Diabetic chili is really easy to make and chili and diabetes aren’t mutually exclusive, so read on and find out how to make diabetic friendly chili. I love chili con carne and find myself making it often, either as a tasty treat for myself or as a shared meal for my husband and I. I usually make a big batch of it so I can enjoy it for lunch the next day, and the next! My husband is diabetic, so I needed to find a tasty low carb diabetic chili recipe which would taste good and look appetizing, and that is when I came up with this one.
The ingredients are nutritious and the flavor in this diabetic chili recipe is wonderful. You can tweak this keto friendly chili recipe to your heart’s content, swapping the ground beef for chicken or pork, adding more spice (or less!) or swapping the tortilla bowls for homemade tortilla chips. You can use your favorite type of low carb tortillas to make any of these. You could even use a pizza cutter to slice tortillas into strips and scatter those over the finished dish. Now is this diabetic chili recipe sounding tempting?
I have a couple of crockpots – a huge one and a medium (OK small) one, and it’s the smaller one I use for making this diabetic chili recipe. I saute the meat with onions and garlic, then stir in the other ingredients and transfer the whole lot into the crockpot. I find 4 hours is enough to cook the chili and get all the flavors rich and perfect if I cook the diabetic chili recipe on HIGH or perhaps 8 to 9 hours on LOW. Which I choose just depends what time of the day I get the mixture in the crockpot.
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Chili Recipes for Diabetics
My husband is my biggest fan where it comes to cooking and, even though our regular menus have changed since his diabetes diagnosis, I still endeavor to keep things interesting. There are plenty of foods off-limits to him now, but I’ve discovered plenty of tempting treats such as low carb Carisma potatoes and Lizi’s low GI granola, both of which we really like. Keto chili is one of my favorite diabetic recipes of all time.
But back to the chili – this diabetic chili recipe makes a nice dish for anyone who is diabetic or following a low carb diet for whichever reason. And for a tasty diabetic chili recipe ground turkey or ground pork might not be as traditional but they can be used in the place of beef if that’s what you want to make. Diabetic turkey chili is lower in fat than diabetic beef chili, if that’s an issue. A veggie chili recipe is another idea, and you can simply sub vegetables for the protein if you want to keep it meat-free.
I’ve made plenty of chilies in the past and I enjoy trying new variations. In fact I wrote/found 30 chili recipes for this extensive post if you’re looking for more ideas. The following recipe details how I put the diabetic chili recipe together last night but you can add anything else to the mix if you want. This is just a template and this way of making it does yield a nice flavor.
More Keto Chili Recipe Tips
To make the chili bowls for our diabetic chili recipe, you will need to spritz low carb tortillas with nonstick cooking spray then drape them over upturned ovenproof bowls (I have these metal ones) and they will hold that shape and get crisp.
Make these ahead if you want, or when the chili is pretty much ready to serve. The salad should be made at the end too. If you want to prep your salad ingredients ahead, toss the avocado in lime juice (instead of adding it to the dressing) else it will turn brown.
The exact number of carbs in the diabetic chili recipe will depend which of the optional ingredients you use, as well as your brand of hot sauce, whether you use low-carb cream and so on, so it’s better just to say this recipe was created with the diabetic eater in mind.
Is chili good for type 2 diabetes, you might be wondering. Actually yes, it’s a perfectly balanced meal when served with vegetables and popular toppings like cheese, sour cream and green onions are practically carb-free.
Making a Diabetic Chili Recipe for a Crowd
If you’re cooking for a crowd you could rustle up some white rice to serve to the non low-carbers or even regular tortillas as well as the low carb ones. Take this diabetic chili recipe and do whatever you like with it, either following it to the letter or tweaking it to your needs and wishes. You can even make a diabetic turkey chili recipe for a lower-fat alternative. There are lots of options where it comes to chili recipes for diabetics, so don’t be afraid to get creative.
PrintEasy Diabetic Chili Recipe
This low carb chili recipe is ideal for diabetics and low-carb eaters. It boasts ground beef, tomatoes, kidney beans, garlic, and more, and is served in a crispy tortilla shell for maximum visual appeal.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 4 hours 15 mins
- Total Time: 4 hours 30 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: Tex-Mex
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450g) ground beef
- 1 chopped yellow onion
- 1 or 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 14 oz (400g) tomatoes in juice
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- Chili powder and/or hot sauce, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- Splash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
For the Tortilla Shells
- 4 low carb tortillas
- Nonstick cooking spray
For the Salad
- Small bag of mixed salad leaves
- 8 halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 sliced avocado
- Lime juice, to taste
- Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
To Serve (All Optional)
- Grated cheese
- Sour cream
- Hot sauce
- Fresh herbs, to garnish (I used basil but cilantro would work too)
Instructions
- First heat the olive oil in a pan.
- Add the beef, onion and garlic.
- Saute, stirring, until the beef is browned all over.
- Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
- Transfer the mixture to your crockpot.
- Cook it on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours.
- Spray the tortillas on both sides with nonstick cooking spray.
- Drape each one over an upturned metal bowl (or similar).
- Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 10 minutes or until rigid.
- Toss the salad leaves, cherry tomatoes and avocado.
- Dress with lime juice and extra-virgin olive oil.
- Ladle some chili into each tortilla bowl.
- Serve the salad on the side.
- Offer cheese and sour cream at the table or add them now as a garnish.
- Offer extra hot sauce at the table for those who prefer their chili fiery!
Keywords: low carb, keto, diabetic, chili, mexican, tex-mex
How to Make Tortilla Bowls
This video shows you how to make the tortilla bowls the diabetic chili recipe is served in. I used metal bowls rather than the Pyrex ones used in the video but the concept is of course the same.
As we ate the diabetic chili recipe, we broke off pieces of the tortilla to enjoy by dipping it into the chili and sour cream. The tortilla bowl doesn’t go soggy. If you’re looking for chili recipes for diabetics, make the crispy tortilla bowls too!
