Your first question is probably, “Who is Pop Pop Truck?” Well, it’s my dad! Usually it’s the first grandchild that gets to pick what they’ll call their grandparents, but somehow my son (the second grandchild who LOVES cars, trucks, and trains) got the honor when he started calling my dad Pop Pop Truck because of the pickup truck he drives. That was about 5 years ago now, and ever since, that’s who he is to all the grandkids…Pop Pop Truck! 😀
And Pop Pop Truck knows how to cook! He’s definitely not a recipe follower. He just throws some stuff together that he likes and makes it taste good. One of the things that he came up with was this super yummy slow cooker chili recipe which started with my mom’s delicious meat sauce recipe.
What’s perfect is that it’s a 2-for-1…you’ll be able to make both some meat sauce and chili from this recipe! These McCormick Chili Seasoning packets are what help us make the easy switch from sauce to chili 😉
I’m not sure exactly how many servings you’ll get from this recipe, but it fills my 4-quart slow cooker right to the top. Unless I’m making it for a large crowd (it would be perfect for the Super Bowl!) I freeze batches in ziploc bags or plastic containers and have it to thaw whenever we need a quick meal.
Pop Pop Truck's Slow Cooker Chili Recipe
This super easy and yummy recipe starts out as a meat sauce and ends as chili!
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 lbs ground beef
- 2 medium onions (diced)
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 29 oz can tomato sauce
- 29 oz can stewed tomatoes (plain, not Italian style)
- 29 oz can diced tomatoes
- 12 oz tomato paste
- 29 oz water
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- salt & pepper to taste
Turn your sauce into chili
- 3 packets McCormick Chili Seasoning (choose your heat – original, mild, or hot)
- 1 tall can light red kidney beans (you can add more beans if you would like)
Topping Ideas
- shredded cheese
- sour cream
- onions
- jalepenos
- Fritos corn chips
- 1. Add olive oil to a large skillet. Saute onions until tender.
- 2. Add garlic when onions are just about done to prevent the garlic from burning. Stir to mix through and then add ground beef.
- 3. Cook meat until browned and drain off any grease.
- 4. Add browned meat mixture, sauce, stewed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, paste, and 29 oz water (using one of the cans) to your slow cooker. Stir to combine all ingredients.
- 5. Cook on high until hot and bubbling. Then add Parmesan cheese, oregano, and salt & pepper to taste (if desired).
- 6. Turn slow cooker down to low setting and cook for at least 4 hours.
- 7. At this point you have your yummy meat sauce. Take out any that you would like to keep as sauce before going on to the next steps.
- 8. To turn your sauce into chili add McCormick Chili Seasoning packets* ** and light red kidney beans.
- 9. Stir to combine and allow to cook on low for another 2 hours to be sure chili seasoning is cooked through.
- 10. Top if desired and enjoy!!
**You can choose how spicy you would like your chili using the different McCormick seasoning varieties available. For example, if your make the entire mixture chili, for mild chili you would use 3 mild packets. For medium, try 1 hot packet and 2 mild packets.
Adapted from Grammy's Meat Sauce
Love how unique this recipe is…meat sauce and chili all in one!