How do you make your chilli really tasty?

[Bemyclementine]

Mine always seems a bit bland.

I soften diced onion, garlic, chopped pepper. Add mince and brown. Tin tomatos, oxo cube (my mum always did....) kidney beans, chilli powder. Simmer. What am I missing?

I second using venison instead of beef mince, much more depth of flavour. Even my 10 year old fussy eater loves it

Another thing that makes a difference is good quality mince to start with.

I can never be arsed to cook mine for long, too hungry, plus with ready cooked puy lentils (always do a veggie version) the whole idea is it's a super easy weekday dinner that takes <30 minutes. It's so tasty as it is, I really would not personally introduce the extra faff and cost of longer cooking times for something so low effort, cheap and straighforward.

This is the best recipe ever. Instead of using minced beef she cuts braising steak into small chunks and the addition of chorizo is inspirational.

annasfamilykitchen.com/recipes/ultimate-chilli-con-carne/

Smoked paprika and cumin as well as chilli powder
Plenty of salt
Cook low and slow

Actual chilies

even a can of mild diced green chilies will do, but you need chilies not just dried spices

> Onions in crushed chillis, chilli powder cumin and garlic.
> mince.
> Tom puree and chopped tomatoes
> salt and pepper
> sun dried tomatoes
> water
> cinnamon
> red and yellow peppers
> kidney beans

👌🏼

For me it’s the toppings and sides that make it. We love chilli in our house!

In the chilli itself we have what you have with various additions depending what’s in, smoked bacon lardons are a good flavour. But we always add Ancho chilli flakes (game changer), and smoked paprika and cook low and slow. At the end add a square or two (no more) of bitter chocolate, you don’t taste it but the sauce becomes really rich and velvety.

We serve with rice (we love the lime and coriander pouches or just put fresh herb oil into rice we’ve cooked ourselves), a shredded iceberg salad with avocado, tortilla chips and then cheese and sour cream on top. Pickled jalapeños for those who want more heat! Yum!

Even if I had it in a jacket spud, cheese, avocado and sour cream are non negotiable. Or my kids favourite is to put everything mentioned above (just not the chips) into a wrap and make a burrito.

As with lots of stews, soups and the like you need to build flavour at every level and consider fat is something that will always add good savoury flavour. I start with smoked bacon and render that down then lots of onions, way more than you think, I do 1 large onion per 100g of meat, so a 500g pack of minced beef gets 4 white 1 red onion.
The beef needs to be properly browned and get a fond on the bottom of the pan, deglaze with a decent beef stock and then good Italian tomatoes.
Add your spices in half amounts and taste it as it cooks to add more if you need.
Low and slow cooking and some fresh herbs on at the end for a bit of brightness.

Chipotle paste is my key ingredient!

2 squares of dark chocolate.

Ancho and chipotle chillies, oregano, cumin, dark chocolate, chorizo and a slug of Jack Daniels. Use stewing steak rather than mince, put the chocolate, spices and oreg in with the meat when you brown it first, and then take them out of the pan and soften the onions and red and green peppers.This way you deglaze the pan as the vegetables cook and all the flavour goes into them. And let the whole thing cook for at least 3-4 hours.

I put cumin, paprika, chilli powder and flakes, garlic and use kidney beans in a chilli sauce

I use this recipe every time and it’s always delicious. I made it a few days ago and was mad there was no leftovers as I really wanted to make chilli fries with it. Woe.

All her recipes work out for me and I can’t reccommend her recipes enough!

I do exactly this too! It's a great base recipe that you can tweak to your tastes.

I use the Hairy bikers chilli recipe. Really nice and flavourful, and you can make it as hot as you like.

In addition to to OP ingredients I add small piece of dark chocolate with hint of orange. Cumin. Smoked paprika. Mixed herbs, fresh or dried coriander and a beef stock pot.

I don't like dark chocolate in chilli, tried it once, really didn't like it.

Bart spices Berbere seasoning is my secret ingredient for chili, along with red wine and Marmite.

Dark chocolate. Those Aldi ones , about 125g. Perfect size

Cook the spices in a little oil first to bring out the flavour (spices like oil, herbs like water) before any wet ingredients are added for maximum flavour and richness.

Don't worry too much about making it too hot - if you taste it when it's finished and you think it's too hot for your children's liking, you can put their portions of chilli seperatly in another bowl or something and gradually add a bit of sugar and mix it in until you think it's a "heat" that they'd be able to handle.

The sugar displaces the capsaicin molecules from your taste buds and therefore makes it feel less hot. Very handy to know of you accidentally end up adding too much chilli powder etc to the Chilli!

Cumin is the key ingredient in a chilli. And chilli!

Cumin
good smoked paprika
red wine
oregano
beef stock cube
onions garlic
chilli flakes
beef mince
lime juice
and if I have dark chocolate a little of this

And of course tinned chopped tomatoes