I’m quite bloody minded, you might have noticed. For the longest time after acquiring my Instant Pot, I refused to use the functions and instead cooked everything on Manual. It was a great learning experience as I really got to understand how the IP works but then… life happened. Gimme all the preset functions!

My Instant Pot Chunky Chilli might take 70 minutes of pressure cooking but as always, you simply press a button and walk away until it is done, safe in the knowledge that the Instant Pot is taking very good care of your precious ingredients.

This recipe makes a huge portion of chilli, which is great at it does take over an hour to cook. This is one of my batch cooking staples and what I love to do is to ladle out the chilli into freezer safe bags or pots before I reduce the sauce down but after adding the final ingredients.

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Cook chilli *and* rice at the same time in one Instant Pot – from Frozen!” quote=”Cook chilli *and* rice at the same time in one Instant Pot – from Frozen!”]

That way, you can reheat the frozen lump of chilli in portions directly from frozen in your Instant Pot, only adding 2 tbsp of water to the pot along with your frozen lump of meat! Cook on Manual High for 15 mins and do a QPR a and boom, after a good stir you will have a beautifully thick and glossy sauce for your chunky chilli. Delish!

You may have made my other chilli recipes before and wondered what is different with this one. Well, I normally do chilli one of two ways – with meat or completely meat-free using mixed beans instead. This time around, I have chosen the lean and very frugal stewing steak (sometimes sold as casserole steak) which really does need a whole lot of cooking to tenderise.

For my Slimming World buddies, I buy mine at Lidl where they sell lean diced beef that is actually labelled as “5% fat” which is reassuring so I don’t have to worry about Synning it. Of course, if you aren’t a SW-er then use a bit of oil and a fattier cut of beef if you prefer.

As for the rest of the dish, there are a few things which are just magic, in the flavour department. Worcestershire sauce has long been a part of my kitchen but it’s taken the significant reduction in the amount of oil I cook with since joining Slimming World to really use it to it’s fullest potential.

Here in Sheffield, we have our own one called Henderson’s Relish but whichever you use, it is salty, savoury and just deeply tasty. It works well in many a savoury dish or on top of things like cheese on toast or even cottage pie.

Next up, are my favourite stock cubes. I won’t apologise for not making my own stock apart from to make gravy at Christmas! Kallo make a variety of organic and mostly, very low salt stock cubes and I have a big jar of them in my kitchen at all times. You do have to watch your salt intake on SW as it’s easy to keep on pouring in sauces like soy or Worcestershire which are very high in salt so when I can get low salt stock, I always do:

I prefer to add my own blend of spices when making chilli or curry and this recipe is no exception, however, I do use my Cajun Seasoning here as it is a shortcut plus it is hot and spicy. Perfect for a chilli con carne! I can’t recommend making your own spice mixes enough and here is my Cajun Seasoning recipe:

A final secret weapon for this Instant Pot Chunky Chilli is another ingredient which I am having a renaissance with at the moment – Peppadew peppers. Back in the day, Hungry Hubby and I would add these to salads but I think we had too many and years went by without them. However, Daddums has developed a penchant for cherry peppers stuffed with ricotta and Peppadews are the exact same thing. Sweet or fiery, you chose your heat preference but regardless, they are so damned moreish I defy you to not pop more than a couple directly into your mouth before tumbling the rest into your chilli!

The last thing to tell you about this Instant Pot Chunky Chilli is to say how we eat it. My preference has to be with steamed basmati rice and a healthy sprinkling of cheese. But, Hungry Hubby loves chips so on occasion, I will make some oven baked wedges dusted with smoked paprika and garlic salt or if I don’t want more starchy carbs, I do the same with chunks of butternut.

You can’t go wrong with a chilli topped baked potato in my estimation plus as Christmas is a mere matter of days away, why not serve your Instant Pot Chunky Chilli with a pile of tortilla crisps or triangles of toasted pitta bread as a dip to welcome festive visitors into your home with? Have some bowls of cheese, guacamole, sour cream or whatever else you like with your chilli ready for your guests to make their nibbles their own.

What do you top your chilli with?

Yield: 6-8 portions

Instant Pot Chunky Chilli (Syn Free)

A full bodied rich chilli con carne made with the frugal cut of beef, stewing steak. Make use of the Stew button on your Instant Pot to make this delicious and satisfying Syn Free Chilli

Ingredients

1 cal oil spray such as Fry Light
700g less than 5% stewing steak
2 large onions, roughly chopped
4 ribs of celery, diced
1 large courgette, diced
250g mushrooms (button/chestnut/portobello as liked)
6 cloves of garlic, grated or minced
1 tbsp cajun spice (see link to my recipe to make your own below)
1 beef stock cube (I love Kallo ones)
6 tbsp tomato purée
2 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce/Henderson's relish
1-2 cans of beans (kidney, black or mixed beans all work well) - 400g sized tins
1-2 cans of sweetcorn - approx 200g sized tins
1 jar of Peppadew peppers in brine, well drained and chopped in half

Instructions

Start by setting the Instant Pot to Sauté and spray liberally with one cal oil spray. Add the beef and brown all sides.
Add the veg one at a time, cooking for a couple of minutes to get a bit of charring on them before adding the next. I find if I chop them as I add them, there is just the right amount of time for browning whilst I prep the next veg.
Add the garlic, spices, crumble in the stock cube and then add the tomato purée and stir very.
Add the canned tomatoes and Worcestershire sauce. Stir very, very well and add about 200ml of water (I swill out the tomato cans with this before adding to the pot).
Be sure to scrape up any caramelisation from the bottom of the pot and mix all the ingredients at this stage - it's very important as the pot is going to be very full now. Cancel the Sauté mode.
Put the lid on, set the vent to Sealing and press the "Stew" button then use the adjust function to reduce the cooking time to 70 minutes (it is preset to 80 minutes).
When the cooking time is done, do a QPR and stir well before adding the beans, sweetcorn and Peppadew peppers. Use the Sauté function to reduce the liquid down to your liking but stay close by to the pot so you can stir it regularly or it will catch and burn on the bottom. Some caramelisation is delish but you don't want a solid layer of char spoiling the flavour of your chilli!

Notes

This blog and recipe is in no way affiliated with Slimming World. Always check ingredients yourself against official Slimming World guidelines to see if they have Syn values or not.
Link to my recipe for cajun spice - Homemade Cajun Seasoning recipe
* = If you don't want to make up a full batch of my Cajun Seasoning simply substitute for 1 tsp each of dried chilli, oregano, thyme, smoked paprika and ground cumin
Freezing advice - if making ahead to freeze for another day, then do not use the Sauté mode to reduce the liquid down, especially if you want to reheat it from frozen in your Instant Pot. The extra liquid will evaporate on reheating and give you the perfect texture of sauce.

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Instant Pot Chunky Chilli (Syn Free)

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

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