We do not cook the rice separately in a pot on the side. Instead, the 200 g of rice goes straight into the chili. The mince draws it in briefly during frying, and then the red wine and vegetable stock take care of the remaining cooking. One dish, one appliance, one sauce that seasons the rice as it goes.
We have been cooking this recipe for years whenever things need to move quickly but beans, sweet corn and mince still have to land on the plate. By now we know exactly where most people go wrong, and why 1 tsp of cumin and 1 tsp of hot smoked paprika do more than any expensive chili blend from a jar.
Chili Con Carne Rice with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 19 ✓
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 dried chilli dried
- 2 onions
- 20 g rapeseed oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- 400 g mixed minced meat
- 30 g tomato puree
- 200 g rice
- 100 g red wine
- 200 g vegetable stock
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp hot smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 400 g chopped tomatoes, tinned
- 400 g kidney beans, tinned
- 1 green pepper
- 1 yellow pepper
- 200 g sweet corn, tinned
Instructions 0 / 8
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1
Garlic.
Peel the garlic cloves, add them to the mixing bowl together with the dried chilli and chop for 3 sec / speed 8.
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2
Onions.
Peel the onions, halve them, add to the mixing bowl, chop for 6 sec / speed 5 and push down with the spatula.
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3
Sweating.
Add the oil and sugar and sweat without the measuring cup inserted for 3 min / Varoma / speed 1.
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4
Mince.
Add the mince, tomato puree and rice and fry for 5 min / Varoma / reverse direction / speed 1.
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5
Deglaze.
Deglaze with the red wine and vegetable stock.
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6
Cook.
Add the spices, tomatoes and kidney beans and cook for 15 min / 100°C / reverse direction / speed 2.
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7
Peppers.
Meanwhile, wash the peppers, halve them, remove the seeds and stalk, and cut into pieces.
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8
Finish cooking.
Add the peppers and sweet corn and cook for 5 min / 100°C / reverse direction / speed 2.
Tip: If you would like to cook rice without chili, we have the right basic recipe for rice in the Thermomix® for you.
Nutrition per serving
Why rice and chili belong in the mixing bowl together
Classic Chili Con Carne is served with rice as a side, cooked separately. That works, but it requires two pots and two cooking times. We take a different approach: the 200 g of rice goes into the mixing bowl right after the mince and tomato puree have been fried. It absorbs the 100 g of red wine and 200 g of vegetable stock directly and cooks through the full 20 minutes. The result is closer to a Mexican-inspired one-pot dish than a classic chili with a side.
The key point where many other recipes fall short: the rice is added only at the end, or cooked separately. It then misses out on the stock it should absorb during cooking and stays flavourless. In our version it becomes part of the sauce and already tastes good before we add the beans, sweet corn and peppers.
Cumin and paprika into the pot before frying
This is the most important trick with Chili Con Carne, and it takes no extra time. Anyone who stirs cumin and paprika into a finished sauce at the end will only taste them on the surface. Both spices need heat and a little fat for their essential oils to release. In our recipe we add the spices together with the tomatoes and beans, because the mixing bowl already has a good amount of residual fat from frying the mince and tomato puree. If you want to go even deeper on flavour, you can add the half tsp of cumin and the full tsp of hot smoked paprika right after sweating the onions and let them cook for 30 seconds at speed 1 without any temperature before the mince goes in. That draws considerably more depth from the spices.
Cayenne pepper, on the other hand, does not go into a hot pan in our method. A quarter of a tsp is enough, and we add it together with the salt and tomatoes. Cayenne is pure heat, not aroma, and needs no toasting. We chop the dried chilli right at the start with the garlic for 3 seconds at speed 8. That distributes the heat evenly through the stock.
Red wine, stock and the right balance
100 g of red wine sounds like very little, but it is exactly the right amount. More wine gives a sauce that turns acidic and dominates the rice. We use a full-bodied, dry red wine, not a sweet glass left over from a birthday party. Tempranillo, Merlot or a simple Cabernet all work well. The 200 g of vegetable stock balances the wine and provides the savoury base that the mince and rice build on.
If you have no red wine at home or are cooking the chili for children, replace it 1:1 with stock. You lose one note of depth in flavour, but the cumin makes up for it. What we would not recommend: replacing the wine with beer. The bitterness does not cook off in the Thermomix® and overpowers the tomatoes.
Where reverse direction is essential and where it is not
From the point we add the mince, we work exclusively in reverse direction. This is non-negotiable in the Thermomix®: once mince, beans, sweet corn and peppers are in the bowl, any forward speed would chop the meat and blend the beans. What would result from the normal direction would be something closer to a bolognese, not a chili with texture. Reverse direction means the blades push the ingredients gently with their blunt sides. At 100°C and speed 2 that is enough to distribute heat evenly without tearing anything apart.
When frying the garlic, chilli and onions, normal direction is correct, because we specifically want the chopping action here. 3 seconds at speed 8 for garlic and chilli, then 6 seconds at speed 5 for the onions. Anyone already using reverse direction at this stage will end up with large chunks of onion in the chili, which many people do not enjoy.
If you still want the rice cooked separately: use the simmering basket
Sometimes we cook the chili for guests who prefer their rice plain as a side. In that case we leave the rice out of the ingredients list above and instead place the simmering basket with 200 g of basmati and 300 g of water on top of the Thermomix® as soon as we add the tomatoes and beans. While the 15 minutes of cooking time run at 100°C, the rice cooks in the simmering basket at the same time. That is the true parallel processing we love the Thermomix® for: one appliance, two finished components, no second pot.
With this variation we only need 5 more minutes of cooking time for the peppers and sweet corn at the end, and both are ready at the same time. Important: if the rice is removed from the mixing bowl, the stock quantity needs to go up to 250 g, otherwise the chili becomes too thick. Anyone who has tried both will notice that the rice cooked inside the Thermomix® has more flavour, while the rice in the simmering basket stays fluffier and more separate. Both approaches are right, they just produce slightly different dishes.
Drain the beans, add the sweet corn last
Always drain and rinse the 400 g of tinned kidney beans under cold water. The liquid from the tin is nutritious but dark, slightly foamy and makes the chili look muddy. Rinsing also removes a large part of the carbohydrates responsible for digestive discomfort. Drain the 200 g tin of sweet corn as well, but do not rinse it, because the sweetness in the corn liquid is valuable and works against the heat of the chili.
Sweet corn goes in only during the last 5 minutes, together with the peppers. Neither needs 20 minutes of cooking time. They should just warm through briefly in the chili. Anyone who cooks the sweet corn from the start will end up with soft, flavourless kernels. The same goes for the green and yellow peppers: added in pieces they keep their bite and colour. Cut too small, they cook down to mush.
Adjusting the heat without losing the flavour
Three sources of heat go into the chili: 1 dried chilli, 1 tsp of hot smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. If children are eating, leave out the cayenne and the dried chilli and use sweet paprika instead of hot smoked. The result is mild but still well seasoned thanks to the cumin. For those who prefer it hotter, add a second dried chilli or use 1/2 tsp of cayenne. Anything above 1 tsp of cayenne just burns and covers up the tomatoes and beans.
A tip if the chili has turned out too hot: stir in a tablespoon of soured cream at the end. Milk fat binds capsaicin and softens the burn without destroying the flavour. Adding water or stock does not help and simply thins the sauce.
What tastes even better the next day
Chili Con Carne with rice tastes better reheated than fresh. Overnight in the fridge the rice absorbs the last of the sauce, and the cumin and paprika spread more evenly. We often cook double the quantity and eat the rest the following day for lunch with a dollop of soured cream and a few freshly chopped coriander leaves on top. In the fridge the chili keeps for 3 days in a sealed container. Freezing works well too, although the rice will be a little softer after defrosting than it was the first time. For freezing, cook the chili without rice and cook fresh rice in the simmering basket on the day of serving.
What to serve alongside
Because the dish already contains rice and beans, no heavy side is needed. We serve the chili with a spoonful of guacamole made in the Thermomix®, a dollop of salsa dip from the Thermomix® and a few tortilla chips for dipping. Anyone who prefers something more substantial might enjoy chili cheese nachos from the Thermomix® as a starter or a second main on a games night. The classic Chili Con Carne in the Thermomix® without rice is there for everyone who prefers to cook their side separately.
If you would like to try the rice on its own sometime: cooking rice in the Thermomix® explains the basic simmering basket recipe and gives the correct water quantities for basmati, jasmine and long-grain rice.
What other recipes do differently
Other Thermomix® versions cook the rice separately in salted water or place it in the simmering basket. We mix it directly into the chili, because it absorbs the tomato sauce and tastes even better the following day. Instead of classic beef mince, turkey mince works well for a lighter version. For the beans, we combine kidney, black and white beans for more depth, whereas many recipes use only one variety. For seasoning, cumin and sweet paprika are essential, and cayenne pepper adjusts the heat from mild to hot to extra spicy. Soured cream and grated Cheddar round off the plate.
