During the summer months, I was going to do a review of using Sapporo as an ingredient for slow cooker recipes, which is a fantastic idea. However, life got the best of me and I got caught up with work, and moving, which prevented me from finding the time to finally try this out. Now, I am all settled into my new place, work has calmed down a bit, and I have finally found the time to test out using Sapporo in a slow cooker recipe.
Although Sapporo can be used in a wide variety of dishes like braising meats, to cold dishes like Gazpacho, I wanted to use Sapporo in a more wintery dish. This lead me to chili.
Ah chili, the ultimate comfort food for those cold winter nights. It’s hearty, filling, customizable, and delicious. Chili is made even easier when you add Saporro and a slow cooker into the mix. Using the recipe below, I was able to make a glorious bowl of chili with minimal prep. In fact, the prep was only about an hour long. I just prepped all the ingredients and put them together on Sunday while watching the Sunday winter classic pastime: football. As an added benefit to my time choice, the recipe prep left a half a bottle of crisp, clean Sapporo to finish while I watched the game and waited for my chili.
Once all the ingredients were prepped and put together, I popped it all in the slow cooker, where it wonderfully came together within 8 hours. And man, was this dish worth the wait. It was one of the best chilis I’ve made. Japan’s oldest beer brand, Sapporo, gave it a deep richness that is hard to find in chili. The blend of spices added to the flavor to create a balanced, but complex flavor profile that I couldn’t get enough of. Needless to say, the leftovers did not last long.
I extend many thanks to Sapporo for the opportunity to try these recipes. The Sapporo adds a fantastic flavor and the slow cooker makes dishes so easy, it’s hard to not want a home-cooked dinner every day of the week.
Sapporo Chili Recipe Ingredients
Olive Oil (enough to coat the bottom of a large sautee pan)
¼ cup of Minced Garlic
1lb of ground turkey 85/15 (or other ground meat of your choosing. You can also combo other meats
also like pulled chicken, ground beef, ground pork, etc.)
1/8 cup of granulated garlic
1/8 cup of granulated onion
1/8 cup of paprika
1/8 cup of ground cumin
A pinch of Italian seasoning
A pinch of ground coriander
A pinch of smoked sea salt
A pinch of ground pepper
2 16 oz cans of organic vegetarian chili (if you cannot find organic canned veggie chili, a nonorganic one
is fine also.
1 16 oz can of cannellini beans (rinse and drain)
½ of a 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 6oz can of tomato paste
½ cup of homemade or jarred tomato sauce of your choosing
¼ cup of BBQ sauce (homemade or brand of your choosing)
¼ cup of Heinz ketchup
½ of a 12 oz bottle/ or ½ of a 16 oz can of Sapporo Premium
Sapporo Chili Recipe Instructions
1. Cover bottom of large saute pan with olive oil and add minced garlic
2. Season ground meat with a pinches of granulated garlic, onion and chili powder and salt and
pepper
3. Brown ground meat in large pan with heat turned up about half way so to not burn meat and
spice mixture
4. Once meat is browned, transfer to slow cooker
5. Add canned chili or soaked beans, rest of all spices, sauces, pastes, beer and stir in crock pot to
blend all ingredients together
6. Set cooker to low and timer to 8 hours. After 8 hours, cooker will switch to warm if you are not
serving right away
7. Make sure to stir every hour or so, so chili doesn’t stick and tomato based products don’t burn
(homage to Goodfellas scene)
8. Feel free to top with chopped up cooked bacon, fried onions, shredded cheese, sour cream,
scallions or anything you like
Original recipe found here