Easy Chilli Con Carne

Easy Chilli Con Carneby Cara Martin

There’s a lot of really complicated and fancy recipes for this classic dish but I prefer this simple one. It’s hard to go wrong for a start! Great for batch cooking, cheap and filling.

I’m a huge fan of “bung in the pan” recipes. It makes it easy for quick week night meals, but also saves time when batch cooking so you can have multiple recipes on the go ready for the freezer.

Ingredients for Chilli Con Carne:

  • Tablespoon Oil
  • 2 Large Onions
  • 3 Cloves Garlic
  • 2 Peppers (I used red peppers)
  • 2 x 400g Canned Kidney Beans (or 800gr pre-cooked red kidney beans from your freezer)
  • 500g Beef Mince
  • 500g Soaked Red Lentils
  • 2 400g Canned Chopped Tomatoes
  • 2 level tablespoons Mild Chilli Powder (adjust to personal taste)
  • 2 teaspoon Paprika
  • 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons Tomato Purée
  • Beef Stock Cube (250ml water)
  • 2 chunks dark chocolate (index finger nail size chunks)

Method for Chilli Con Carne:

  • Start off by browning the mince with chopped onions in the oil then add the spices, garlic, chopped peppers and red lentils to the pan.
  • Add the beef stock, chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and dark chocolate stir well and leave to simmer for 20-30 minutes.
  • After 20-30 minutes add the drained washed kidney beans and leave to simmer for a further 10 minutes. Taste and alter seasoning if you want a spicier Chilli and add salt/pepper to personal taste.

The red lentils are a good, cheap and healthy way of making your beef mince go further. If you aren’t a fan just double up the amount of beef mince, but even the pickiest of eaters rarely notice the substitution and it is always worth trying if you want to stretch your food budget each month.

The above recipe made enough for 2 people with large appetites for 4 meals (8 individual portions). Chilli freezes well, just make sure that it is fully cooled before popping in the freezer. Serve with rice, in tacos or in a baked potato for a quick home made meal.

Posted in All Recipes, Bean, Pulses and Rice Recipes, Beef Recipes, Freezer Recipes

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