Best Chilli con Carne

Beef Chilli Recipe

This Chilli con Carne recipe is also an easy mid-week dinner. 

A real crowd-pleaser, perfect food for entertaining. 

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Over the years I've perfected my recipe, and I'm sure you'll love it as much as we do. Once it's made you can reheat it as long as it's piping hot before you serve of course.

For any leftover chilli, you could make Chilli Pasta Bake.

Before I go on, in case you are confused after seeing the dates in the comments below, this post was originally written back in 2010, so I decided it was time to update it!

Can I freeze it?

Yes, it freezes well and so it's worth making this recipe for four even if you are only cooking for yourself.

With the cost of electricity and gas at silly high prices, it makes sense to batch cook, that way this actually is a cheap meal to make.

You can then do as I do, once it's fully defrosted, I make Beef Enchiladas wrap the chilli in soft flour tortillas, sprinkle with grated cheese and then cover in foil and into the oven 200c/400f or Gas 6 for about 25 minutes.

What to serve with chilli

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and jalapeño peppers from a jar, salad and whatever else you fancy.

Can I make it vegetarian?

Of course, just replace the minced beef with soya mince and use vegetable stock instead of chicken. Or you might prefer this Vegetable Chilli recipe.

All in all, a right nice n spicy Chilli con Carne always goes down well and is, so, easy to make. Just the thing, especially for cold weather, but it's good at any time if you ask me.

A quick word on tinned tomatoes

Using good quality tinned tomatoes is the secret to any recipe that uses them. Some cheap brands are tomatoes in so-called juice are watery and lack taste, and the tomatoes themselves are sometimes hard.

If you've never tried the brand Cirio you honestly don't know what you're missing. Although of course, there must be other brands that are as good, and I've yet to discover them, perhaps.

By the way, this is not an advert, I'm just saying they are excellent. Packed with bright red juicy tomatoes and the 'juice' is so thick there actually isn't much of it.

You'll find Cirio tomatoes here in the UK in Sainsbury's but Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado are often have them at half price so that's the time to stock up. 😉

Another brand that I use if I can't get Cirio is Napolina. The juice isn't as thick but still good.

Top Tips!

Don't try to rush cooking your beef chilli because you need the flavours to come out.

Balsamic vinegar adds a little sweetness to the dish, but only add it if you have one that's nice and thick consistency; otherwise, just add a tablespoon of regular tomato ketchup instead.

Slow Cooker Chilli con Carne

I would still brown the mince a little, add it to the slow cooker and then cook the onions for 10 minutes so they become sweeter. Then add everything else to the slow cooker.

However, cooking in a slow cooker means that none of the liquid evaporates, and so you will probably find you won't need as much stock. 

I always have McDougalls Thickening Granules to hand, excellent for anything cooked in a slow cooker.

By the way, a mixture of wild and long grain rice works well with Chilli con Carne. If you're in a hurry, then you might like this Quick Chilli recipe by Nigella Lawson.

On with the recipe!

Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below!

best chilli con carne recipe, minced beef recipe,  beef chilli

main, meat, dinner, spicy,

mexican

Yield: 4

Author: Jan Bennett

Best Chilli con Carne Recipe

If you don't have good quality balsamic vinegar, you can add a tablespoon of tomato ketchup to give the dish a little sweetness.

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 50 MinTotal time: 1 Hour

Ingredients

• 1 large onion - chopped
• 2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
• 1 red chilli - finely chopped - seeds left in
• 1 green chilli - finely chopped, seeds left in
• 1 red bell pepper - diced
• 1 green bell pepper - diced
• vegetable or olive oil, for frying
• 500g good-quality low-fat (5%) minced beef
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 400g can of good quality chopped tomatoes
• 150ml chicken stock made from half of a Knorr stock cube (OXO are too salty)
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée (tomato paste in the US)
• 1 bay leaf
• 400g mixed beans or kidney beans - rinsed and drained well
• a splash of balsamic vinegar - to taste
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste *I really don't think it needs salt, so have a taste first!
• Optional - a pinch of dried red chilli flakes

To serve

• Rice and a side salad plus a dollop of sour cream.
• Grated cheese is good too!

Instructions

1. In a large frying pan, brown the mince in a teeny bit of oil, then remove and set aside.
2. Without washing the pan, add a tablespoon of oil and cook the onion, garlic, peppers and chillies over low heat until the onion and peppers have softened but not coloured - this will probably take about 10 -15 minutes.
3. Now add the dried spices to the onion mixture and cook just for a couple of minutes until it smells lovely.
4. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for another minute; it's important to cook tomato purée just for a minute, or it will taste bitter.
5. Now add the browned beef back in and give it all a good stir.
6. Pour in the tin of tomatoes including the juice, and the by leaf. Leave it to cook down a little for about 10 minutes.
7. Now add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and turn the heat down and leave to simmer for a bit.
8. Once the sauce begins to thicken up nicely, add the beans and the balsamic vinegar (or tomato ketchup if using).
9. Have a taste and add pepper to season; I really don't think this will need any salt, but I'll leave that for you to decide.
10. Now's the time to adjust the amount of spice or anything else you think it needs to suit your taste. Add the dried chilli flakes if using.
11. Remove the bay leaf and discard, and leave it to cook on a low heat for another 15 minutes or so.
12. Serve immediately with some nice rice - I like a mixture of wild and long grain rice.
13. You can also have grated cheese on the side and salad and sour cream.

Did you make this recipe?

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