Chilli Without Beans

Asked by MissMelGA. Answered on 20th September 2016

Full question

For the Cornbread Topped Chilli Con Carne, can I omit the beans? Should I add something else in its place? Not a big fan of beans, especially red kidney beans, and my husband will not eat any sort of bean. Thanks!

Our answer

Nigella's Cornbread Topped Chilli Con Carne(from FEAST) is a chilli made with minced (ground) beef and canned and drained red kidney beans. If you don't like kidney beans then black (turtle) beans are a good alternative. However it is possible to leave out the beans and certain chilli recipes do not contain beans.

If you wish to add an alternative then diced red (bell) peppers add some colour. You would need to use 4-5 large peppers and add them just after frying the onions at the first step. For a bean-free chilli you may find that at the end of the cooking time in step 3 the chilli has a little too much liquid. If this is the case then just uncover the pan and simmer for an extra 20-30 minutes, or until the chilli has a consistency that you like. Also the chilli without beans will not serve quite as many people, we estimate that it will serve about 12-15 people instead.