Slow Cooker Chilli Con Carne

I absolutely love cooking meals in my slow cooker, it’s so easy and taste delicious. It’s honestly one of the best things I’ve ever bought. I like to cook big batches of meals in it and freeze it which makes even better and means after a long day at work we can come home to good, home-cooked food which takes no time at all to heat up. I thought I’d start sharing my slow cooker recipes with you as I think cooking in batch saves so much time and money. Today’s slow cooker recipe is for a chilli con carne that can be made with beef or turkey mince.

Ingredients

500g beef or turkey mince

1 can of kidney beans

Carton of pasata

1 can of baked beans

1 beef stock cube (if using beef mince)

Mixed chopped peppers (fresh or frozen are both fine)

1 sachet of chilli con carne spice mix (I use one from Aldi but every supermarket sells it)

1 onion

2-3 cloves of garlic
Chilli powder to taste

Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Add the pasata and kidney beans to the slow cooker. Mix up the spice mix with the required amount of water and also add to the slow cooker.
2. Chop the onion and garlic and lightly brown in a frying pan. Add to the slow cooker.
3. Brown the mince in a frying pan. If using beef mince I like to crumble a beef stock cube over the mince whilst its browning for a bit of extra flavour.
4. Add the mince to the slow cooker.
5. Add salt and pepper to season and stir everything together.
6. About an hour before the chilli is ready add the baked beans and peppers. Adding them at the end stops them simmering down to nothing.
7. Cook the chilli for around 5-6 hours on low

This recipe normally makes around 6 portions that I then divide up into foil takeaway trays and freeze. Simple, delicious and relatively cheap to make (working out at around £1.75 per portion using beef mince and around £1.56 when using turkey mince.)