Chilli con carne
See this recipe step by step

Chilli con carne

This great chilli has to be one of the best dishes to serve to friends for a casual get-together

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 50 mins - 1 hr 10 mins

Can be frozen

Method

  1. Prepare your vegetables. Chop 1 large onion into small dice, about 5mm square. The easiest way to do this is to cut the onion in half from root to tip, peel it and slice each half into thick matchsticks lengthways, not quite cutting all the way to the root end so they are still held together. Slice across the matchsticks into neat dice. Cut 1 red pepper in half lengthways, remove stalk and wash the seeds away, then chop. Peel and finely chop 2 garlic cloves.
  2. Start cooking. Put your pan on the hob over a medium heat. Add the oil and leave it for 1-2 minutes until hot (a little longer for an electric hob). Add the onions and cook, stirring fairly frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft, squidgy and slightly translucent. Tip in the garlic, red pepper, 1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder or 1 level tbsp mild chilli powder, 1 tsp paprika and 1 tsp ground cumin. Give it a good stir, then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Brown the 500g lean minced beef. Turn the heat up a bit, add the meat to the pan and break it up with your spoon or spatula. The mix should sizzle a bit when you add the mince. Keep stirring and prodding for at least 5 minutes, until all the mince is in uniform, mince-sized lumps and there are no more pink bits. Make sure you keep the heat hot enough for the meat to fry and become brown, rather than just stew.
  4. Making the sauce. Crumble 1 beef stock cube into 300ml hot water. Pour this into the pan with the mince mixture. Open 1 can of chopped tomatoes (400g can) and add these as well. Tip in ½ tsp dried marjoram and 1 tsp sugar, if using (see tip at the bottom), and add a good shake of salt and pepper. Squirt in about 2 tbsp tomato purée and stir the sauce well.
  5. Simmer it gently. Bring the whole thing to the boil, give it a good stir and put a lid on the pan. Turn down the heat until it is gently bubbling and leave it for 20 minutes. You should check on the pan occasionally to stir it and make sure the sauce doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan or isn't drying out. If it is, add a couple of tablespoons of water and make sure that the heat really is low enough. After simmering gently, the saucy mince mixture should look thick, moist and juicy.
  6. Bring on the beans. Drain and rinse 1 can of red kidney beans (410g can) in a sieve and stir them into the chilli pot. Bring to the boil again, and gently bubble without the lid for another 10 minutes, adding a little more water if it looks too dry. Taste a bit of the chilli and season. It will probably take a lot more seasoning than you think. Now replace the lid, turn off the heat and leave your chilli to stand for 10 minutes before serving, and relax. Leaving your chilli to stand is really important as it allows the flavours to mingle and the meat.
  7. Serve with soured cream and plain boiled long grain rice.
Try

Other ways to enjoy chilli

Serve it on a bed of plain, boiled rice, with a spoonful of soured cream on top. Pile it on tortilla chips and sprinkle it with grated cheddar. Wrap it up in a tortilla with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and guacamole for a great burrito.

A Mexican twist

Rather than add the teaspoon of sugar, you can stir in a small piece of chocolate (about the size of your thumbnail) when you add the beans. Any plain dark chocolate will do. Be careful not to add too much - you don't want to be able to identify the flavour of the chocolate.

Per serving

387 kcalories, protein 36.0g, carbohydrate 25.0g, fat 17.0 g, saturated fat 6.0g, fibre 6.0g, sugar 1.0g, salt 2.32 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, May 2002.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 21-40

  • Binder photo blue_coyote

    22 January 2008

    blue_coyote rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Great dish but lacking in heat...add a few scotch-bonnet chillies de-seeded to get it going

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  • Binder photo Deelight

    24 January 2008

    Deelight rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Hi I searched the internet for a good chilli recipe, I have been on allrecipes.com, recipezaar.com etc and tried some of their highly rated recipes with no joy. At last I have found the right one! This is a great recipe and very easy to do. I agree with the other reviewers, the chocolate is a must. This is definately my favourite Chilli recipe and I have made it many times now:0)

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  • Binder photo Ensua

    26 January 2008

    Ensua rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Easy to make and great tasting. Family from abroad who doesn't know what Chilli con carne is, aboslutely loved it.

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  • Binder photo Gillian

    27 January 2008

    Gillian rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Delicious and easy - the chocolate tip worked brilliantly. Mild chilli powder didn't give it any heat so will definitely be brave and use the hot stuff next time. Great recipe for freezing.

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  • Binder photo Jorge

    28 January 2008

    Jorge rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I will keep this recipe and use it again from now on. The kids loved it.....My son never liked Chili con Carne...he loved this one.

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  • Binder photo maria v

    31 January 2008

    maria v commented on this recipe

    very good recipe, but not hot enough - needs more hot spice - definitely needs more oil than 1 tbsp, especially for the mediterranean palate, will use the recipe again to make chili con carne. chocolate an excellent variation, rather than sugar.

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  • Binder photo kirsty

    03 February 2008

    kirsty rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Great flavours, though i do add a little more of the herbs and spices. I also add a few splashes of worcestershire sauce.

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  • Binder photo Glenys

    05 February 2008

    Glenys rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Wow! Have used my own recipe for Chilli in the past - but not anymore. This far outweighs any recipe I have used before and really easy to make.

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  • Binder photo Recipes

    06 February 2008

    Recipes commented on this recipe

    Gorgeous! This is firmly ensconced as one of my all time fave dishes!

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  • Binder photo derek

    11 February 2008

    derek rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is my favourite chille dish as its so simple but massive on flavour!! Love It..........

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  • Binder photo Danielle

    21 February 2008

    Danielle rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    I found that I needed to add plain flour to thicken the sauce and also cooked it for longer, but the taste was delicious!

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  • Binder photo penny678

    25 February 2008

    penny678 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Best Chilli recipe ever!!! My husband who is not a big chilli fan loves it too, made it with the chocolate and I'm sure this made the difference..........MMmmmmmmmm!!!

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  • Binder photo QitchenQueen

    03 March 2008

    QitchenQueen rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Added a bit more tomato paste and corn. Delicious!

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  • Binder photo Kate

    05 March 2008

    Kate rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Nice flavour, added extra chilli powder for more of a kick. Only problem I had was that it was a little bit watery. Not sure if it is meant to be like that?? Was planning to serve this to 15 friends next week so if anyone has any tips how to prevent this then I'd be grateful. Thanks

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  • Binder photo JSG_Recipes

    08 March 2008

    JSG_Recipes commented on this recipe

    I left out the red pepper but added fresh chilli. It was great, as the previous comments say: quick, easy, not too much volume control required - LUVLY!

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  • Binder photo Kirsty

    12 March 2008

    Kirsty rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo .:ChArLoTtE:.

    14 March 2008

    .:ChArLoTtE:. rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    My mum normally makes a really nice chilli by jamies oliver, but I managed to top it the this delicious recipie. I used sugar not chocolate and missed out marjoram because I didn't know what it was. oops.

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  • Binder photo QitchenQueen

    15 March 2008

    QitchenQueen commented on this recipe

    Kate: I use the whole can (190g) of tomato paste otherwise it's too watery, you're right.

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  • Binder photo kimelliott

    20 March 2008

    kimelliott rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Really love this chilli, make it every week now as very popular! So tasty!

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  • Binder photo Angel

    22 March 2008

    Angel rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    After years of trying to perfect the art of making chilli, I feel I have finally done it with this recipies with a couple of minor changes. I added a fresh chilli to give a little kick, and insteed of adding a stock cube I added a glass of red wine, let it reduce, then added 1/2 a pint of fresh beef stock, leaving it to simmer gently for two hours, this may take up a lot of time but well worth the effort, every time I have made it my guest has asked for the recipie.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 50 mins - 1 hr 10 mins

Can be frozen

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 red pepper
  • 2 garlic cloves , peeled
  • 1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder (or 1 level tbsp if you only have mild)
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 500g lean minced beef
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • ½ tsp dried marjoram
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 410g can red kidney beans
  • plain boiled long grain rice , to serve
  • soured cream , to serve
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Per serving

387 kcalories, protein 36.0g, carbohydrate 25.0g, fat 17.0 g, saturated fat 6.0g, fibre 6.0g, sugar 1.0g, salt 2.32 g

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