Meat Lover's Crock Pot Chili is so flavorful with three different kinds of meat slow cooked together and is sure to please that meat lover in your family!
Cook your bacon over medium heat until slightly crisp. Drain grease, reserving 1 Tablespoon and saving the rest for other recipes.
In the same skillet saute your onion and garlic in the 1 T of bacon grease until the onions are translucent .
Meanwhile in a separate skillet, brown sausage and ground beef together until fully cooked and drain.
Combine all ingredients except garnish into slow cooker. (Note: You may want to reserve 1/2 cup of your bacon for garnish).
Run a wooden spoon through the whole tomatoes to break them apart a bit before cooking.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring occasionally.
Garnish with extra bacon, sour cream, cheese, cooked macaroni noodles and/or chopped green onion
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Notes
For this recipe, I highly recommend our all-in-one slow cooker that has a browning setting to allow you to cook up your bacon IN the slow cooker while you are browning up your other meats on the stove. However, any 6 qt slow cooker will work. If your slow cooker is 5 qt or smaller you will need to reduce this recipe as it fills up the 6 qt.Cook your meats at the same time to save time: I fried up my bacon in my slow cooker (it has a browning setting) and meanwhile browned my ground beef and sausage together on the stove.
SAVE that bacon grease. Seriously. It is nature's nectar. You will thank me when you see what I do with it tomorrow ;). Just drain it out of the crock and carefully pour it into a glass jar. Trust me.
One note about the tomatoes: I LOVE whole tomatoes in chili. I have since childhood. The secret to using them in chili is when you dump them in, take a big ole wooden spoon and break each tomato apart so that it can break down a bit more during cooking. It still will leave nice big chunks of tomato to complement all that meat, but they will blend more nicely with the dish if you break them open.
To macaroni or not macaroni-- it is an age old chili question. Where I grew up it wasn't chili without macaroni, however, many people protest using it. My compromise? Cooked macaroni now goes on the garnishing table. I cook it up, drain it and rinse it well with water so it doesn't stick together. Then the macaroni lovers can scoop it up into their bowl and the non-macaroni people can rest knowing that pasta has not messed with the purity of their porridge ;). (But ya know what this southern Indiana gal does with the leftovers? You guessed it... that pasta gets thrown in with the rest of the chili. Shhh!)
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As with any of our recipes, carb counts, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly. As a result, your nutritional content depends on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish. The auto-calculation is just an automated estimate and should NOT be used for specific dietary needs.
Finally, all slow cookers cook differently, so cooking times are always a basic guideline. Recipes should always be tested first in your own slow cooker and time adjusted as needed.