Recipe: Vegan Chilli con Carne

📝 What you need

Ingredients

Vegan mince These vary quite a lot in their texture and taste - my personal favourite is Vivera plant mince pictured below with has a very good texture, but I also like Naked Glory mince or the Meatless Farm mince. The cheap supermarket frozen stuff tends to be pretty spongy - not what you're after here, though it is considerably cheaper so I occasionally revert to it if I'm cooking this in big quantities. (If you prefer a chilli without vegan mince, take a look at my Borlotti Bean Chilli instead).

Tinned lentils add a second form of protein and a lovely texture. They bulk out the chilli at a very low cost so if you're making a big batch and don't want to buy more mince, add more lentils instead.

Kidney beans are the classic chilli con carne bean, but I'm a bit of a borlotti bean fan (see my sausage casserole, borlotti slow-cooked chilli, borlotti & red wine pie, etc!), and often substitute those instead.

Spices are what really makes this dish - do adjust to your own taste. The chilli powder plus two green chillis gives this a good kick so tone it down if you prefer. And when you've tried my suggested ratios of cumin, smoked paprika, oregano you might like to play around with your own ideas.

Gravy granules are my top-secret chilli ingredient to give a thick, rich, 'beefy', glossy sauce. I've tried the new OXO beef-flavoured vegan stock cubes which are good, and I use them a lot, but I like the extra sheen and thickness that the gravy granules add here.

🍽 Serving suggestions

Chilli is such a versatile staple - you can eat it in:

• Fajitas with lettuce, tomatoes, vegan mayo, jalapeños and a sprinkle of vegan cheese.
• Rice bowl a simple bowl of chilli and long-grain rice.
• Chilli Nachos Scatter some nachos (check they are vegan) over the base of a roasting tin, dollop over some chilli and scatter with vegan cheese, cherry tomato halves and jalapeños. Another layer of nachos, chilli, tomatoes, jalapeños and cheese then bake in the oven for 5 minutes. YUM!
• Burritos as for the fajitas, but toast the outside of the wrap all over in a frying pan - it seals in the fillings and adds a beautiful crunch.
• Jacket potatoes with a dollop of vegan sour cream (or I like the new Oatly thick greek yoghurt, just perfect with some chives snipped over the top).
• Tacos My kids love these, (and get VERY messy!) - I toast the little mini-wraps you can now get in supermarkets in a frying pan or griddle, and they pile them up with chilli and salad.

❄️ Freezing and storing

This keeps really well in the fridge for a few days, (in fact I prefer it when it has sat in the fridge overnight - the flavours mellow somehow).

You can also freeze it, so perfect for making up a double-batch and freezing in individual portions.

I recommend in many of my soup recipes using old margarine tubs to freeze individual portions - they are the perfect size and stack very neatly in the freezer. Don't forget to label and date them, though!