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Recipe · Gluten Free · American
Buffalo Chili Recipe
This buffalo chili recipe is easy, healthy and delicious. Make it in the crockpot or on the stove. This recipe caters to you. Try it today!
Prep 30 minCook 60 minMakes 6
From the Dr. Axe archive ·
Jump to recipe ↓Why it works: This buffalo chili recipe is easy, healthy and delicious. Make it in the crockpot or on the stove. This recipe caters to you. Try it today!
Ingredients
BatchesOriginal yield: 6
Print recipe →- coconut oil1 tablespoon
- chopped onions½ cup
- medium garlic cloves, minced2
- chopped celery1½ cups
- chopped green pepper1 cup
- grass-fed ground bison or grass-fed ground beef1½ pounds
- thyme2 teaspoons
- chili powder2 teaspoons
- cumin2 teaspoons
- sea salt1 teaspoon
- diced tomatoes (no sugar added)8 ounces
- jar salsa (homemade or all-natural)12 ounce
Method
- In a large stock pot on medium-high, combine coconut oil, onions, garlic, celery and pepper. Sauté until onion is translucent, about 3–4 minutes.
- Add ground meat, thyme, chili powder and cumin, and cook, stirring frequently, 5–6 minutes.
- Pour salt, tomatoes and salsa into pot.
- Cover, reduce heat and simmer for at least 1 hour. (Optional: Add mixture to a slow cooker, and cook on low for at least 3 hours.)
Swaps & notes
This buffalo chili recipe doesn't include beans, but feel free to add beans of your choosing (black, adzuki, kidney, etc.). You can also make this recipe vegan by replacing the meat with beans. Either ground beef or bison meat works for this recipe, or you could use ground turkey or even chicken to make a buffalo chicken chili. Adjust the spices to your liking, such as adding red paper flakes or cayenne pepper to make it more spicy.
Few things hit the spot during the big game or on a cold, frigid day better than a big pot of chili, and while there are sodium-laden canned varieties with questionable ingredients you can buy at your local grocer, nothing beats a homemade chili that uses natural foods. Better yet, a homemade buffalo chili recipe can amp up the flavor and nutrition when done just right.
This buffalo chili recipe is easy, healthy and delicious, and it's chockfull of nutrients to boost your health.
Plus, you can make it in the crockpot or on the stovetop. This recipe caters to you!
Key ingredients
This buffalo chili recipe uses a variety of vegetables and spices to really bring out a flavorful, hearty dish. Here are some of the main ingredients:
- Bell peppers: Just about every chili recipe out there calls for peppers, and this buffalo chili recipe is no different. Whether you choose red, green, orange or yellow bell peppers is up to you. They're all high in vitamins A, C and B6 and support immune health.
- Bison meat or ground beef: Your standard chili recipe calls for ground beef as the animal protein source of choice. You can certainly use it here, but make sure it's grass-fed beef, which is more nutritious and better for the cow and the environment. If you want to switch it up and make this buffalo chili recipe stand out, however, you may want to go with bison meat, which offers many of the same nutritional benefits as grass-fed beef but is a leaner red meat.
- Chili powder: Chili powder is made specifically for chili recipes, so naturally it's the base of the spices in this one. In addition, it also mixes in cumin (another chili regular), garlic, sea salt and thyme to both kick up the flavor and health benefits.
- Tomatoes: Many homemade chilis use beans, and you certainly can add them here. However, tomatoes do the heavy lifting in this buffalo chili recipe, replacing the beans you're likely familiar with. The tomatoes provide lots of vitamins C, K and A, along with potassium, folate and manganese.
This buffalo chili recipe also includes celery, coconut oil, onions and salsa to round it out. (You can make your own salsa if you'd like. Try this Chunky Tomato Salsa recipe.)
How to make buffalo chili
You can make this homemade buffalo chili on the stovetop or in a crockpot. These directions are for the stovetop, which takes about 90 minutes in total. If you choose the crockpot option, you can cook it on low for three to eight hours, following similar steps as the stovetop directions.
To start, combine the coconut oil, onions, garlic, celery and pepper in a large stock pot. Sauté on medium-high heat until the onions are translucent (usually about three to four minutes).
Next, add the meat, thyme, chili powder and cumin, and cook it about five to six minutes, stirring frequently.
Pour the salt, tomatoes and salsa into the pot. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for at least one hour.
You can also add the mixture to a slow cooker from here and cook it on low for at least three hours if you prefer to set it and forget it.
Once your chili is cooked to your liking, it's ready to eat!
More homemade chili recipes
This buffalo chili recipe is a great one to start with, but it's far from the only delicious, nutritious chile recipe out there. Here are some more homemade chili recipes to give a try:
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