Leftover chilli con carne enchiladas

The perfect recipe for using up leftover chilli con carne!

My husband is a bloody brilliant cook, he really is! Not only that, but he will happily cook the dinner.

I know, I’m lucky. 

I’m not telling you this to brag I promise, there is a point I’m trying to make. 

There is something he sucks at when it comes to food. Portion control! He will literally make enough food for at least 20 people. Dinner anyone?

We’ve tried freezing leftovers, but more often than not we forget it’s there. We’ve tried having the same dinner later in the week, but it gets a bit boring. Does this ever happen to you?

Buying in bulk can definitely save you money in the long run, but not if it languishes in the freezer and then eventually gets binned. 

That’s what gave me the idea of meal twinning.

Meal twinning: Using the your leftovers to create a non-identical twin meal.

No more left overs cluttering up the freezer and another super easy mid-week meal sorted.

Of course this recipe will work with any chilli, you can easily make it vegetarian or vegan,  but I thought I’d include my husbands recipe because it’s fab! Two recipes for the price of one, how does that sound?

Already have leftover chilli con carne? Skip past this to the recipe below…

Andy’s three bean & chorizo chilli con carne

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 1/2 chorizo ring cut into 1cm cubes
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp mild chilli powder
• 500g lean beef mince
• 1 and 1/2 peppers de-seeded and cut into 1 inch squares
• 2 tbsp mild chilli powder
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 – 3 tsp chipotle paste (depending on how hot you like it)
• 400g tin kidney beans drained and rinsed
• 400g tin black-eyed beans drained and rinsed
• 400g tin baked beans
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 400g carton or jar of passata

Method

1# Heat the oil in a large deep sided pan (I use a stock pot due to the quantity that this recipe makes). Fry the onions and chorizo on a medium heat, until the onions are soft and translucent and the chorizo has released its colour. Then add chilli flakes and 1 tbsp chilli powder into the pan.

2# After about ten minutes remove the onions and chorizo from the pan with a slotted spoon (leaving the chorizo flavoured oil behind) and set to one side. In the same pan fry the beef mince for about 5 minutes until browned (stirring regularly), season with salt and pepper. Add your chorizo and onion back to the pan and mix together.

3# Add the chopped peppers and cook for a couple of minutes. Stir in another 2 tbsp of the chilli powder, the tomato puree and chipotle paste. Stir all of this through ensuring the whole mixture is covered with the spices and pastes.

4# After a couple of minutes add all the beans, tomatoes and passata in to the pan. Simmer this, uncovered, over a low to medium heat for around 30 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Give it a taste about half way through and adjust the heat/flavour if necessary. Serve this with your favorite side dish.

So now that my husband has done all the hard work creating a Chilli from scratch, I’ll swoop in later in the week with this super easy, crowd-pleasing dish.

Leftover chilli con carne enchiladas

Ingredients

• 200g leftover chilli con carne (if you have less you can increase the rice)
• 100g long grain rice
• 4x flower tortilla wraps
• 1x jar tomato salsa
• 50g Cheddar cheese

Method

1# Cook the rice according to the packet instructions and then mix into the cold leftover chilli con carne.

2# Add several spoonfuls of the mixture to the centre of each flour tortilla, roll and place in a rectangular baking dish with the fold underneath.

3# Pour the salsa over the top of the tortillas, add the grated cheese and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees (or 180 degrees for fan assisted oven).

4# Serve, enjoy and feel ever-so-slightly smug at how easy that was!

TIP – if you have some left over tortilla chips, smash them up and sprinkle on top of the dish before it goes in the oven, for a little extra crunch in your topping.

How do you use up your leftovers? Let me know in the comments below. 

Why not pin for later?