A great fall recipe: Slow Cooker Quinoa Chicken Chili

Fall for me isn’t about the leaves, or cozy boots, and definitely not anything pumpkin (blech). It DOES mean time to dust off my slow cooker! Hooray!!

Dave and I have been really bad at meal planning this summer… and most of September. But we’re trying to get back into the swing of things, and so last week I made this recipe that I had pinned awhile ago. Enter Slow Cooker Quinoa Chicken Chili!

Yeah, that’s my awesome owl bowl. Be jealous.

This recipe couldn’t be easier. Ready?

Ingredients:
– 1 cup of quinoa, rinsed (I never rinse my quinoa… am I going to contract a disease? Mad Quinoa Disease?)
– One (1) 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
– One (1) 14 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
– Two (2) 16 oz cans of black beans, rinsed, drained
– One (1) 15 oz can of corn, drained
– 3 Cups chicken stock
– 2 large chicken breasts, frozen or thawed
– 1 tsp garlic powder
– 2 tsp cumin
– 1 tsp crushed red pepper
– 2 tsp chili powder

Directions:
1. Toss everything into slow cooker and cook for 6-8 hours on low or 4-7 hours on high. I cooked for 8 hours on low because I had frozen chicken breasts.
2. When done, remove chicken and shred it with two forks. Return to slow cooker.
3. Top with whatever you want – cheese, sour cream, avocados… whatever your heart desires. I only did shredded Mexican cheese, but would probably try sour cream too next time.

I love slow cooker recipes that involve little to no prep before tossing everything into the pot. I think the only prep I did was to make chicken stock, because we have a ton of chicken bouillon cubes, so I just boiled three cups of water with three bouillon cubes and voila – chicken stock!

You could also easily make this recipe vegetarian by omitting the chicken and using vegetable broth.

And it made a TON – we froze a large quart ziplock baggie, and still had some leftover for lunches throughout the week.

Enjoy!