Freezing Chilli Con Carne

Tanith, I always make a chilli, freeze a chilli, and have never had a problem like this - have no idea what you are doing wrong! In fact, we always like the second chilli better than the first because the flavours have had longer to meld together.

Sorry I can't help.

Mine usually looks a bit watery when it defrosts, but once I've heated it through and simmered it for about 10 mins, it's fine. Plus adding a couple of squares of dark chocolate to enrich it. Tasty.

Depending on the tomato content in the sauce can make it watery when defrosted,if there are tomato pieces they can burst during freezing turning the content more liquid when defrosted but if you use just passata sauce it should stay the same,I always add more tomato puree when I defrost to add a bit more colour.

thanks girls, I do use tinned tomatoes and puree, so next time I'll try the passata sauce see if it makes the difference..

I made a low cal Chilli sans Carne yesterday. I went to pick the cooling mix off the stove with by left hand (I am still one handed for lifting.) I dropped the pan, spilt half the mixture over the floor, my trousers, my new slippers and the very old mat in front of the sink. The mat went in the bin.I stripped off my trousers straight away so as not to spread chilli sauce and red kidney beans though the house. Then I froze the sauce that remained in the pan. Not my best moment.

Hope someone can help answer this, its an old thread, but I cant find anything close to my question. I froze chili con carne with chicken a while ago. Months! I'm defrosting it and it looks dried out. Can I just add liquid to it and will it still be safe to eat?

If it looks wet when defrosted, I add a squirt of tomato paste and stir it in while it is heating up. Do you heat it in the oven or microwave?

And yes, you can add liquid - but heat in the oven rather than microwave to give the liquid time to be absorbed.