I recently had a gathering at my new home and I made these for that. I have had at least 10 people ask me for the recipe I used. It was not as thick as I would’ve liked, so I went ahead and cooked it for like three hours. It was absolutely perfect.

Hi there! You can omit the ketchup and use the same recipe. Enjoy!

Hi Natasha 👋 Absolutely loved this recipe when I made it because it had no ketchup and I see you’ve updated the recipe and it now includes ketchup. If I leave out the ketchup is it the exact recipe as before or were there any other changes? Would love to make it again but I have an aversion to ketchup lol (I know, I know)! Thanks!!

Hi Lydia! I think 5lbs of meat would be too much for a standard slow cooker. It may work if you have one that is 8-10 quarts. The cooking time wouldn’t change as long as you brown the meat first. Yes, you can reheat it in the slow cooker, but I wouldn’t keep it on warm (it’s not hot enough). I would reheat it on low. The internal temp should reach 165. Keep it covered the whole time, and add a splash of water/broth if the mixture seems thick.

Love this delicious recipe!! And I have just a couple of questions….1) Can I make this a day ahead and reheat in a crockpot the next day – or will the consistency change? 2) I’ll be making this recipe for 5 lbs of meat, if I cook it all in the crock pot the morning of the event, will the cook time stay the same as what you suggest in the recipe under the crockpot info? Thank you so much!

Simple and tastes great! I used red and orange mini peppers, added some celery and a couple small chopped tomatoes so I could make 6 servings. The celery added a very slight crunch which I liked haha.

So happy to know you loved it!

Love your recipe. It tastes delicious. Never buy can stuff again.

Thank you so much, Thaylene. I’m glad you found this recipe!

I added a dash of steak sauce and substituted brown sugar with coconut sugar. Also, used orange sweet pepper instead of green…using what I had in the frige. But I loved your simple recipe…looked at bunches! The video with your son was heartwarming!