Freezer to Crock Pot - Pork Green Chili

We love spicy food.  This recipe for pork green chili fits the bill.  It is not a heavy chili but is very flavorful and uses broth and other spices to create interesting and satisfying flavors.  

This works well in the crock pot  and can be cooked straight from the freezer.  It also works equally well when made stove top.  Serve it with tortillas or spoon it over rice.  Top with a dollop of sour cream, and you'll be in heaven. 

Pork Green Chili

2 Tablespoons olive oil or cooking oil

3 lbs. pork, cut into medallions (I used pork tenderloins)

Ground black pepper

1 large onion, chopped

2 minced garlic cloves

2 green (bell) peppers, chopped

2  (4 oz.) cans green chiles, chopped

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¾ teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons dried cilantro (If using fresh cilantro, increase to ½ cup).

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 cup chicken broth (or 1 cup water and 1 chicken bouillon cube)

Lightly brown meat in oil over medium heat.  Lightly pepper meat and place in the bottom of a 1 gallon zippered freezer bag.  Add remaining ingredients.  Squeeze air out, seal, and massage ingredients to distribute. 

When ready to cook, place in crock pot and cook on high for 6 hours or low for approximately 8 hours.  Serve with rice, tortillas, and sour cream. 

Stovetop version:  Lightly brown meat in oil over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, and peppers and saute until onions are translucent.  Add remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer 1-1/2 hours. Stir periodically and check liquid level.  Add water as needed.  

Michelle's Freezer to Crock Pot Chili

I dearly love a hot bowl of chili on a cold night.  While it's not been all that cold lately, it's been cool enough that I've just wanted something hot and spicy for a meal.

I've made this chili numerous ways.  I'm posting this recipe not because it's anything special but instead to talk about making freezer-to-crock pot items and to also talk about substitutions.

For crock pot meals, I make recipes based on a 5 quart crock pot. 

Michelle's Chili 

1 to 1.5 pounds ground beef, browned, drained, and rinsed*

1 to 2 14.5 oz. cans of kidney beans drained and rinsed**

1 to 2 packets of chili seasoning (enough to season 2 pounds ground beef)***

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce

1to 2 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes with green chiles (we like hot, but adjust to your taste)****

1 4 oz can diced green chiles (optional; this makes it very hot)

Brown the ground beef until there is no pink, drain, and rinse thoroughly to remove fat.  To freeze, place ground beef and remaining ingredients into a bowl and stir thoroughly to combine.  Spoon into a 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bag.  Squeeze all air out, seal, and place in freezer.

For crock pot chili, remove frozen chili from freezer.  Run hot water over exterior of bag in order to loosen enough to remove the block from the bag.  Place in crock pot and cover.  Cook on high 2-3 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

If you wish to just cook this in a pot, then return ground beef to pot and add remaining ingredients.  Simmer on low for about 30 minutes.  Add water as needed to keep chili from burning or becoming too thick. 


*This is up to you, but I recommend draining and rinsing the meat, even if it is extra lean.  Because you may be putting this in a crock pot, more fat will cook out in the process, and if you do not drain and rinse it thoroughly, you might find your chili with a little too much grease floating on the top.

** Substitution alert:  Substitute any canned cooked bean you like such as pinto, black, or even navy beans. Just make sure the beans are drained and rinsed.  I say 1-2 cans because some beans are bulkier than others.  Put one can in, eyeball the chili, and then decide if you want another can of beans. We like 2 but less is OK.  Any bean will work, and you might find an interesting combination that you like even better than the original recipe.  Different types of beans also make the dish more visually appealing.

***I use Williams Chili Seasoning, but it may be a regional thing that is not available to you.  The Williams Original Chili seasoning is made to season 2 pounds of ground beef.  Use whatever you like, just make sure it seasons 2 pounds of beef. My pet peeve is to find a great recipe but it contains some obscure ingredient that makes cooking not worth it.

****I use Ro-Tel tomatoes, but again this might be regional.  You can use any brand that is canned with chopped green chiles.  As a substitute, you can use one can of diced tomatoes in juice, 1 tsp. onion flakes, and about 1 tablespoon canned diced green chiles.

Freezer to Crock Pot Cooking

A month or two ago I discovered freezer to crock pot cooking, and it has been life changing for me.

I tend to be on the frugal side and believe in trying to conserve resources any way possible. Some would call me a tightwad. I just call it being innovative.

Freezer to crock pot cooking appealed to me because I could prepare meals ahead of time, freeze them, and then the day I needed them, dump them in the crock pot and go. My family and I could come home to a hot meal that didn't require a lot of effort.

I check my local grocery store, Homeland, weekly to see what deals they have. Last week I found hamburger meat marked down, and I bought it!!

Now it was time to come up with some things to make.

Some meats can be frozen raw with recipes, but generally hamburger meat cannot because of the fat content. The meat must be cooked first and then added to recipes. Using the freezer to crock pot method, I looked at some recipes and decided to make them crock pot friendly.

I made:
 Two batches of tater tot casserole base.
 One batch of Mexican casserole base.
Two batches of taco meat.
One batch of Italian-seasoned meat.

I froze the remaining meat to be used for hamburger patties in the future.

My next few posts will provide the recipes for the above casseroles.