Ingredients:
1 lb ground bison
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 cup diced poblano peppers
1/3 cup smoked sun-dried tomatoes, julienne cut
30 oz canned fire roasted diced tomatoes with chipotle
30 oz canned dark red kidney beans, drained
1 teaspoon habanero hot sauce
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground cayenne
1 teaspoon hot paprika
1 teaspoon ground jalapeño
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon allspice

Directions:

Slow Cooker directions:
In a dry skillet, saute the onions, carrot, celery, poblano peppers and bison meat. Break the meat into small bits and saute until the meat is fully cooked. Bison is very lean so there shouldn’t be grease but if there is, drain it off. Add to a slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Cook on low for up to 9 hours.

Stove top directions:
In a dry, wide pot, saute the onions, carrot, celery, poblano peppers and bison meat. Break the meat into small bits and saute until the meat is fully cooked. Drain off any grease. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir. Cook on low, stirring occasionally, until some of the liquid has evaporated and the chili is cooked through and hot.

My thoughts:

I was excited to finally get a bunch of poblano peppers from my garden that I had to put them in this chili. Last year we had peppers growing all summer but for some reason, this year they waited until September. I had a couple of cans of fire roasted tomatoes with chipotle I’ve been waiting to use until it got cool enough to make chili. If you can’t find these particular tomatoes, substitute 30 oz fire roasted or plain diced tomatoes and 2 minced chipotle peppers. Ground bison (we get ours from Gunpowder Bison) is an excellent meat to use in chili, it is flavorful but very lean. I like making it in the slow cooker best, the prep is pretty quick (you can even chop the vegetables the night before) and I think the flavor is more developed but the stove top method is a great alternative.

This is a spicy, smoky chili thanks to the chipotle and the lovely smoked sun dried tomatoes. If you can’t find smoked sun dried tomatoes, substitute regular sun dried tomatoes and a bit of liquid smoke. The tomatoes rehydrate in the chili and add a lot of texture interest so I wouldn’t leave them out entirely.