What other beans / veg work in chilli con carne?

[PoesyCherish]

I want to make chilli con carne but fed up of the same old recipe. We typically use brown onions, red kidney beans and chopped tomatoes. As well as changing it up a bit, I'd also like to bulk it out so it goes further and costs less per portion.

What other veg or beans do you put in?

I usually add a tin of borlotti beans. No one ever notices.

An easier way to make it cheaper is to change how you serve it: instead of a huge plate of chilli and rice serve smaller portions with a side-salad, some refried beans, rice and wraps etc.
The act of putting it all together into burritos means less gets eaten.

Also do a summer chilli with pork mince, green beans and canellini beans

That sounds so good!

Have rummaged around in the cupboard / fridge and have managed to make one with minced beef, chopped tomatoes, red onion, brown onion, green and red pepper, kidney beans, berlotti beans and black eyed beans.

It tastes good apart from the fact I used too much spice mix. Thought one pack wouldn't be enough with all the added veg / beans so used two but then it was very overpowering. Added passata to try and take away some of the overpowering spice mix but now it's just the wrong consistency. Oh well. Tastes reasonably okay

Would love to learn how to make it without the premade chilli mix. What herbs / spices do people put in?

chilli and garlic. Sometimes smoked paprika if it's a mild veggie type one.
Your spice mix might have beef stock in too, so add an oxo cube..

sweet potatos.swede.peppers.courgette.mushrrom.white beans(no baked in sauce)
we often now add one of those tins of lentils too.

spice mix is.
•3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped.
•1–2 tsp hot chilli powder.
•2 tsp ground cumin.
•2 tsp ground coriander.
•2 tbsp plain flour.
•150ml red wine or extra stock

I'd add loads more veg: courgettes, mushrooms, peppers, maybe some sweetcorn or peas if you like them. And you can use kidney beans or black eye beans or rose cocoa beans which usually come dried so you have to soak and boil them which is a faff but they are cheap and taste good.

Baked beans go in mine, but I do tend to stick them in a colander and rinse the sauce off first.

I often put green or runner beans in my chilli, cut into about 2cm lengths. Also peppers, sweetcorn and finely chopped mushrooms. Courgettes tend to disintegrate, I've found.

Also add a teaspoon of cocoa powder. Yes, really.

I make a veggie chilli with kidney beans, black beans and cut up sweet potato as well as peppers, tomato etc. Delicious.

Are we the only ones who, in addition to some of the things already mentioned, also add diced pineapple?

Any beans will work, or mixed beans (Aldi do a can), try adding chopped veg eg carrots, plus whatever you need to use up. I make it completely veggie using lentils instead of mince.

Red or yellow peppers. Bit of cocoa or square of dark chocolate.

Any beans work. Black turtle beans are my favourite. This recipe , topped with cornbread, is a favourite www.budgetbytes.com/chili-cornbread-skillet/ . If you want to add meat, leave out one or two cans of beans.

I l ove budget bytes. All of her stuff I've tried comes out well.

I put baked beans in, sauce and all. I prefer butter beans to kidney beans and once put s one diced chorizo in too-lovely.

Pineapple??!! 😱😱

Yeah. It doesn't sound tasty, does it...? Sorry butterflymum. I can hear Gordon Ramsey calling you a donkey for this one.

I chuck anything I can find in. Mushrooms are nice, so is sweetcorn.

I made a proper concoction earlier, there was:
grated carrot
onion
celery that was about to turn
the end of a green pepper
tin of mixed spicy beans
chicken breast
leftover passata
tiny bit of leftover broccol & cauliflower

with all the usual spices.

It was absolutely lovely. The little bits of broccoli & cauliflower gave it a certain je ne sais quoi.

Black beans and sweet potato work well

Butternut squash / pumpkin also works nicely.

Same as Gribbie, I always put a tin of butter beans as well as a tin of kidney beans in mine. I think I actually prefer the butter beans.

Spice wise I use an absolute load of smoked paprika, garlic, salt. Bit of cumin, bit of normal paprika. Cayenne pepper. You can add BBQ sauce / chipotle chilli sauce if you like.

A can of mixed taco beans instead of kidney beans, red or orange pepper and mushrooms. Garlic, two teaspoons of mild chilli powder and one of cumin. Tin of chopped tomatoes, pound of 5% fat mince. Lovely.

To make it go further I make it into burritos with some cooked rice and wraps which I bake and have with salsa and guacamole, or enchiladas, the chilli in wraps with salsa and cheese on top, baked. The kids love tortilla wraps.

And onions, of course.

Butter beans
Carrot
Peppers
Mushrooms
Celery
Courgette
Kidney beans
Onions

Actually, I chuck any old veg n. We are vegetarians so if it needs eating up it all goes in tbh.