Slow Cooker Tips
One of the biggest misconceptions about the slow cooker is that you can throw all of the ingredients into the pot, leave the house for the day and return to a perfectly home cooked meal. Not quite.
The slow cooker is a wondrous appliance, but it is not a magical miracle worker. The slow cooker saves tremendous time because it allows you to “fix it and forget it”, but you do have to prepare the food properly first.
Success in the slow cooker requires using the proper cooking techniques. One of the most important flavor-enhancing steps to take when incorporating vegetables and meat into your slow cooker recipe is to make sure you cook the vegetable and meat first on the stovetop before adding them to the slow cooker stoneware. This isn’t really all that time consuming either. In fact, the most time consuming thing is chopping the vegetables in the first place (but you would have to do that anyway!)
You should also make sure to add your herbs and spices to the vegetables and meat and cook them on the stovetop for just a few minutes before transferring to the slow cooker stoneware. This will help the maximize the flavors.
Oh! And make sure you don’t add too much liquid to your slow cooker recipe. This is because slow cooking generates a lot of liquid since the lid is covered and moisture can’t escape. So, just resist the urge to add a lot of liquid if the recipe seems a bit dry at first because otherwise you could end up with a soggy mess.
And of course, don’t overcook. Nothing tastes worse than overcooked food from a slow cooker.
What to Top Your Chili With?
Clean Cuisine “Sour Cream” (made with nuts!) is the perfect chili topper! Click HERE for the dairy-free sour cream recipe.
Kitchen Favorites
Southwest Slow Cooker Turkey Chili
- Yield: 6 to 8 1x
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 pound pastured ground turkey
- Unrefined himalayan pink salt, to taste
- 1 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1 1/2 cup diced carrots
- 2 green (or red /yellow) bell peppers, diced
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon corriander
- One box (24.6 ounces) BPA-free Pomi Chopped Tomatoes
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) organic kidney beans, rinsed and drained (look for BPA-free brand such as Eden)
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) organic pinto beans, rinsed and drained (look for BPA-free brand such as Eden)
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) organic cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (look for BPA-free brand such as Eden)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 cup water or 1 can (7 ounces) salsa verde (such as Herdez brand)
- 2 cups organic frozen corn
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet (preferably ceramic) over medium- heat; add the garlic and sauté 30 seconds. Add the onions and sauté 4 to 5 minutes, or until soft. Stir in the ground turkey, season with salt and cook 3-4 minutes, or until meat is no longer pink.
- Add the diced celery, carrots, and bell pepper. Season with additional salt. Sauté 4-5 minutes, or until vegetables are soft. Add the chili powder, cumin and coriander. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Transfer the turkey-vegetable mixture to a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker or VitaClay slow cooker. Mix in the tomatoes, beans, parsley, lime juice and salsa verde. Cover and cook on low heat for 3 hours. Add the corn for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Stir everything together before serving. Serve warm.
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P.S. If you like the Slow Cooker Turkey Chili Recipe be sure to check out the recipe for Slow Cooker Bolognese!
Hungry For More Clean Cuisine Dinner Recipes?
Check out our Clean Cuisine Dinners Cookbook!
Renee Wise
Tuesday 30th of December 2014
Just wondering what you served with the Chili. Thank you!
Ivy Larson
Tuesday 6th of January 2015
Hi Renee! Well, I always serve a HUGE salad. I'm also crazy for corn muffins with chili ;) here is my favorite recipe (made with hemp seeds): https://cleancuisine.com/best-whole-grain-corn-muffins/