My man has been pulling his weight by doing the man thing, going out and gathering meat for winter. By that I mean, he’s been out duck hunting with his buddies, and bringing home fresh wild duck to eat. I love to duck hunt too, but I don’t really love to eat duck. There are a few duck recipes that I like, such as Dana’s apple stuffed duck, and my Dad’s smoked duck (really anything my Dad smokes is good), and now I’ll add Aj’s duck chili to that list.
I’ll actually give half the credit to Aj and half the credit to my Mom since this recipe uses my Mom’s chili recipe as a base. It’s pretty much your standard chili recipe with tomatoes and onions, we added jalapenos and garlic, and because I think beans are gross, left them out. The ground beef is subbed with the fresh duck, wild duck has a pretty strong flavor (mostly why I don’t love it) and has a deep red/purple color, mixed in with the chili though, the strong flavor is not as noticeable and is actually really good. This is definitely a good way to put the ducks you shoot to good use!
Dana’s note: You can reduce the ‘wild’ or gamey flavor of wild game by soaking it in a salt water solution (think salty like the sea) overnight. Then rinse the meat off and use as directed in the recipe. You don’t need it as much when you use it in a flavorful application like chili, but helps when you are making a meal with less strong accompanying flavors.
Here is what you need (you actually need four cans of diced tomatoes, I forgot that and had to go get more):
Step one is cleaning the duck meat, Aj used the breasts of 2 canvasbacks and 1 Canada goose. Trim off the silver skin and cut the breasts into small chunks.
Step two is chopping up the onion, peppers, and garlic.
We combined the duck, onion, peppers, garlic, and spices in the crockpot and let it sit overnight in the fridge. This probably isn’t necessary but might help season the meat.
Step three is combing all the ingredients in the crockpot. If you didn’t add the spices to the meat to sit overnight, add the oregano, cumin, chili powder, and pepper now, then add the tomatoes and tomato sauce. (If you are like the rest of the world and like beans in your chili, add them now)
Now turn the crockpot on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours and enjoy the smell as it cooks without you 🙂
Simple as that!
- 1½ pounds of duck meat (breasts of 4-5 ducks)
- 4 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
- 2 14.5 oz cans of tomato sauce
- 1 large onion
- 1 green pepper
- 1 jalapeno
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoons pepper
- (kidney or other beans if you want them 1-2 cans)
- Clean the duck breasts and cut into small chunks
- Chop the green pepper, jalapeno, onion, and garlic
- Put the duck breast into the crock pot, add peppers, onion, garlic, and oregano, cumin, chili powder, and pepper, then add the tomatoes and tomato sauce
- Stir and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours
- Enjoy
I love cooking meals with my crock pot! These are some great recipes and I pinned this to my Pinterest crock pot/slow cooker board. Thanks so much for sharing!
Does the duck get tough after cooking on high for 4 hours?
No, actually it becomes very tender. Even more so than beef which has a “chewy” texture compared. I personally chose 4 hours on high, rather than 8 on low.
Thank you for this great recipe! I have used it 3-4 times and its my favorite chili recipe! Have struggled to find an easy recipe after a good hunt so this was a godsend!