Simple Savoury Mince Recipe for the Slow Cooker

Cooking doesn’t have to be a chore and I’ve just made this simple savoury mince recipe in the slow cooker, it’ll be used as the basis for a few meals in the coming days.  I often make up a mince mix that’s then used as the basis for several recipes in the coming days as it’s a really easy way of cooking mince I’ve picked up without any plan at all as it gives me time to think about how I’ll use it.

Savoury mince recipes have always been my favourites, I even bought a book nearly 40 years ago full of ideas and inspiration called Mince Make-a-Mix. Over the years I’ve spent hours poring over the photos of food in that book …. I do love to look at food, and eat it, just never been keen on the whole process and aftermath of the cooking part of getting fed!

I’d picked up a pack of 500 grams of mince which had to be used immediately, so cooking it in the slow cooker made most sense and, as I didn’t have a plan for it, the recipe needed to be kept simple.

Simple Savoury Mince Recipe in the Slow Cooker:

• 500 grams beef mince 
• 1 tin of tomatoes
• 1 tin of butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 tablespoons of dried onions, or 1 medium onion chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (cayenne is a chilli powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
• small cup of water

Method:

1. Place the contents of the tin of tomatoes into the slow cooker, with the pack of mince (roughly cut up), the butter beans, the onion and the cayenne pepper and black pepper.  I then added a little extra water as my tin of tomatoes wasn’t watery.  You don’t have to stir this if you don’t want to – I didn’t, I just put in the tomatoes first, then the beef, then the butter beans and onions, then tipped the sauce/peppers on top.
2. Place the lid on the slow cooker and turn the slow cooker on for 1 hour on High.  At this point I do like to give it all a good stir through, so I can check it’s got enough liquid in… but that’s just me, I love to fiddle with things 🙂
3. Turn the slow cooker down to low and let it cook for at least 6 hours.

This savoury mince was then cooked and it can be eaten straight away if you wish, on a bed of spaghetti or with potatoes/vegetables on the side.  I didn’t cook it to eat it now though, so I let it cool down and decanted it into a lidded container and placed it in the fridge.  In this instance, what I had fitted precisely into one of my microwave lidded bowls, so I used one of those just for convenience – it’s got a handle, so I’ll easily be able to tip out the quantities I need in the coming days, I do like a handle you can just grip and hold, it saves me dropping things and getting in a bit of a muddle.

There’s enough for 4-5 generous portions.

I’ll use this savoury mince mix in the following ways:

• Serve a portion as it is with mashed potato and a side vegetable
• Mix half a can of tinned carrots (chopped roughly) into the mix, with a handful of peas – place that in a dish topped with rustic mashed potato and bake in the oven for 20 minutes as Cottage Pie.
• Mix some of this savoury mince with half a can of tinned carrots (chopped finely) and serve with spaghetti as Spaghetti Bolognese.
• Mix the basic savoury mince mix with some chilli, leave it to blend together if possible for some hours, then reheat as chilli con carne.

Can You Freeze Savoury Mince?:

Yes, you can freeze savoury mince.  Simply let it cool, then portion it up in your usual bags or freezer boxes and put into the freezer.  Defrost when you want to use it by putting it in the fridge overnight, or you can microwave it on a low setting to defrost it “on demand”.

Menu Cost:

I picked the mince up at a reduced price of just £1.11 for 500 grams as it needed cooking by the next day, the usual price of this is £1.89 (although currently £1.59 at Lidl).  The tin of butter beans were from Lidl – they are fat butter beans and great in the slow cooker, a tin costs about 35p.  I used Waitrose tinned tomatoes, at a cost of £0.25/can, the dried onions cost about £0.05.  So the cost of this savoury mince was about £1.76, and even at full price this would cost ~£2.50 and would easily serve 4-6 people in a variety of ways. Frugal food!

It’s good to have some basic recipes for items you buy unexpectedly that have a short shelf life.  That way when you pick them up you know you can instantly use them.