On a cold winter day one of my favorite dishes is a well-made, spicy and tasteful Chili Con Carne. I have now, for a long time, wanted to come up with my own favorite recipe for a Chili Con Carne. After several testing and talking with people - where some of them are professional chefs - I believe that the recipe I have listed below is the world's best Chili Con Carne.
Danish Chili Con Carne a healthy dish
If you are a regular reader of my blog or some of my social media, you would know that my preferred recipes are the ones that are very easy to make and also healthy. Of course, it is nice cook some advanced and super delicious good in the weekends. However, the fact is that we all normally work five out of the seven week days. Therefore, we are often late home and the need for easy and healthy food is very important. For me unhealthy fast food and take-away is a no-go especially if it starts to be on a regular basis.
See also: How to make a Danish Pork Stew (Mørbradgryde)
Simple recipes which are easy-to-cook and healthy at the same time is just the best. I love them! I am always on the lookout for this type of recipes, so please, if you can recommend any I would love to hear from you in the comment section below.
Fortunately, a Chili Con Carne is both very easy to make, super delicious and also healthy. I always uses lean ground beef and together the kidney beans this dish is a great source of protein and dietary fiber.
The Danish way of making Chili Con Carne
When I started investigating and looking into recipes of this world famous dish, I discovered that there are probably more than a hundred thousand different ways of making this dish. I tried to write down all the findings from the many different sources and to stick together all the parts.
I always try to 'develop' my own personal recipes from other recipes and I always never just uses a recipe as it is. Normally I changes a few things so that it fits my personal preferences. When I work in my kitchen and especially when I am 'developing' recipes, I always keep in mind that the dish should be an 'every-day-dish' and therefore should be easy to make. This was also important for me when I made this chili con Carne - and I think it worked out really good.
Easy Recipe
From start to finish, this recipe only takes about 30-40 minutes to make and the best thing is that it only requires about 15 minutes of work. The rest of the time you can clean up, set the table or maybe even better, simply just talk and hangout with you family. All these things, I have mentioned above, is probably why I like this dish so much.
I typically serve this dish together with white or brown rice, tortilla chips or sometimes simply just alone. It is perfect in all ways.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 red chili
- 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes (if you prefer a hot version)
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 onions
- 500 g ground beef
- 1 can chopped tomatoes (400 g / 14 oz)
- 1 can tomato paste
- 2 dl beef stock
- 2 cans kidney beans
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 30 g dark chocolate
Instructions
- In a large saucepan; heat up the vegetable oil and fry the coriander powder, cumin powder, chili flakes and the finely chopped red chili. Fry for a couple of minutes.
- Add the finely chopped onions and fry for another couple of minutes or until the onions are translucent.
- Add the ground beef and cook until the beef is done.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and the beef stock. Let everything simmer for about 30 minutes.
- If you prefer you can add some extra chili powder to taste.
- Add the drained kidney beans and let them slowly heat up for about 5 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the stove; add the dark chocolate and gently stir and mix everything. Continue until all the chocolate is melted and mixed with the sauce.
- Serve the Chili Con Carne with rice or tortilla chips. If you have made a hot sauce, you can with advantage use some sour cream to ease the hotness a little.
Notes
wen
It's interesting to use chocolate in this dish. I like this simple and delicious recipe. I know it would be good and can't wait to try it out. Thanks for sharing!
Kim Nielsen
You are welcome. In Denmark it is quite normal to add some dark chocolate to a Chili Con Carne :-) Regards Kim (NordicFoodLiving.com)
wen
Oh, I learn something then. The chocolate adds a magic touch for this dish. Even now serving in cold for lunch, it's still very good! Thanks.
Kim Nielsen
Yes chocolate in Chili con carne is just fantastic :-) I totally agree with you.
Birgit
Hi,
We made it but are a bit confused as to when you add the tomato paste? It mentions the paste in the ingredients but not in the actual recipe..
Thank you so much, mange tak!
Kim Nielsen
Hi Birgit. That was a good question. I can see that I forgot to add the information about the tomato paste in the recipe. It should be added together with the chopped tomatoes. I have also corrected the recipe now. Thanks for letting me know about this mistake. Regards Kim (NordciFoodLiving.com)
wen
This is delicious. I made it for dinner and I'm eating it with multi-grain rice. Thanks for sharing!
Kim Nielsen
You are welcome for the chili con carne recipe. I'm happy that you also liked this one :-)
Judi
I need to make this to feed 80 people! Any help appreciated
Judi
Do you have a recipe for the hot sauce I could make to serve on the side for the 80 guests I’m serving? I think the actual dish should be less spicy and those that want, can add “hot sauce”. Thank you
Kim Nielsen
Hi. Actually chili con carne is a simple recipe if you need to scale it up to 80 people. I would simply get the largest pots that you can get you hands on and then divide the recipe into portions that will fit these pots. I suggest adding less chili to the recipe and the serve the dish together with extra fresh chili that has been chopped into smaller pieces. Regards Kim (NordicFoodLiving.com)
David Pye
When I make chili and people ask for beans, I give them a bowl. What they do after that is their business. Chocolate is for Halloween candies.
Try using chopped green Anaheim chiles in this, not a red pepper. Also, thicken it with masa to desired thickness. Also, render three or four strips of American bacon and sautee the one onion (not two). The tomatoes are optional, and most Texans skip them. The acid brings out some of the beef flavors, though. Just add the tomatoes paste for body.