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Chilli Con Carne is an absolute favourite in our house and I always have some in the freezer both in London and Switzerland. Whilst we consider it comfort food, the everyday ingredients come together to create a depth of flavour and addictive spicy kick you crave, throughout the year but particularly on a cold winter's evening. Serve it with sour cream, grated cheese, avocado, chopped cherry tomatoes and coriander and the dish is elevated to an irresistible fully-loaded treat. Yes please!

It freezes well and defrosts easily making it our 'go to' for a last minute meal when we return home from a long journey or simply have nothing else to eat in the house. All you have to do is defrost and heat the chilli, cook some rice and bingo – dinner is ready in 20 minutes from start to finish! It is also a great dish if you are looking to feed a crowd. It is easy to cook in bulk ahead of time and freeze, defrost and reheat. If you are looking for a vegetarian version of this dish, please see my recipe for Vegetarian Lentil Chilli with Black Beans, Sweetcorn and Chick Peas here.

Chilli Con Carne with Rice. Topped with Sour Cream, Cheese and Avocado with Lime

Chilli Con Carne has many uses!

You can make many dishes out of Chilli Con Carne. The easiest is to serve it simply with rice, but you can also serve it:

  • with a Cornbread topping
  • with Bratwurst and bread rolls to make Chilli Dogs
  • as a Chilli Dip
  • as Nachos
  • with fries
  • as Dirty Fries with Chilli Con Carne, Cheese, Sour Cream, Avocado, Tomatoes and Red Chilli
  • Chilli Con Carne Topped with Cornbread
  • Chilli Dogs
  • Chilli Dip
  • Nachos
  • Chilli and Chips
  • Dirty Fries

Other ideas:

  • Burritos
  • Mexican Lasagne
  • Baked Potato with Chilli Con Carne, cheese and sour cream
  • Baked Sweet Potato with Chilli Con Carne, Cheese and Sour Cream
  • Roast Peppers/Capsicum filled with Chilli Con Carne, Rice and Cheese

How to make Chilli Con Carne

Although the ingredient list is quite long, you should have most of the ingredients in your cupboard and most require little or no preparation – apart from opening a tin!

Collect all your ingredients together:

  • olive oil
  • minced beef
  • onions
  • red, orange or yellow peppers
  • garlic
  • Mexican Chilli Spice (See Recipe Notes)
  • salt and freshly ground back pepper
  • red kidney beans
  • black beans
  • passata
  • beef stock
  • sweetcorn
  • sugar (or honey)
  • tomato puree

Make your Chilli Con Carne:

  1. Start by cooking your beef. Heat the oil in your cast iron casserole dish and add the minced beef. Break up the mince as it cooks and stir from time to time. Tip out of the pan and set aside. This should take 4 – 5 minutes
  2. You should have some delicious sticky bits left in the pan after you have cooked the beef.
  3. Whilst the beef cooks, prepare and chop the vegetables. Simply peel and roughly chop the onions, remove the stalk and seeds and roughly chop the peppers and peel the garlic.
  4. Tip into a food processor and blitz until finely chopped or chopped to your liking. Alternatively, chop by hand.
  5. Cook the vegetables, stirring from time to time for 5 – 10 minutes until lightly caramelised. If you have chopped the vegetables by hand, add the oil to the pan and then add the vegetables. This will likely take around 5 minutes. If you have finely chopped the vegetables in the food processor, you may find you get liquid in with the vegetables. This is not a problem. Tip it into the casserole dish with the vegetables and boil the liquid off before adding the oil to sauté the vegetables. In this case you will probably be cooking for around 10 minutes.
  6. Remember to scrape up the sticky bits as you cook the vegetables.
  7. Add the beef back to the pan and stir well to mix.
  8. Add the Mexican Chilli Spice, salt and pepper and cook stirring, for a couple of minutes, until fragrant.
  9. Add the pulses, passata, stock, sweetcorn, sugar and tomato puree.
  10. Stir to mix thoroughly and bring to a gentle simmer
  11. Cover and transfer to a pre-heated oven and cook for 2 – 2.5 hours. After 2 hours, take it out of the oven and stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and pop back in the oven for a further 30 minutes.
  • Ingredients
  • 1 Cook the beef until browned
  • 2 You should have some delicious sticky bits left in the pan
  • 3 Prepare and chop vegetables
  • 4 Blitz until finely chopped
  • 5 Cook the vegetables in oil…
  • 6 Scrape up the delicious sticky bits
  • 7 Add the beef back to the pan and stir well to mix
  • 8 Add Mexican Chilli Spice, salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes
  • 9 Add the pulses, pasatta, stock, sweetcorn, sugar and tomato puree.
  • 10 Stir thoroughly to mix.
  • 11 Cook for 2 hours

Cook in the Oven

Cook covered in a pre-heated oven and cook for 2 hours. After 1 1/2 hours, take it out of the oven and stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and pop back in the oven for a further 30 minutes.

Cooking on the Hob

You could continue to cook the Chilli Con Carne on the hob. Simply cover, turn the heat to very low and gently simmer for 2 hours stirring from time to time. I personally prefer the oven as I can forget about it for a while and not worry about it catching on the base of the pan or remembering to stir it. Your choice – both ways work well!

NB If you re in a hurry you could eat this Chilli Con Carne after 30 minutes cooking time. However to achieve the best consistency and depth of flavour, I really recommend prolonged slow cooking.

Cooking in a Slow Cooker

Alternatively cook your Chilli in the Slow Cooker. Simply make as described in the recipe to the end of point 8. Transfer your mixture so far and then add the remaining ingredients to a slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for up to 6 – 8 hours.

Batch Cooking

When batch cooking Chilli Can Carne, I freeze it in small portions. I freeze it in silicone muffin trays and then simply pop them out when frozen, and bag. You can then defrost as many as you need, depending on the dish and number of people; because they are frozen in small amounts, they defrost quickly and easily. I realise, however, that you might think this is a bit fiddly; it is certainly more beneficial for small families or people wanting meals for just 1 or 2. If you are regularly cooking for larger numbers, you may wish to freeze in larger quantities.

Made this recipe?

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Picture of Chilli Con Carne

Chilli Con Carne

This comfort food using everyday ingredients comes together to create a depth of flavour and addictive spicy kick you crave, throughout the year but particularly on a cold winter's evening.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

  • 1kg minced beef, preferably 5% fat
  • 2 onions/250g peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 red peppers, stems and seeds removed, roughly chopped
  • 32g/8 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 4 – 6 teaspoons Mexican Chilli Spice (I use 5 teaspoons) (See Recipe Notes for alternative.)
  • 1 – 1½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 x 400g tin of red kidney beans
  • 1 x 400g tin of black beans
  • 680 – 700g passata (plus ½ cup water to swill out the bottle/carton)
  • 500ml beef stock

  • 1 x 340g tin of sweetcorn, drained or 280g – 300g frozen sweetcorn

  • 2 teaspoons brown sugar (or honey)

  • 70g tomato puree

  1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.

  2.  If cooking in the oven, preheat oven to Fan Oven 130°C/150°C/300°F/Gas 2

  3. Start by cooking your beef. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in your cast iron casserole and heat over a moderately hot heat. Add the minced beef. Break up the mince as it cooks and stir from time to time. Remove the meat from the pan when cooked and set aside. I do this in 2 batches and each batch takes around 4 – 5 minutes

  4. You should have some delicious sticky bits left in the pan after you have cooked the beef.

  5. Whilst the beef cooks, prepare and chop the vegetables. Simply peel and roughly chop the onions, remove the stalk and seeds and roughly chop the peppers and peel the garlic.

  6. Tip into a food processor and blitz until finely chopped or chopped to your liking. Alternatively, chop by hand.

  7. Cook the vegetables, stirring from time to time for 5 – 10 minutes until lightly caramelised.

    If you have chopped the vegetables by hand, add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan and then add the vegetables. This will likely take around 5 minutes.

    If you have finely chopped the vegetables in the food processor, you may find you get liquid in with the vegetables. This is not a problem. Tip it into the casserole dish with the vegetables and boil the liquid off before adding the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to sauté the vegetables. In this case you will probably be cooking for around 10 minutes.

  8. Remember to scrape up the sticky bits as you cook the vegetables.

  9. Add the beef back to the pan and stir well to mix.

  10. Add the Mexican Chilli Spice, salt and pepper and cook stirring, for a couple of minutes, until fragrant.

  11. Add the pulses, passata, stock, sweetcorn, sugar and tomato puree.

  12. Stir to mix thoroughly and bring to a gentle simmer

  13. Cook in the Oven

    Cover and cook in a pre-heated oven for 1½ hours. After 1½ hours, take it out of the oven and stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and pop back in the oven for a further 30 minutes.

    Cooking on the Hob

    You could continue to cook the Chilli Con Carne on the hob. Simply cover, turn the heat to very low and gently simmer for 2 hours stirring from time to time.

    Cooking in a Slow Cooker

    Alternatively cook your Chilli in the Slow Cooker. Simply make as described in the recipe to the end of point 8. Transfer your mixture so far and then add the remaining ingredients to a slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for up to 6 – 8 hours.

Equipment:

  • cast iron casserole/Dutch oven
  • chopping board and knife
  • measuring spoons/cups and measuring jug and kitchen scales
  • food processor
  • silicone muffin trays for freezing
  • freezer bags
  • slow cooker, if necessary

To serve:

  • Cooked rice: brown or white, long grain or basmati
  • Mexican flatbread
  • Avocado or guacamole
  • Tomatoes or salsa
  • Sour cream
  • Grated cheddar cheese
  • Fresh coriander leaves

Mexican Chilli Spice

If you do not have any spice mix made up, you can use the following which will give you nearly 5 teaspoons:

  • 1 teaspoon ancho grande chilli powder – replace with chilli powder or cayenne if necessary
  • 1 teaspoon chipotle powder – replace with smoked paprika if necessary
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano

Cooking times:

NB If you re in a hurry you could eat this Chilli Con Carne after 30 minutes cooking time. However to achieve the best consistency and depth of flavour, I really recommend prolonged slow cooking.