A bubbly casserole of sorts, this Mexican beef and bean is like a baked version of chilli con carne with lots of melty cheese – but faster to make. Think of it like your ultimate all-purpose Mexican beef – stuff in tacos, DIY burrito wraps, dunk with corn chips – like nachos!

Ingredients

▢2 tbsp olive oil
▢1 red onion , finely chopped
▢2 garlic cloves , finely minced
▢1 green capsicum / bell pepper , cut into 1cm / 1/2″ cubes (or other colour)
▢500g/ 1 lb beef mince (ground beef) (Note 1)
▢400g/ 14oz can red kidney beans or black beans , drained (or other beans)
▢1 cup tomato passata (Note 2)
▢1/3 cup pickled sliced jalapeño (Note 3)
▢1 1/2 cups Colby cheese , shredded (or other cheese, Note 4)

Mexican spice mix:

▢1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
▢1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (sub normal paprika)
▢1 tsp garlic powder (sub onion powder)
▢1 tsp onion powder (sub garlic powder)
▢1 tsp dried oregano
▢1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (sub black pepper)
▢1 tsp cooking/kosher salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C / 400°F (180°C fan).

2. Sauté – Heat the olive oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium high heat (or other oven-proof
pan). Cook onion, garlic and capsicum for 3 minutes.

3. Cook beef & spices – Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until you no longer see
raw meat. Add spices, then cook for 1 minute.

4. Beans & tomato – Add kidney beans and passata. Stir, then bring to a simmer.

5. Cheese it! Scatter the jalapeño across the surface, top with cheese.

6. Bake 15 minutes (no lid) then remove from the oven.

7. Serve! Scoop into bowls and serve with corn chips or tortillas with your favourite Mexican
fixings (guacamole or avocado sauce pico de gallo or restaurant style salsa, fresh
coriander/coriander, sour cream). Dunk like nachos, make DIY burritos or tacos!

Notes

Servings – This will serve 5 to 6 people depending on how you serve it. As a burrito or taco
stuffing, it will easily serve 6 if not 7 people, once you factor in the toppings. If served with corn
chips for dunking, it will probably serve 5 (because corn chips is less bulk than tortillas).

1. Meat – Recipe will work great with chicken, turkey or pork. Actually,even lamb!

2. Passata – this is a thick smooth tomato puree, see here for more information. Substitute with
crushed tomato or what’s called “tomato sauce” or “tomato puree” in the US (eg. Hunts).

3. Pickled jalapeno is terrific here for something a little tangy and a bit of spiciness. Feel free to
omit.

4. Cheese – any good melting cheese can be used here, except if using mozzarella I’d add a
handful of parmesan on top because mozzarella, while an excellent melting cheese, doesn’t
actually have that much flavour (this recipe relies on cheese for extra flavour boost for a quick
recipe).

Leftovers will keep for 3 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.

Nutrition

Calories: 440cal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated
Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 88mg | Sodium: 994mg | Potassium:
702mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1492IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 294mg | Iron: 4mg