• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Charlotte's Lively Kitchen logo

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Baking & Desserts
      • Biscuits & Bars
      • Cakes
      • Cheesecakes
      • Chocolates
      • Cupcakes
      • Icing
      • Ingredients
      • Jams, Curds & Spreads
      • Meringues
      • Savoury Baking
      • Scones
      • Sweet Sauces
      • Vegan Baking
    • Lunch & Dinner
    • Side Dishes & Sauces
    • Breakfast
    • Drinks
  • Conversions
    • Grams to Cups Conversions
    • Oven Temperature Conversions
    • All Baking Tools
  • The Food Calendar
  • Subscribe
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • HOME
  • RECIPE INDEX
  • – BAKING & DESSERTS
  • – LUNCH & DINNER
  • – SIDE DISHES & SAUCES
  • – BREAKFAST
  • – DRINKS
  • CONVERSIONS
  • CALENDAR
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • PRIVACY
×
Home » Lunch & Dinner » Chilli Con Carne

1 January 2015

Chilli Con Carne

9.0K shares

What’s not to love about this chilli con carne recipe, it tastes delicious, it’s cheap and simple to make, it’s one of your five-a-day, it freezes so you can make a big batch and save some for another day.

Skip to the recipe

What's not to love about this chilli con carne recipe, it tastes delicious, it's cheap and simple to make, it's one of your five-a-day, it freezes so you can make a big batch and save some for another day, and best of all it's only 181 calories so I can have an ice cream for pudding without feeling guilty.

My secret ingredient is half a teaspoon of coffee, which adds a slight bitterness to offset the sweetness of the onions, tomatoes and peppers.

The spices I use are really there to add flavour rather than heat. If you prefer a bit of a kick from your chilli then you can add a chopped red chilli along with the red pepper, or if your family is like mine and everyone like different amounts of heat then sprinkle on some cayenne pepper before serving for those that like it hotter.

What's not to love about this chilli con carne recipe, it tastes delicious, it's cheap and simple to make, it's one of your five-a-day, it freezes so you can make a big batch and save some for another day, and best of all it's only 181 calories so I can have an ice cream for pudding without feeling guilty.

FREE GRAMS TO CUPS CONVERSION CHARTS

Subscribe to the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen mailing list to get your FREE printable grams to cups and cups to grams conversion charts for twelve popular baking ingredients

Chilli con carne recipe

Chilli Con Carne

What’s not to love about this chilli con carne recipe, it tastes delicious, it’s cheap and simple to make, it’s one of your five-a-day, it freezes so you can make a big batch and save some for another day, and best of all it’s under 250 calories so I can have an ice cream for pudding without feeling guilty.
5 from 4 votes
Print Rate Save Go to Collections
Active Time: 20 minutes minutes
Total Time: 1 hour hour
Servings: 6 people
Prevent your screen from going dark

INGREDIENTS

  • 500 g extra lean steak mince
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 400 g tin of red kidney beans
  • 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 1 tsp hot chilli powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • ½ dried oregano
  • ½ instant coffee
  • ½ tbsp olive oil
  • 300 ml water
  • salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Finely chop the onion
  • Heat ½ tablespoon olive oil in a large saucepan and once hot, add the onion and cook on a low heat for five minutes, stirring regularly
  • Meanwhile, finely chop the red pepper and garlic
  • Add the red pepper, garlic, chilli powder (1 tsp), paprika (1 tsp) and cumin (1 tsp) and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring regularly
  • Add the minced beef to the pan, turn up the heat to medium and cook until browned, stirring regularly to break up the meat into small pieces
  • Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato purée (1 tbsp), oregano (½ tsp), beef stock cube, coffee (½ tsp), water (300ml) and season with salt and pepper to taste (I use ½ tsp salt and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper). Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Drain the can of red kidney beans and add to the pan. Simmer uncovered for a further 10 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat, cover and leave to sit for 10 minutes before serving

NOTES

You can find more delicious low calorie meals in my round up of DELICIOUS DINNERS WITH UNDER 500 CALORIES including a VEGAN VERSION of this chilli.
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a comment and rating at the bottom of the page to let others know what you thought.
WANT TO HEAR ABOUT NEW RECIPES FIRST?SUBSCRIBE to the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Mailing List

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 240kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 51mg | Sodium: 344mg | Potassium: 791mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1060IU | Vitamin C: 34.1mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 5.2mg

Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.


Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican

Free From/Suitable For…

The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.

  • Egg-Free
  • Dairy-Free
  • Tree Nut-Free
  • Peanut-Free
  • Sesame-Free
  • Soya-Free
  • Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
  • Fish-Free
  • Crustacean-Free
  • Mollusc-Free
  • Celery-Free
  • Mustard-Free
  • Lupin-Free

This recipe can be made gluten-free by using a gluten-free beef stock cube.

SaveSave

SaveSave

9.0K shares

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michelle says

    November 04, 2020 at 10:01 am

    Hi Charlotte,
    What would you use to thicken the chilli a little ?

    Thanks
    Michelle

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 05, 2020 at 4:50 pm

      I’d usually just cook it for longer on a low temperature to reduce the sauce down. Alternatively you could mix a tablespoon of cornflour with a tablespoon of the liquid from the chilli and the mix it into the chilli. This should help to thicken it more quickly.

  2. Hetty says

    December 11, 2019 at 5:55 pm

    5 stars
    Wanted to eat it as soon as everything was in the pan because it was so tasty. Added another tin of Taco beans in tomato sauce together with a little extra of the spices and less purée.

    Reply
  3. Louise Savage says

    August 08, 2019 at 10:16 pm

    5 stars
    Delicious! Whole family loved it.

    Reply
  4. Easy Cooked Meals says

    May 18, 2019 at 11:28 pm

    5 stars
    This looks yummy 🙂 Your post is great.

    Reply
  5. Zaf says

    June 02, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    5 stars
    Love it! It’s perfect every time. Thank you!

    Reply
  6. Barbara Fowler says

    March 06, 2018 at 11:44 am

    This is my go to recipe for chilli con carne. Not only is it low in calories so I don’t feel guilty eating it, I think the coffee in it gives a lovely subtle flavour to the dish.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      March 07, 2018 at 10:53 am

      Thanks Barbara, I’m glad you enjoyed it.

  7. jenny paulin says

    April 13, 2016 at 9:58 pm

    i have used dark chocolate in a chilli but never coffee, i must try this. it looks lovely

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      April 16, 2016 at 7:35 pm

      I’ve tried dark chocolate too but my problem is that I open the pack to get a couple of squares for the chilli and then eat the rest of it as a pre-dinner snack, so coffee is a much safer option 🙂

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe




5 from 4 votes

Primary Sidebar

Charlotte Oates about me

Hi, I'm Charlotte Oates. Welcome to my lively kitchen where I share delicious, simple baking recipes, baking tools and calculators, and lots of tips and tricks.

Find out more
Facebook logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Facebook page Pinterest logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen - Pinterest page Instagram logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Instagram page Twitter logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen twitter page

Latest Post

  • A cartoon calendar with the text The Food Calendar UK Food Days, Weeks and Months
    The Food Calendar 2024 – International & UK Food Days, Weeks and Months

Featured Recipes

  • Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake
  • Biscoff Cake
  • A no-bake Oreo cheesecake topped with whipped cream and Oreos.
    Oreo Cheesecake (No-Bake)
  • Chocolate Orange Cake
    Chocolate Orange Cake
  • Lemon cake topper with lemon buttercream on a white cake stand.
    Easy Lemon Cake (All-In-One Lemon Sponge)
  • No-bake lemon cheesecake
    Easy Lemon Cheesecake (No Bake)
  • Lemon Buttercream
  • Easy Coffee Cake - A delicious all-in-one coffee sponge topped with smooth coffee buttercream. Simple to make and packed full of flavour. PLUS - How to make this cake in any size of round, square or rectangular tin. 
    Easy Coffee Cake
  • White-Chocolate-Buttercream-2
    White Chocolate Buttercream
  • A close up of a coffee cupcake topped with a swirl of coffee buttercream on a cooling rack with more cupcakes behind.
    Coffee Buttercream

Footer

About

Contact

Privacy Policy

↑ back to top

Copyright © 2024 CLK Digital Limited

Rate This Recipe

Your vote:




A rating is required
A name is required
An email is required

Recipe Ratings without Comment

Something went wrong. Please try again.