With Cinco De Mayo tomorrow it seems only right to serve up this easy chilli con carne taco bowl today. I love a good chilli with lots of toppings and tacos. These homemade tacos have only 2 ingredients so they are a real winner!
Easy Chilli Con Carne Taco Bowl
For me chilli is comfort food, however you serve it. Serve it family-style in a huge pot on the kitchen table with everyone digging in.
It can be set out with a whole host of toppings for a DIY feast. And chilli can be served just in a bowl with a hunk of bread or these delicious homemade tacos to dip into it.
What is in a chilli con carne?
I should qualify that in the USA it is always chili not chilli. This drives my spell check (which is of course American) batty when I’m doing a recipe that involves chilli in any way.
Anyway chilli con carne is basically the Mexican version of classic Bolognese. A meat and tomato sauce.
What goes into a chilli?
Folks from Texas (home of the TexMex) will tell you that chili con carne should only be made using minced beef (ground beef) and it should have beans in it. Meanwhile back in Mexico they actually call the dish carne con chili and only use stewing beef and never minced beef. They will also tell you that there should be no beans in the chili at all.
Well, I’m using stewing beef here (because that’s what I had in the freezer) so I can tick that box. However, I’m using beans, kidney beans, because we like them in our chilli.
Chocolate in chilli?
Yes, good dark 70% cocoa solids chocolate. But hang on, don’t overdo it here, you just want to pop in one or two squares of chocolate and then of course eat the rest. It would be rude not to!
How to make a good chilli con carne
Because I used stewing beef I made this easy chilli con carne in the oven and let it bubble away in there for an hour and a half while I got on with the rest of my life.
But if I were using minced beef (which I usually use in a chilli con carne) I would be making it on the stovetop and it would be ready in half an hour.
What spices and herbs are in a good chilli?
Many people just use chilli powder and that’s it. I prefer to use a fresh chilli finely chopped, garlic and dried oregano and ground cumin.
When to add the beans to your chilli.
I added my kidney beans just ten minutes before the chilli was ready to serve. If you chuck the beans into your chilli from the start you might well end up with just mush. So hold back on them beans till the end!
2 Ingredient Tacos!
I love a good taco. But right now in lockdown I don’t actually have any in the larder. However, I do have some self-raising flour and good old Greek yogurt so I made my own homemade tacos with just those two simple ingredients.
You can use this easy 2 ingredient taco recipe to make a simple pizza base or any sort of flatbreads to serve with hummus or a curry.
Add a pinch of salt and even some garlic powder to spice things up a bit if you like.
How to serve chilli con carne
As I said at the start of this post you can serve chilli in lots of different ways. With cornbread or tacos. You can serve chilli with rice or even chips.
Have your chilli con carni with totortillas or corn chips/crisps. Hell, serve chilli with French bread if that’s all you have. This is comfort food. It doesn’t stand on ceremony.
Chilli Toppings
Now the fun part of this easy chilli con carne taco bowl is putting it all together. I love the theatricality of this bowl.
With a fresh avocado (nicer than a dollop of guacamole any day), some salsa, rice, fresh coriander, grated cheese, wedges of lime, chillis, salsa and sour cream this is a feast in a bowl.
Substitutions
Don’t have sour cream? Then use Greek yogurt or just plain yogurt. Grated cheese, Any cheese will do. Can’t be bothered to make my super easy 2 ingredient homemade tacos. No problem, just use pita breads or whatever you have lurking in the kitchen to scoop up all that lovely rich chilli sauce.
If you don’t have limes then use lemons. It is just lovely to squeeze that zingy juice into your chilli sauce as it gives it a kick in the right direction to even better taste.
What do you do if you’ve made your chilli too hot?
Oh believe me I’ve fallen foul of this one. You have two courses of action here to cool that chilli down.
You can add lemon or lime juice to the chilli sauce.
Add yogurt or any dairy to the chilli sauce to calm it down.
Looking for other ways to use stewing beef? Then check out my amazing Beef Stefado recipe, a true Greek classic and packed with flavour.
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
Easy Beef Chilli Con Carne Taco Bowl
Ingredients
- 500 g beef stewing beef cut into cubes
- 1 tsp flour with a pinch of salt and pepper added
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 1 carrot diced
- 1 stick celery diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 chilli minced
- 20 g dark chocolate
- 400 g tinned tomatoes + 1 can of water
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 400 g canned kidney beans drained and rinsed
For the Tacos
- 6 tbsp Greek yogurt
- 6 tbsp self raising flour
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder optional
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C
- Mix the beef with the seasoned flour then add this to a pan that contains half of the olive oil and is already hot, you want to sear the beef on all sides then remove from pan and set aside
- add remaining oil to the pan and saute the onions for 5 minutes then add the carrot, celery, garlic and chilli and saute for another 5 minutes
- Pour in the tinned tomatoes (plus the water), oregano, cumin and chocolate and add the beef back to the pan and stir well before popping into the oven for at least 1 1/2 hours or until the beef is tender
- 10 minutes before you want to serve the chilli add the drained beans and stir again
- season with extra salt and pepper to taste
To make the tacos
- mix together the Greek yogurt and self raising flour in a bowl to form a dough
- add seasonings if you want to
- flour your surface and pull off pieces and roll out into rough circles about 15cm
- heat a frying pan without any sort of fat and dry fry the tacos till just going golden on each side, it just takes a couple of minutes
serving instructions
- boil up rice to serve with your chilli con carne taco bowl
- add a sliced avocado, sour cream, some sliced peppers and sweetcorn and salsa
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