Chilli con carne ('chilli with meat') is a Tex-Mex classic. It's a hearty dish that combines ground beef simmered in a spice-infused tomato sauce.
This is such a useful recipe. Only 15 minutes hands-on prep time. The only chopping involved is some capsicum. It’s one of those wonderful dishes that freezes like a dream. It will taste as good defrosted and reheated as it did when it was first made.
Most of my recipes serve four people. This is so easy to batch up that I always make 8 and freeze half. You could easily make more (if you have a big enough pot).
Serve with your carb of choice:
- use it to top my twice-baked potatoes instead of baked beans. All the other toppings would be amazing accompaniments to chilli too.
- serve with creamy mashed potatoes.
- serve with steamed rice (as pictured above)
- serve atop nachos (you could keep the nachos vegetarian by subbing the mince for lentils).
If you stick to the recipe as written, it is low FODMAP and gluten-free. Be mindful of your sides and accompaniments. For example, use lactose-free sour cream if adding that.
If you're not on a low FODMAP diet you could make a small substitution to make this recipe vegan. Simply replace the beef mince with an equal weight of canned lentils.
Made as is, this chilli con carne is only mildly spicy. My kids like to stir through soured cream to mute the heat. I’m slowly trying to increase their spice tolerance 😊
How is this low FODMAP?
There's no onion or garlic (usually found in chilli). The quantities of capsicum, lentils and tomato products are within low FODMAP limits. This recipe makes 8 (generous) portions. This is correct at the time of writing, according to the Monash University FODMAP diet app.
🥘 Ingredients
Beef Mince – I don’t recommend buying ‘lean’ mince. Ever. Fat is flavour. At only 125g per portion, the meat component of this dish is relatively minimal.
Chilli Flakes, Ground Coriander & Cumin, Cardamon Pods –warm spices to add flavour and low-grade heat. The amount of chilli here is minimal. Feel free to amp up if you like more spice. Or set the Tabasco on the table for people who want to hot up their own portions (me versus my family). The flavour of cardamon is quite concentrated. The flavour infused from two split pods is all you need. You can remove these at the end of the cooking time.
Tomatoes (three ways):
- tomato paste – adds concentrated colour and umami to the dish.
- canned whole tomatoes – I like to buy whole canned tomatoes and crush them by hand myself. These are less processed than tomatoes which are mechanically chopped. They have a better consistency. I don’t need to worry about buying different types of tomato for different recipes. Buy a reputable brand that uses top-quality ripe tomatoes.
- tomato sauce/ketchup – a small amount adds a touch of sweetness.
Cocoa Powder – not so secret ingredient in good chilli recipes. Adding some unsweetened cocoa powder helps offset the acidity of tomato and pepper. It enhances the chilli's flavour profile by giving it rich, earthy tones.
Green Capsicum/Bell Peppers – capsicums in Australia, bell pepper in the US, just ‘pepper’ in the UK. This is part of the reason why I take a photo of my ingredients, so that you can see what I mean 😊 . One capsicum might be enough (I didn’t end up using all the capsicum in the photo, but one and a bit instead). Green capsicum is unripened red capsicum. It has a slightly bitter flavour that works well with the sweetness of the tomatoes in this dish. Feel free to substitute with red capsicum if you prefer.
Lentils – canned lentils are a great pantry staple. They’re already cooked (undercooked lentils are the worst!). You only need to add them towards the end of the cooking time, at the same time you add the capsicum. Lentils add meaty texture, soak up all the flavours, add nutrition and make the meat go further. Do source unsalted varieties, the salty ones can be very (salty). These are low FODMAP in this quantity (and there aren't many low FODMAP pulses!). Drain and rinse them well under running water to get rid of the gloopy FODMAPPY starch water in the can.
Tabasco Sauce – just a touch to add some hot spice (and more for the table when serving for those of us who like extra spice).
🔪 Instructions
So simple to make! Brown the meat in a little olive oil over medium heat in a large, wide pan. We’re not aiming for caramelised crispness here. Most minced/ground meat has water added which means this is hard to achieve in any case. It doesn’t have to be fully browned in this first step. It will finish cooking later. We’re aiming to break it down and warm it through. Add the chilli flakes and ground spices, then the tomato paste. By this point, the meat will have dried out a little, which means you can really cook the tomato paste in the fats in the pan.
The liquid for the chilli comes from whole canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and Tabasco. We use plain water to rinse every drop of juice from the cans and thin out the sauce slightly.
We add the tomato-ey liquid, plus sifted cocoa powder (to get rid of any lumps) and the two cardamon pods. A spice bag is handy for the pods (shown in the pic below). It’s a disposable drawstring paper bag, like an empty tea bag. Spice bags are handy because you get the flavour of the spices without the bits. You can retrieve the bag and discard it at the end of the cooking time. If you don’t have any, you can improvise with cheesecloth and twine, or use a closable metal tea strainer. Or just place the cardamon pods in the chilli whole and hope you come across them as you’re eating 😊. I also use one of these bags in my chicken pilau recipe. This contains whole spices too. The flavours are important to the dish, but whole spices are not nice to chomp on or pick out as you eat.
Then, all we do is bring it to a simmer for about an hour. Until the meat is tender, the sauce has reduced slightly and the flavours have melded.
Add cubed capsicum with well-rinsed and drained canned lentils. Continue to simmer until the capsicum is tender. How long this takes will depend on your personal preference; you can cook for less time and keep a bit of bite. You can simmer the capsicum for longer for very tender pieces. I prefer on the softer side for this dish. Please note that any ‘bite’ will be gone once you freeze and defrost the chilli.
And that's it! Serve with your accompaniments of choice. And if you're organised, keep in the fridge for a couple of days before reheating gently on the stovetop; it will taste even better!
📖 Recipe
Equipment
- Large shallow casserole pot (approx. 3 litre capacity)
Ingredients
- Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 kg beef mince
- teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- teaspoon ground coriander
- teaspoon ground cumin
- 60 g tomato paste
- 800 g canned whole tomatoes
- 400 ml water
- 60 g tomato sauce/ketchup
- 2 teaspoons salt
- Tablespoon cocoa powder (unsweetened)
- 2 cardamom pods
- 425 g canned lentils (no added salt) (drained weight will be about 200g)
- 2 teaspoons Tabasco
- 1 -2 green bell pepper/capsicum (around 300g)
To Serve:
- Soured cream
- chopped coriander leaves
- extra Tabasco
Instructions
- Brown Mince - preheat the pan over medium heat. Increase the heat to max, add the oil and brown the mince, breaking up lumps with a flat-ended wooden spatula. The meat doesn’t have to be fully browned.Tablespoon olive oil1 kg beef mince
- Chilli, Coriander & Cumin - sprinkle over and stir through until fragrant, a couple of minutes.teaspoon dried chilli flakesteaspoon ground corianderteaspoon ground cumin
- Tomato Paste – add to the pan and stir through the mince for a few minutes until well mixed in and dried out slightly.60 g tomato paste
- Liquid - in a deep bowl, crush up the canned tomatoes with your hands – slowly and one at a time. Add this to the pot, along with 400ml water; you can use some to ‘rinse’ out the cans of tomatoes to get every drop of tomato juice out. Add the salt, tomato ketchup and Tabasco. Stir to combine.800 g canned whole tomatoes400 ml water60 g tomato sauce/ketchup2 teaspoons salt2 teaspoons Tabasco
- Cocoa – sift over and stir through.Tablespoon cocoa powder
- Cardamon – split open the cardamon pods by crushing under the flat edge of a large knife blade. You can also bash with a rolling pin or pestle. Put the pods with any seeds that may have escaped into a spice bag (note). Press this into the centre of the chilli.2 cardamom pods
- Simmer - (without a lid) for about an hour, stirring occasionally. This time is needed to thicken the sauce, tenderise the meat and develop flavour.
- Lentils – tip the canned lentils into a sieve under running water. Rinse them well and drain. Add these to the chilli and stir through well.425 g canned lentils (no added salt)
- Capsicum –chop into small cubes. Stir and and simmer gently (covered) until the capsicum is softened, about 15 minutes.1 -2 green bell pepper/capsicum
To Serve:
- (optional) top servings with -Soured creamchopped coriander leavesextra Tabasco
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