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Honey Habanero Chili

This Honey Habanero Chili is spicy, smokey, and slightly sweet and is made in the slow cooker! I love how the flavors from the spicy chipotle peppers are balanced by the sweet honey. You'll love making this chili on crisp fall days and cold winter nights. 

Course Main Dish, Soup, Soups
Cuisine American
Keyword beef chili, chili, stew
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours 20 minutes
Total Time 8 hours 40 minutes
Servings 4 people
Calories 481 kcal
Author India

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 2 tablespoons avocado oil
  • 2 white onions diced
  • 2 - 3 habanero peppers seeds removed and minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 15-oz can tomato sauce
  • 1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
  • 1 15-oz can kidney beans drained and rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce/tamari
  • 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce minced
  • 1/4 cup honey

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onions, habanero peppers, and salt and cook until lightly softened. Add tomato paste and cook until it becomes rust in color.

  2. Add chili powder, garlic, cumin, oregano, and red pepper flakes, cooking until fragrant (about 30 seconds).

  3. Add ground beef and cook, breaking up larger pieces as needed. Cook for about 5 minutes or until no longer pink.

  4. Add the tomato sauce, scraping up any brown bits that have developed on the bottom of the skillet. Transfer mixture to the slow cooker. Once in the slow cooker, add the remaining diced tomatoes with juices, kidney beans, soy sauce, c

  5. Add diced tomatoes, kidney beans, soy sauce, minced chipotle peppers, and honey.

  6. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 6-8 hours.

  7. Serve with your favorite chili toppings.

Recipe Notes

  • Habanero peppers are very spicy! Take care when handling them and use gloves or wash your hands immediately after chopping.
  • If you're sensitive to heat, only use 1 or 2 habanero peppers. 
  • Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce can be found in the Mexican aisle of most grocery stores. This recipe only calls for two peppers, so reserve the remaining peppers and adobo sauce for another recipe like Chicken Tinga! They will keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for about two weeks. 
 
store it in the fridge

This will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

 

store it in the freezer

This will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. 

 

Make This Vegetarian

I haven't personally tested this, but to make this vegetarian you can use a mixture of lentils and finely chopped mushrooms in place of the ground beef and double the amount of kidney beans. If you make this vegetarian, let me know how it goes in the comments below!

 

Make this Gluten Free

The recipe as written is gluten free! Just make sure you use gluten free soy sauce or tamari instead of traditional soy sauce which contains wheat.