more, I can only imagine the potential out there. Plus, there’s not a lot of blogs like mine out there I guess. You know, who wants to read poetry about someone’s garden, um, no one, boring!
I’ve also learned that traffic is obviously super important, but a loyal core audience is just as awesome and more likely to bring the right kind of traffic to your site, bringing on the right kind of advertisers. I’m certainly not where I’d like to be at with traffic, but it’s coming along. Totally going to look up the SITS girls website for help. When I first started out and was totally naive I used to bug Bjork over at Pinch of Yum for help and he would always get back to me in under 24 hours, he was so helpful getting me off to a good start. It’s weird, because the smaller bloggers were never as helpful or willing to give back, but the big bloggers (I’ve contacted other for help too) were so willing to give up their time to help me with SEO and stuff.
beautiful friend! love the ingredients and of course crock pot!
Hey Michelle!
These look so yum!!!!! How lovely they must have tasted after a day’s work. Steaming, warm, filling. Couldn’t resist pinning this on some Pinterest community boards I am, looks too lovely not to share! 🙂
I can totally relate with the daily grind of blogging, as I’m sure everyone here can. I would call it “a whole lot of a whole little to learn!” From picking the right plugins, to learning how different social medias work, to coding (ARGH, coding), everything! But, when something gets done, it feels great! And by something I mean: “oh that alignment of the text is FINALLY right!” and mundane stuff like that, hee hee! But it’s definitely fun! Wishing you the best on your blogging journey. It’s DEFINITELY paid off thus far cause, hey, my wife and I are from Australia and we’re here gawking at your recipes, thanks to the effort you put in. 🙂
The Internet is amazing and baffling all in one!
This crockpot dish looks delicious Michelle! I know what you mean! I am in the same boat as you and the challenge of blogging and growing your blog is both fun and exciting! I don’t have too many tips because I’m still learning myself but accumulating traffic though submitting your photos to food photography sites is a great way to get more traffic! Best of luck!!
Looking delicious and super gorgeous pictures! Love the shot of the veg in the crock-pot. Feels like you have a rainbow in there!
Thank you Maya! Yes, my mom always said to eat a rainbow, and that’s stuck in my head every time I put a meal together. Plus, it just makes everything beautiful on your plate!
Your chili looks delicious! But why not use onions in crockpot meals? I always add onions, whether they are raw or sautéed. I love the flavor they bring to a dish!
I’ve found that onions get mushy and sometimes add a strong flavor to crockpot meals. Although I’ve heard from several other blogger that they love them! I guess its just preference. I think I need to try adding them raw, and adding them halfway through cooking, and see if I like them better at that stage.
This combines two of my kids favorite meals! Pinning it!
Mine too- and taco anything is a favorite for kids!
Looks amazing! I love chili and this sounds like a FUN version! Thanks for linking up to Snickerdoodle Sunday!
What a gorgeous chili!! I am definitely trying this! It looks delicious! Pinning and I’ll share on my Facebook page as well! Thanks for sharing it with us at Foodie Fridays! Hope to see you this Thursday night as well!
Thanks Michelle! I’ll be back for Foodie Fridays for sure!
Hi Michelle,
Such a fabulous dish and your photography is simply stunning! I found your blog at Foodie Fridays. I’ll be following and sharing 🙂
Robyn, so good to hear from you! Thanks for the nice compliment. I’ve worked hard on my photography this year and am happy with how it’s progressing! I’ll be sure to check our your blog, too!
I am very excited to try this recipe as one of my daughter’s is gluten free and loves cornbread. (I will surprise her!! :))
As far as blogging, it is so time consuming, but so fun when you get to connect with others. I am not a food blogger, but it does seem to offer many vehicles to get your photos out there and then connect back to your blog. I think your blog is lovely though and I just found you recently. Good luck. I think you will do very well!
This is so good. Love this recipe