Kids’ Chilli Con Carne Recipe
A healthy kids’ chilli con carne recipe
As the chilli growing Chilliman I could not have a kids’ recipe book section without a Kids’ Chilli Con Carne.
I have my own take on this classic chilli con carne recipe with a secret ingredient!
What is My Kids’ Chilli Con Carne Recipe Secret Ingredient?
Aha! What? Give my cooking secrets away? What give my secret chilli con carne ingredient away for FREE to CHILDREN??!!… OK then…
CHOCOLATE!! …Yep Choc Choc in the food!!
Kids’ Chilli Con Carne Recipe
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Kids Chilli Con Carne Recipe
Serves 8 Adults (Use Less Rice for Smaller Children)
Ingredients
- 500g of mince beef/chicken/turkey/ham/vegetarian mince, as lean as possible, brown and drain the mince if not lean, you can also substitute vegetables for mince to make it ultra-healthy.
- 2 Bell peppers diced or grated.
- 2 Onions diced or grated.
- 400g Kidney beans, or other beans.
- Two 400g tins of tomatoes, chopped or passata, or 50/50 400g of tomatoes plus 400ml of water.
- 2 tablespoons of cumin.
- 2 tablespoons of paprika, can be smoked.
- 2 tablespoons of oregano, or cinnamon.
- 1 tablespoon or a few cloves of garlic (optional).
- ¼ teaspoon of chilli, dried, fresh, frozen, chipotle or flakes – this recipe is for kids and at your safe discretion, the chilli can be increased to increase the heat.
- A pinch of salt to taste.
- A pinch of pepper to taste.
- 50g of dark chocolate – it’s better for you, but any chocolate will do – even chilli chocolate or drinking chocolate (optional).
- 4 tablespoons of sour cream, can be with chives, or crème fraiche, to blob on top of each chilli dish (optional).
- 600g of dried rice, plus double the amount of water and a pinch of salt. This is an adult portion – reduce accordingly for children.
Method
- Cut/dice/grate/rough cut the onion and peppers – some people prefer to grate rather than cut. It has the added bonus of breaking down the onion into small pieces and helps the release of the natural sugars.
- Boil a kettle and get a pan ready for the rice.
- Brown the mince in a large pan, wok or hob friendly casserole dish, on a medium heat, then pour off the liquid and set aside to re-enter the pan later.
- The mince has fats and therefore no cooking oil is required. Soften the vegetables in the pan. This further releases those natural sugars and starts add layers of flavour to the dish.
- Add the spices: cumin, paprika, oregano, salt, pepper, chilli and optional garlic. This adds more layers of flavour to the dish.
- Put the browned mince back in the pan.
- Add the kidney beans.
- Add the tomatoes (and water if using less tomatoes.)
- Mix and simmer for up to 30 minutes.
- Cook the rice according to the instructions on the packet, of the right portion size for kids, to arrive at the 30-minute end time.
- With about 5 minutes to go add the chocolate, allow it to melt and stir it in.
- Dish/plate up the rice, add the chilli, finish with a blob of sour cream of crème fraiche and maybe even add a fresh herb to the top if you have one!
A Hack to Hide Veg in the Kids’ Chilli Con Carne
You can blend up the kids’ chilli con carne, if the kids don’t like the look of the vegetables – when it’s blended smooth the vegetables are undetectable.
Storage of Kids’ Chili Con Carne
I think the flavours are much better if stored for a short while:
- Keep it in the refrigerator for a few days.
- Freeze portions ready to heat up or microwave later.
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Is it Spelled Chilli, Chili or Chile in Kids Chilli Con Carne Recipe?
I prefer chilli, but the word is spelled many different ways all over the world and the internet.
I have tried to use all the spellings of chili or chile. Chilis can be found everywhere from food delivery to film. Some dishes are spelled chili con carne, and the spelling using the title of the country Chile is sometimes used to describe a chile sauce or a chile recipe.
Who Are You?

From a handful of chilli seeds a chilli business grew out of my chilli growing hobby.
Chilli Adventure as a Local Food Evangelist
My mission as a Champion of Local Food Producers and a Local Food Evangelist was to educate people about chillies and my chilli products.
I became very successful and things got a little bit crazy. I was featured very highly in the press and media. I found myself on TV next to chefs and celebrities and was even ranked 4th in the UK for Luxury Foods by The Independent.
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I used my digital and social media skills to highly rank chilli event, chilli growing and chilli cooking videos on the internet and social media.
I did very, very well – I now run a company to do this for other people called:
www.Ecky-Thump.com
Please visit the website and contact me if you are interested in help with websites, SEO, social media or other digital requirements.
Chili Champion in the Local Food Hero Competition
I was voted into the UKTV Local Food Hero competition, and was fortunate enough to make the finals as a champion of local producers.
Chilliman TV
ITV1 ‘My North West’ came to film a documentary about my chilli growing and the BBC also came to help. I found myself all over the TV, radio, magazines and newspapers – I was a truly incredible ride.

National Chilli Events
I found myself on the bill with celebrity chefs at national food events. I entered ITV1’s Britain’s Best Dish and learned a lot about the health benefits of chillies.
The Chile Big Time
I found myself on the F-Word final with Gordon Ramsay alongside a host of celebrity guests.
Chili Product Success
My products were revered by some of the highest chefs in the land. I developed chili products that spanned many food categories from chili con carne, chili sauce to chile recipes and chili products stored chilly bottles.

The Story Of My Chili Adventure
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Book me to speak at an event – I cover many subject areas.
- Every one of you has the potential to succeed – claim it!
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- The lessons from my adventure could be the solution to your business, media and personal ambitions.
Chilli Food and Chili Growing
- It was all about my love for chillies. I was a grower of over 100 varieties of chili.
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Kids Chilli Con Carne FAQ
Can toddlers eat kids chili con carne?
Yes, kids’ chilli con carne is by its very nature milder than the fiery adult chili con carne recipes because it has less chile in it.
This children’s chilli con carne is packed with vegetables and the red meat has been browned and drained to make it more healthy.
How do you make kids chilli con carne milder or less hot?
The simple solution is to make the children’s chilli con carne bigger and dilute the chilli across a larger quantity.
There are various ingredients that can be added to attempt to reduce the heat such as:
*Starchy products such as rice and potatoes
*More liquid such as water, tomatoes, passata, stock or broth
*Granulated sugar
*Honey
*Ketchup
*Try topping the kids’ chilli con carne off with something creamy like a blob of cream, crème fraiche or soured cream.
Is kids’ chilli con carne healthy?
The vegetables in this chilli con carne are very healthy and nutritious.
Red kidney and pinto beans contain around 5g of fibre per serving.
A diet high in fibre has health benefits such as:
*Possibly reducing the risk of heart disease,
*Obesity, and
*Type 2 diabetes.
Beans are also:
*Low fat,
*Cholesterol-free
*Rich in protein, zinc, iron and folate.
The red meat in the children’s chili con carne is less healthy. Always try to use lower fat beef, brown the mince in the pan first and pour off any liquids.
The red meat can be substituted for other healthier types of mince such as chicken or turkey mince.
What can you serve with kids chili con carne?
Childrens chilli con carne is a versatile accompaniment to:
*A bed of plain, boiled rice, maybe spoon on some cream, crème fraiche, or soured cream.
*Tortilla chips topped with grated cheese.
*In a tortilla with chopped lettuce, tomatoes and maybe a homemade guacamole to make a burrito.
*Freshly cooked bread.
Does chilli get less spicy or hotter as it cooks?
The compound that makes the chili hot is called capsaicin which is an alkaloid substance. It cannot be destroyed by cooking, heating, freezing or drying – so what do you think?
Some claim that the kids’ chilli con carne gets hotter as it cooks, some say it gets milder.
My personal view is that the addition of pepper and salt increases the heat slightly. Also, that with the addition of more ingredients to the chilli and thus increasing the volume, the heat of the chilli is diluted across the increasing size of the dish.
What spices go well in a kids chili con carne?
There are many variations of homemade children’s chili con carne. Some of the ingredients can include:
*Chili powder
*Chilli flakes
*Homemade chili mixes
*Cumin
*Paprika
*Oregano
*Cayenne pepper
*Garlic powder
*Onion powder
*Coriander
*Cinnamon
*Salt
*Freshly ground pepper
What desserts go with a kids chili con carne?
The desserts that accompany a children’s chili con carne well include anything cold or creamy or sweet such as:
*Ice cream will cool and coat the inside of the mouth.
*Yoghurt will also coat the inside of the mouth and act as a cooling aid.
*Honey provides healthy sweetness.
In terms of cooling the heat of a chili, any form of starch such as bread, rice, or potatoes provide relief along with the cool creamy desserts and drinks.
What is the best secret ingredient for a kids chilli con carne recipe?
Some award-winning secret ingredients include:
*Chocolate.
*Sweet Spices.
*Marmite.
*Vegemite.
*Fish Sauce.
*Coffee or Espresso Powder.
*Worcestershire Sauce.
*Peanut Butter.
*Treacle or molasses.
*Cream on top.
*Soured cream on top.
*Crème fraiche on top.
Some information about chili recipes and food.
Adult Chilli Con Carne Recipe
The Hairy Bikers Chilli Con Carne is quite popular I believe. You could not meet a more fun pair of guys that The Hairy Bikers. They were a couple of real fun guys to meet on the food events circuit. I even ended up on stage with them at the number 1 food event in the annual calendar: The BBC Good Food Show at the NEC in Birmingham.
Chilli Sauce or Chilly Bottle
Are you searching for chilli sauce, or is it chili sauce? or chile sauce? You will find each type in a chilly bottle, and I may start making some chili sauce, perhaps a chili jam, chilli chutney, and what about chilli chocolate?
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Heat and sweetness always work well together. Some eat crispy honey chili potatoes straight out of the wok! There is no shortage of chili recipes out there for this tasty chili snack.
Marks And Spencer Has Brought Back Its Sweet Chilli Camembert
I once made my own chilli cheese! I had several chili heat variations and chilli variety flavours of chili cheese. New advances in chile cheese production are of great interest to me. The heat of the chile and the smooth, creamy cheese and the heat worked well togther – it was a very popular chile product of mine.
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RK Alker is an author of funny children’s books from Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, Earth!
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R.K. Alker is also The Chilliman from Little Green Men a master of The Ancient Lancastrian Art of Ecky Thump! and can be found on Blogger.com