Slow Cooker White Pork Chili

With spring just around the corner, I've been trying to work in a few last-minute, end-of-winter comfort food dishes before we turn to a bit lighter fare. My hubby and sons adore chili, so I've been working on a white chili recipe to sub in for my traditional tomato-based, red bean chili ... just to give them something a little different and to mix things up.

The result of my recent testing and experimentation is this amazing White Pork Chili that comes together so easily and beautifully in the slow cooker. There isn't a ton of heat in this recipe, but the chili is still super flavorful due to the inclusion of cumin, chili powder, garlic, oregano and fire-roasted green chiles.

You could easily sub in chicken in place of the pork. (No need to sear the meat if using chicken.) Or, if you wanted to make this vegetarian, just omit the meat and swap in vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

I used a large variety of beans, but you could successfully just use two or three kinds. I would just be sure to try to include the can of White Chili Beans since they come in a mild chili sauce that is part of the flavor component in this recipe. Note that the beans are not added into the chili until the last hour of cooking to prevent them from becoming overly mushy.

Yields 6 - 8 servings.