cooking · main dish
Ultimate Beef Cheek Chili Con Carne
From a video by John Quilter · 9 min watch
Slow-cooked beef cheek chili con carne flavored with three types of dried chilies rehydrated in coffee, a spiced Marmite-lemon rub, onion, pepper, and cinnamon. Simmered until fall-apart tender and served family-style.
main dishstewMexicanBritish

Source video — John Quilter on YouTube
From the creator
Total time
~5 hours 15 minutesEstimated by Unreel from the recipe steps — the creator didn't state this.
Hands-on
~25 minutesEstimated by Unreel from the recipe steps — the creator didn't state this.
Servings
~4 servingsEstimated by Unreel from the complete recipe.
Difficulty
MediumEstimated by Unreel from the recipe steps — the creator didn't state this.
Extraction confidence: medium
Auto-generated from the video and rewritten in our own words. Double-check quantities against the source before cooking.
Ingredients
Ingredients scaled to 4 servings
- 400 ml strong coffee, strong
- 1 guajillo chili
- 1 ancho chili
- 1 cascabel chili
- 2 beef cheek
- 1½ tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon Marmite
- 1 lemon
- salt, pinch
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- ½ red chili, diced
- 1 cinnamon stick
Preparation
- Step 1Add 400 ml strong coffee to a pan and bring to heat. Add one each of guajillo, ancho, and cascabel chilies. Remove from heat and set aside to rehydrate the chilies.
- Step 2Trim the skin from the beef cheeks and score the meat all over.
- Step 3Sear the scored beef cheeks in a hot pan until browned on all sides.
- Step 4Mix together the smoked paprika, cumin, coriander seeds, Marmite, juice from one lemon, and a good pinch of salt to make a rub.
- Step 5Coat the seared beef cheeks thoroughly with the spice rub.
- Step 6Add the rehydrated chilies and coffee mixture to the pan with the rubbed beef cheeks. Add one diced red onion, one diced red pepper, half a diced red chili, and one cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
- Step 7Simmer low and slow for 4 hours until the meat pulls apart easily.
- Step 8Remove from heat. Pull the tender beef apart and serve in the middle of the table with rice, guacamole, sour cream, tortillas, and lime wedges.
Notes
- Serve family-style in the center of the table with rice, guacamole, sour cream, tortillas, and lime wedges for squeezing.