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Chili con carne means “Chili with meat” understandably, it is a spicy dish. You can take note of all the spicy elements on the ingredient list and tailor it to your taste, if you make it as is, it is not insanely hot for most people. There are different variations of the chili con carne; with chunky meat or minced meat, with or without beans, with or without tomatoes and it goes on. Chili con carne has its origin in Mexico and South of the United States so it is what part of what we now refer to as the Tex-Mex cuisine.
It is a hearty stew bursting with flavour, I love mine with beans because I am constantly looking for ways to sneak beans into my diet to benefit from the good carbs, dietary fibre and other nutrients it offers.
You can use one 400g can (260g drained) of kidney beans if you don’t have time to cook yours, make sure to rinse it thoroughly before use. To cook yours, you need to soak the beans overnight, then cook in a pressure cooker for about 20 minutes or in a tightly covered pot (used aluminium foil, before lid to trap more steam) for about 40 minutes, salt the cooking water. Cooked beans keep well in the freezer, consider cooking big batches and freezing in small portions for use in dishes as this. Enjoy and share with your friends, check our other easy healthy recipes.
Yields 4
Try this delicious and flavour-packed chili, perfect for weeknight dinners and packed lunches the next day. Sometimes I make a big batch to freeze, this becomes an easy go to lunch on busy days, as you can image, I always have corn bread in my freezer too!
15 minPrep Time
45 minCook Time
1 hrTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 300g cooked kidney beans
- 300g minced beef
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 onion (fine diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¾ teaspoon coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper and/or chili powder
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1½ teaspoon chopped coriander leaves
- 3 tomatoes (peeled, deseeded and diced)
- 1 litre beef stock or 1 beef stock cube with 1 litre of hot water.
- 1 jalapeno (diced)
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- Bell peppers (optional, diced)
- Sour cream (topping)
- Cheddar cheese (topping)
- Coriander leaves (garnish)
- Lime wedges (garnish)
Instructions
- Prepare all vegetables as suggested on the list.
- Add the vegetable oil to a pan over medium heat. Add the onions right away and gently sweat the onions, the aim is to caramelize and not burn the onions. After 5 minutes, add garlic, ground cumin, coriander powder, chili, cayenne pepper, and cook for a further 2 minutes, be careful not to burn spices.
- Add the mince meat to the pan. Increase the heat and brown meat on all sides. Break up any lumps.
- Add the tomato paste, diced jalapeno and chopped tomatoes into the pan. Stir in and season with oregano and black pepper. Add chopped belled peppers (if using)
- Pour in the hot stock, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. The chili will be thickened somewhat.
- Stir in the kidney beans, if you use the canned one, rinse thoroughly and drain it first. Bring chili to a boil again to heat the beans through, simmer for about 15 minutes. If it appears dry, add a bit of water.
- Taste and season with salt as needed, toss in in chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot.
- You can enjoy your bowl of a chili alone as a complete meal but here are some ideas to make it great; top with grated sharp cheddar, sour cream, coriander leaves, tortilla chips, guacamole or lime wedges. Chili goes very well with corn bread, try this recipe .
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