Slow cooker chilli con carne and Tefal Turbo Cuisine + Fry review

This slow cooker chilli con carne is a delicious, healthy dinner all the family will love.

*This is a sponsored post for Very.co.uk

Slow cooker chilli con carne is a great, healthy dinner full of vegetables that all the family will enjoy. Slow cook it for some true comfort food or you can ‘cheat’ and make a pressure cooked version of it in no time with this Tefal Turbo Cuisine + fry.

This recipe is now a firm favourite with our family. It’s full of flavour, without being spicy, and is packed full of vegetables.

The Tefal Turbo Cuisine

I was really excited to make this chilli using the Tefal Turbo Cuisine + Fry. I’ve heard great things about instant pots / pressure cookers, and have wanted to try one for a while, but this was a first for me.

To call the Tefal Turbo Cuisine + Fry a pressure cooker is selling it very short though. It’s an instant pot / air fryer in one. In fact, it’s extremely versatile, with 2 swappable lids giving you 15 different cooking programmes. So you can stew, make soup, fry, steam, bake and slow cook and more before swapping to the Turbo crisp lid and using it as an air fryer.

We’ve slow cooked our meals before, so I already know how delicious they can make your dinners. But I loved that the ‘stew’ or pressure cooked setting allows you to get a similar end result but in a fraction of the time. It’s great when you want to enjoy the same tender quality you get to a slow cooked meal but you haven’t left yourself enough time.

The Tefal Turbo Cuisine is really easy to set up and use. Simply turn the dial to select your setting then you can adjust the time and temperature.

Apparently you can cook a whole roast chicken in it in half an hour, so I can’t wait to try!

You can purchase your own Tefal Turbo Cuisine & Fry from Very.co.uk or check out some of their other slow cookers.

There are also lots of ways children can get involved in making the dish: from preparing the vegetables, measuring the spices or stirring the sauce. This is an all around great family dish.

How can kids help to make this slow cooker chilli con carne?

This slow cooker chilli con carne is a family favourite. Not only because it’s a tasty, healthy and full of vegetables, but because it’s so easy to make with lots of chances for kids to get involved.

Kids can help prepare the vegetables – from peeling the onions and garlic to helping to chop the peppers and celery.

Young children can also help measure out all the spices. If you’re worried about them being too heavy handed – get them to add all the spices to a small dish first.

Older children can also help to fry off the meat, and add and stir everything together in the slow cooker.

The Tefal Turbo Cuisine is so easy to use, my kids were able to take charge of nearly all of it. The control panel is really simple to use and understand, so they could choose the right setting and programme it on their own with minimal guidance.

The only part I took over was when we released the pressure at the end of cooking. The one-click steam release system does make it safe and simple to do, but I’m always a bit overly cautious around steam/heat and small children in the kitchen.

Why make chilli in a slow cooker?

Cooking chilli con carne in a slow cooker makes the meat deliciously tender and soft and full of flavour.

Chilli con carne is a classic slow cooker recipe which allows you to prepare your dinner in advance and forget about it, knowing you’re going to come back to a delicious dinner, that’s succulent and flavourful.

The Tefal Turbo Cuisine has a slow cooker setting so you can leave this bubbling away for 4 hours. Alternatively, use the pressure cooker mode to speed up the cooking to around half an hour.

Do I need to fry the mince first?

Yes. Frying the mince first will stop it clumping later and adds to the flavour. If your mince is very greasy, you can also drain some the oil before moving on to the next step.

The Tefal Turbo Cuisine we used has a ‘stir fry setting’ so we were able to brown the mince in the slow cooker (which is great as it’s one less dish to wash!) But if your slow cooker doesn’t have this functionality, you can brown yours in a pan.

Why add chocolate to the chilli?

Chocolate may seem like a strange thing to add to a savoury dish, but don’t worry, it won’t make it sweet and you shouldn’t eve taste it.

What a few pieces of dark chocolate should do is enrich the chilli and add some depth of flavour and really make the spices sing. It can also balance any acidity from the tomatoes.
Make sure the chocolate you use is a dark chocolate, with a high cocoa content – 70% or preferably 80% or above.

Can I make the chilli spicier?

Of course you can. My kids don’t like spicy food so I don’t add much chilli powder. You could make yours spicier by adding ½ teaspoon or more of chilli powder. And rather than using a mild chilli powder, swap it for hot chilli powder.

Can I freeze the chilli?

Yes. Chilli con carne freezes well. Some people think it even tastes better once it’s been frozen as it allows the flavours to develop.

To freeze the chilli, wait for it cool down, then pop it in a freezer bag or freezable container. It should keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. Make sure you defrost it and heat it fully when you serve it.

What do I serve it with?

You can serve this chilli with some rice or plain tortilla chips. Or you could even use the chilli as a filling for a baked potato or in some tacos.

What mince should I use?

We’ve used a mixture of beef and pork mince (about 60% beef to 40% pork). Not only is it cheaper, I find it makes the chilli softer in texture and gives it a nicer flavour. You could use 100% beef mince if you prefer.

Alternatively, you could make this meal vegetarian, by swapping to a meat-free corn based mince.

Can I use something else rather than kidney beans?

Kidney beans are normally added to chilli. In fact they’re sometimes even called chilli beans. If you don’t have any or want an alternative, any bean will do.

Cannellini beans, pinto beans or black beans would all be good substitutions.

Ingredients

750g mince (beef or a mixture of beef and pork)
1 onion
1-2 red peppers
2 sticks of celery
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons coriander
2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
400g tin chopped tomatoes
100ml beef stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
240g tin of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2-3 squares of dark chocolate
100g sweetcorn (frozen or tinned)

How to make a slow cooker chilli con carne

Preheat your slow cooker/instant pot

The Tefal Turbo Cuisine takes a moment to heat up, so turn it on and get it going on the brown/stir fry setting before you start.

Prepare the vegetables

Dice the onion, celery and peppers and peel the garlic. Younger children might be able to help peel the onion and garlic, and if you have older children who can use a sharp knife, you could get them to help chop the pepper and celery into small pieces.

Set them aside for now.

Brown the mince and onions

Heat a tablespoon of oil in your frying pan if you’re using one or your slow cooker if it has a frying functionality. Cook the onions for a few minutes until they have softened, then add the mince and cook it for a few minutes until it has browned.

In our Tefal Turbo Cuisine, we followed the manufacturers guidelines and set it for 3 minutes on the brown/stir fry programme.

Measure out the spices

Get your kids to measure the spices and add them to a small bowl. (We tend to measure them out into a small bowl first just in case the kids are a bit heavy handed!) Make sure they use their finger to level the teaspoons before you add them to your bowl so that you add just the right amount.

Add all the chilli con carne ingredients to the Turbo Cuisine

Get your kids to add all the remaining ingredients to your instant pot and give them all a stir so it’s well mixed.

To cook it in the pressure cooker

Put the lid on it and turn it to ensure it is locked. Programme it to ‘stew’ for 7 minutes. The pressure cooker will then get up to temperature and pressure before cooking the chilli for the 7 minutes.

* If you have a different instant pot, make sure you follow the manufacturers recommendations and cooking times.

Once ready, the Turbo Cuisine will switch to a keep warm mode. You can press the button on top to release the pressure before safely unlocking it (this isn’t really a job for small children as it releases a lot of steam.)

To cook it in a slow cooker

You could also slow cook this chilli in the Turbo Cuisine + Fry (or alternative slow cooker) using the ‘slow cooker’ setting. To do this, add the mince, onions, vegetables, spices, tin of tomatoes, tomato puree and beef stock to the slow cooker (leave out the remaining ingredients for now).

Get your kids to stir everything together then set your slow cooker to cook on high for around 4 hours, or on low for 6-8 hours.

Around half an hour before the end of your cooking time add the kidney beans, sweetcorn and pieces of chocolate.

Serve with rice and tortilla chips.

Slow cooker chilli con carne

cookingwithmykids

This slow cooker chilli con carne is a delicious, healthy dinner all the family will love.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 15

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 6

Equipment

1 Pressure cooker Tefal Turbo Cuisine

Ingredients

750 g mince beef or a mixture of beef and pork
1 onion
1-2 red peppers
2 sticks of celery
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons coriander
2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
400 g tin chopped tomatoes
100 ml beef stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
240 g tin of kidney beans drained and rinsed
2-3 squares of dark chocolate
100 g sweetcorn frozen or tinned