Current recipe
1 bag (12 oz) dried black beans - soak overnight in water, rinse, and drain
2 poblanos, diced
2 serranos, diced
2 chipotles
2 tbsp ground cumin
3 medium onions, diced
1 whole chicken, deboned but with skin
28 oz can diced tomatoes
Place the beans on the bottom of a crock pot.  Do not add water.  Cover with diced onions, chiles, chipotles, and cumin.  Put chicken on top.  Cook for 8 hours on low.  Remove skin and break chicken into pieces.  Add tomatoes.  Stir well.  Cook another 4 hours.

The reason you put the chicken on top to cook it is otherwise the black beans will stain the chicken.  With the chicken on top, the juices from the chicken will drain off into the beans, but the chicken remains unstained, making a nice contrast in the final dish.  The reason you don't add the tomatoes at first is that the tomatoes will increase the acidity and make it harder for the beans to soften.


Older recipe
Chili 7/10

1.25 pounds of tomatoes, fresh and chopped (about 5 romas will do it)
1 large onion, chopped
5-7 serrano chiles, chopped finely
1 jalapeno, chopped (wear gloves while chopping, good ones give chemical burns.  If you keep seeds it will be hot.)
1/4 green pepper
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp asst. chili powders
1 tsp cayenne
1.5 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp pepper
1.5 tbsp chicken fat
1.5 tsp molasses
1/2 chicken (boiled.  Use water for broth in another recipe.  Remove chicken from bones and shred.)
1 c chicken broth.
3/8 kg of dried beans (choose your poison.  Black beans and pintos both work nicely.  Lima beans are ok.  Don't use garbonzos.)  Boil 10 minutes.  Discard water.

Dice all veggies finely.  Mix everything together and cook either 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low in a crock pot.

About 7 cups.



Source: me.  Inspiration came from the Rival Crockpot's instruction manual but it is hardly recognizable anymore.

Notes:  Chilis are the most important thing in this recipe.  Get nice, fresh chilis.  If you can't get nice fresh chilis or enough hot chilis, don't bother.
You can just toss 1/2 chicken in the pot and pick out the skin and bones afterwards, although you may want to debone it first.
This is a very meaty chili.
Improvising works well with this recipe.
Freezes well.
Could replace the serranos and jalapenos with 3 jalapenos and 2 habenaros.



This is a nice basic chili recipe but I got a bit burned out on it.  See, it's really easy because you can dump everything in the crock pot and come home to a hot dinner.  That's largely why I marked it down.