30 Minute Chilli with Slow Cooked Flavour (Slow Cooker)

Source video by YouTube on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

This chilli was originally designed by Brian Lagerstrom as a 30-minute hob recipe that tastes like it has been simmering all day. The flavour-accelerating tricks (oven-grilled beef, chipotle in adobo, fire-roasted tomatoes, beef bouillon paste) work brilliantly in the slow cooker, where the long cook only deepens the result. You still brown the beef under the grill and sweat the aromatics on the hob first, then everything goes into the slow cooker to mingle. Finish by tasting for salt, sweet/acid balance, and heat before serving with sour cream, cheddar, onion, and crackers.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kgbeef mince (80/20 / beef mince, ideally chuck), pressed into a flat sheet on a tray

• 1 largewhite onion, finely diced
• 20 ggarlic, crushed (about 5 to 6 cloves)
• olive oil

• 50 gtomato paste (purée)
• 2 tinstinned diced tomatoes, drained
• 425 gpassata (tomato sauce)
• 800 gfire-roasted tinned tomatoes
• 2 pepperschipotle peppers in adobo sauce, blended into the fire-roasted tomatoes

• 60 gchilli powder
• 30 gpaprika
• 10 gground cumin
• chilli flakes

• 20 ghot sauce (e.g. Frank's)
• 30 gbrown sugar
• 30 gWorcestershire sauce
• 15 gcider vinegar
• 30 gbeef bouillon paste
• 10 gfine salt

• 4 tinstinned kidney beans (Bush's Best recommended), drained

• sour cream (add late)
• white onion, finely diced (add late)
• medium-sharp cheddar, grated (add late)
• oyster crackers (or saltines), crushed (add late)

Method

1. Tip the beef onto a baking tray and press it down into one flat, even sheet covering the tray.

   ~3 min

2. Place the tray on a rack about 20 cm (8 inches) below the grill element, then turn the grill to high. Grill (grill) for 8 to 10 minutes until the top is well browned and the beef is just cooked through. No need to preheat.

   ~10 min

3. While the beef grills, finely dice the onion and crush the garlic. Drain the diced tomatoes. Tip the fire-roasted tomatoes and the two chipotle peppers into a jug and blitz smooth with a stick blender.

   ~8 min

4. Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add a generous glug of olive oil, then the diced onion, garlic, and a strong pinch of salt. Sweat for 5 to 6 minutes until the onion is fully softened. This is important because there will be no long simmer to soften it later.

   ~6 min

5. Add the chilli powder, paprika, ground cumin, and a few pinches of chilli flakes. Stir and toast for 20 to 30 seconds, no longer, and keep the heat no higher than medium so the chilli powder does not burn and turn bitter.

   ~1 min

6. Stir in the blended chipotle tomato purée, the passata, the drained diced tomatoes, and the tomato paste. Scrape the bottom of the pan well to lift any stuck spices.

   ~2 min

7. Stir in the hot sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar, beef bouillon paste, and the salt. Bring to a low simmer.

   ~3 min

8. Crumble the grilled beef sheet into small pieces on its tray, keeping the particle size quite small so it does not feel tough in the finished chilli. Scrape the beef and all the roasting juices into the slow cooker pot.

   ~3 min

9. Pour the hot tomato and spice base over the beef in the slow cooker. Add the drained kidney beans and stir everything together.

   ~2 min

10. Cover and cook on Low for 6 hours or High for 3 hours. The chilli is ready as soon as the flavours have melded, but longer only deepens it.

11. Before serving, taste and adjust. Check salt first. Then balance sweet and acid: a little more brown sugar if too sharp, a splash more cider vinegar if too flat. Finally add more hot sauce to taste for heat. If the chilli is too thick, loosen with a splash of water.

    ~3 min

12. Ladle into shallow bowls and top with sour cream, finely diced white onion, plenty of grated cheddar, and a handful of crushed oyster crackers.

    ~2 min

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