Hearty 6-Bean Slow Cooker Chili with Sweet Peppers

Feeding a huge crowd for the Big Game? This chili will feed a very hungry army so it’s a perfect quarterback for a Souper Bowl Party on any game day. It’s loaded with lots of lean protein and has a mild heat from the sweet red, orange and yellow peppers.

This chili has 6 beans. Yes, count them, 6 beans:

1. garbanzo (aka chick peas),
2. dark red kidney,
3. light red kidney,
4. white kidney,
5. black, and
6. butter

I used to make chili with four beans: butter, garbanzo, dark red and light red kidney. And that was fine for many years. But when I made this new version, I doubled the amount of ground turkey to 2 1/2 pounds. So I thought I should up the bean count as well. As I scoured the shelves at the supermarket, I found (for the first time) white kidney beans. My mind thinks in polar opposites quite a bit so I grabbed a can of white kidney beans and a can of black beans and was ready to get cooking.

 

It’s important to rinse the beans before putting them in the slow cooker. Depending on the type of bean, there will be a lot of starch in the bean juice and there will be little flavor (or nutritional value) in that. Simply empty the cans in a colander and rinse with cold water before putting in the slow cooker.

 

Then dice some small sweet peppers. To get about 1 cup of sweet peppers, I cut up 7 small red, orange and yellow sweet peppers. It adds a mild heat to the chili and a nice pop of color, as well.

Add the rest of the ingredients, and give it a good stir before putting on the lid to the slow cooker. Cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours, stirring every hour or so. Serve warm. Top with your favorite garnish, like popcorn or shredded cheese. Got any leftovers? It freezes well for up to 6 months.

So easy. So satisfying. So deliciously good.