Forget the beef, the pig has entered the building. This rich and smoky pork mince chilli is everything we love about a proper chilli con carne, but with a porky twist.
This is our gloriously rich, smoky Chilli Con Oink – made with pork mince and plenty of cumin. It’s deep, savoury, a little smoky, properly spicy and cooked down until it’s thick enough to sit proudly on a plate rather than slosh around.
There’s a bit of dark chocolate hiding in there too, because we’re grown-ups and apparently that’s what grown-ups do.
Serve it with rice, tortilla chips, soured cream, grated cheese and whatever other chilli-related nonsense you fancy.
We like this with 10% fat pork mince because the extra fat brings loads of flavour to the chilli. You can absolutely use 5% if you prefer, although it may need a little extra oil when browning.
How to make Pork Mince Chilli
Chilli Con Oink
Ingredients
Method
- Heat a large, heavy based saucepan or casserole over a medium-high heat.
- Add the pork mince and break it up with a wooden spoon. Leave it alone for a couple of minutes at a time so it actually browns rather than simply steaming in it's own juices.
- You want plenty of deep, caramelised bits on the bottom of the pan.
- If you've used 5% fat mince, you might need to add 1 tbsp olive oil.
- Add the onion and peppers and cook for 6-8 minutes until they have softened and started to colour.
- Add the garlic and cook for a further 1 minute.
- Now add the cumin seeds, ground cumin, smoked paprika, chilli powder and oregano.
- Stir everything together and cook for 1-2 minutes until the spices are fragrant and the pork is completely coated. This is where the cumin get's to do it's thing.
- Add the tomato puree and stir it through the pork and spices.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly until the puree darkens and starts sticking slightly to the bottom of the pan. Don't rush this bit – it makes a difference!
- Add the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar.
- Season generously with salt and black pepper.
- Give everything a good stir, scraping up all of the lovely sticky bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Bring it to a gentle simmer.
- Turn the heat down and leave the chilli to simmer, uncovered, for around 45 minutes.
- You're looking for the sauce to reduce and thicken until it's rich and glossy. If it starts to look too dry before the pork is beautifully tender, add a splash more stock.
- Stir in the kidney beans and break the dark chocolate up into the pan.
- Cook for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- The chocolate shouldn't make it taste like chocolate, it simply adds another layer of richness and helps round out the chilli.
- Taste. Then taste again. Add more ground cumin, chilli powder, salt or pepper if you think it needs it.
- Take the chilli off the heat and squeeze in the lime juice. Give it one final stir and leave it to sit for 10 minutes before serving.
- The little bit of acidity right at the end stops all of that richness from becoming heavy.
- Pile it onto some steamed white rice and go nuts with the toppings.
- Grated cheddar, soured cream, chopped coriander, sliced spring onions and a squeeze of lime all work perfectly.
- If you want more fire in your belly, thinly slice some fresh red and green chillies and pile them on top.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is provided as a guide only and may vary depending on ingredients, brands and portion sizes.
Cush’s Notes
Tried this recipe?
Please consider Leaving a Review!You could also add some of our Quick Pickled Red Onions on the side to give this a little more zing!