Chilli con carne is a great family dish and there are many ways to cook it – but one flavour expert has shared a simple and easy tip to make the meal taste “perfect”
Chilli connoisseurs, listen up! There’s a myriad of ways to rustle up this hearty dish – be it in a slow cooker, oven, stove or even an air fryer.
Yet, the secret to that mouth-watering flavour isn’t just how you cook it; it’s all about the spice symphony that jazzes up the classic tomato and beef mince combo. Forget reaching for the Worcestershire or brown sauce to add pizzazz to your chilli. Matt Webster, a maestro of taste from Seasoned Pioneers, has a game-changing ingredient up his sleeve.
Following the news on a family of 10 ‘barge out’ of pub in brazen dine and dash after £320 meal, here’s how to make a budget-friendly favourite in the safety of your home.
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A surprising twist usually found in sweet treats, according to Matt, cinnamon can work wonders in savoury meals too. In an exclusive chat with the Express, he instructed: “Enhance your chilli con carne into a restaurant quality dish, in the comfort of your home, by adding a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon”.
He added: “Cinnamon is the perfect spice to add to this home-cooked meal, as it rounds out all the flavours in the dish, bringing warmth to the chilli con carne – without adding too much spice and overpowering other flavours in the dish”. Here’s Matt’s recipe:
Ingredients
- One can of chopped tomatoes
- Two tbsp tomato paste
- 450g minced beef
- One onion, diced
- Two tbsp olive oil
- One tsp smoked garlic powder
- One tsp smoked Paprika
- Two tsp ground cinnamon
- 1⁄2 tsp chilli powder
- 1⁄2 tsp salt
- 1⁄2 tsp pepper
Method
Fire up the hob to a medium heat, toss in the beef and let it sizzle away for three minutes. Then it’s time to get spicy: throw in a medley of smoked paprika; garlic powder; cinnamon; chilli powder and tomato paste, giving it a good stir until everything is thoroughly blended.
Next, chuck in the kidney beans, followed by the tinned tomatoes. Don’t be shy with the seasoning – a hearty sprinkle of salt and pepper will do, then give it another good mix to marry all the flavours together.
Turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and let the chilli con carne bubble away for about 10 minutes, or until it’s nicely thickened up.
Matt recommends to serve the chilli “with some sour cream, guacamole, cheese, and tortilla chips to create your own Mexican feast from the comfort of your home”.
