Hasn’t it turned cold? It’s time to start the winter comfort cooking. I personally love the baked casserole dishes with potato and meat, all things warming and cosy.
Today your recipe is aimed to warm you up from the inside. To add extra warmth it contains chilli. Feel free to add more or less depending on how much heat you need.

3 Layer Chilli Bake
A winter warming dish with 3 layers of mashed potato, cabbage and chilli. Make as spicy as you like it!
Servings: 8
Ingredients
Chilli Layer
- 1 kg Beef mince 500g beef 500g pork mince
- 2 onions
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 700 g passata
- 2 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves of fresh garlic
- 1-3 tsp chilli adjust the quantity according to heat preference
- 3 tbsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
Potato Mash Layer
- 2.2 kg potatoes
- ½ cup milk use nut milk of choice for dairy-free
- ¼ cup butter use coconut oil or lard for dairy-free
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Cabbage Kale Layer
- 1 small purple cabbage
- 1 small bunch of kale
- 1 tbsp butter use coconut oil or lard for dairy-free
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
Instructions
Chilli Layer
- Preheat the over to 180°C. Cut up the onions, then in a large pot pan fry the onions with the garlic in the olive oil. Once soft add the beef mince and brown it off.
- To the meat, onion and garlic mix add the passata, chilli, cumin and salt. Leave to simmer on low heat for approximately 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the potatoes.
Potato Mash Layer
- Peel and chop up the potatoes into approximately 3cm cubes.
- Steam the potatoes over boiling water until the potatoes are very soft. Test with a knife to see if they fall apart on touch. This should take approximately 20 minutes.
- Once cooked place the potatoes into a food processor with the milk, butter, salt and pepper and blitz until smooth. Unless you like it a little lumpy! It's purely a texture preference. Instead of a food processor, you could also use a hand blender or a good-old-fashioned potato masher.
Cabbage Kale Layer
- Roughly chop the cabbage and kale.
- In a very large skillet melt the butter and add the chopped cabbage and kale. Cover and let cook down for 5-10 minutes until soft and wilted. Stir through the salt and pepper.
Compile the Bake
- In a large casserole dish line the base with the potato mash. Then add the cabbage and finally top with the chilli. I have thought it might be nice to top with the potato to crispen in the oven. But the order doesn't really matter so you can choose in which order you want your three layers!
- Place in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Serve with a side salad or roasted vegetables. This can be frozen and reheated at later date by defrosting then placing in the oven for another 15 minutes or until warmed through.