Recipe - Bangers, Beer & Bean Chilli
Prep Time: 15 min Cook Time: 1 hr Total Time: 1 hr 15 min Servings: 4
Ingredients
1 tbsp groundnut oil
454 g pack 8 sausages (I prefer beef, but you could use pork or lamb)
2 medium onions, halved and sliced across
1 large red pepper, halved, deseeded and cut into strips
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp chipotle paste
½ tbsp ground cumin
200 ml strong ale (see notes)
400 g can chopped tomatoes
¾ tbsp dark brown soft sugar, or to taste
2 tsp dried oregano
400 g can black beans, drained and rinsed (see notes)
Good squeeze of lemon or lime juice (optional - see notes)
Description
This is one of my favourite recipes; it is great as a warming autumn or winter meal and it freezes well. An advantage for a CAMRA member is that it only requires 200ml of beer, so if you buy a 400ml bottle there's half a bottle left for the chef to enjoy while stirring.
The chipotle paste is there for smokiness rather than raw heat (although this dish is spicy) and the amount can be adjusted according to your tastes - start with 1 tsp and see how you go. You can also slice the sausages if you prefer, although I tend to leave mine whole. If you have some uncooked mince left over from another recipe you can substitute it for one or two of the sausages - allow 50g of mince per sausage.
Directions
Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole and brown the sausages on all sides, turning them over. You’re not cooking them through, just getting a good colour on the outside. Remove the sausages to a bowl.
Add the onion and pepper to the pan and cook over a medium heat for 4-5 minutes, until the onions begin to look golden. Add the garlic, chipotle paste and cumin. If you've substituted some mince for a couple of sausages (see above) add it now. Stir together and cook for 2 minutes, then add the beer. Boil until reduced by ½, then add the tomatoes, sugar, oregano and seasoning.
Return the sausages to the pan, bring to a simmer, cover the pan and cook gently for 30 minutes, until cooked through with no pink meat. Make sure there’s enough liquid in the pan and top up with more water if needed.
Remove the lid, add the beans and a little more seasoning, and cook for 15 minutes more. The liquid should reduce so you have quite a thick stew. Taste and decide whether you want some lemon juice or lime juice – it can bring all the disparate parts of a dish together – or seasoning. Serve with rice and a dollop of Dijon or wholegrain mustard.
Notes
Swap some leftover mince for a couple of sausages if required - each sausage should weigh about 50g.
Pick a strong beer for this recipe. In my experience it works well with Theakston's Old Peculier and Fuller's London Porter.
I use dried black turtle beans that I cook in a pressure cooker, but it's quicker and easier to buy a can of beans; a 400g can yields about 240g of beans once drained and rinsed, and 120g of dried beans yields about 240g when cooked.
Although optional, addition of a squirt of lemon or lime juice really does add something to the recipe.
As an alternative to rice, this recipe is excellent served with a baked potato.
Peter Riley, October 2026