How do you bulk out mince?

DanielleNic87

I've read that you can bulk out mince with things like oats, grated vegetables or lentils.

How much would you need for say a 500g pack of mince?

I'm 28 and only starting to learn how to cook now

Hermia

I use half mince and half lentils in stuff like bolog or in a cottage pie. It gives a much nicer texture and taste IMO. To be honest I don't really measure. I generally just half the mince and then guess the amount of lentils I need. I usually buy tinned lentils when they are on special so usually just bung a tin in. It depends who you are cooking for I think. If you are cooking for someone who likes their meat and will be suspicious of pulses you might want to start off having more meat and see how it goes.

[Deleted User]

You can throw whatever you like in there. (As long as it's cheaper than the mince obviously. Not point in bulking out with caviar.)

Vegetables, beans, lentils, chick peas etc. Whatever meets your budget and tastes. Dried pulses are ludicrously cheap compared to tins as long as you remember to soak overnight.

I'd say the main rule is don't use anything too strong flavoured that would override the taste of the dish.

maman

I've just put Bolognese sauce in the SC. Personally I don't use lentils or oats as I prefer to use veg.


For a 400g pack of 5% mince I've added a large onion, 2 carrots, 2 sticks celery, half a large courgette, 2 handfuls of chopped (frozen) mushrooms and the same of peppers plus a tin of tomatoes, a generous squirt of tomato puree and a beef stock cube along with garlic, herbs and seasoning. When it's cooked down a bit I might add more tomatoes or some passata It depend how 'saucy' you like it.


If I was doing savoury mince I'd leave out the tomatoes and add 3/4 Oxo cubes and water instead. I like peas with that but I add those at the end otherwise the colour goes.


I choose this recipeas it's healthy and colourful and I like veg. I think those that like to 'hide' veg tend to go for grated carrot and courgette and finely chopped onion.

PasturesNew

How much you use becomes a personal preference, that you can only determine once you've done it a few times. It makes sense to weigh/write down what you do the first few time - and what you thought of that, so you can discover what you like/not.

As a starter rule I'd go for 100g of "other stuff" to 500g mince, so as to not overload it with stuff that you might dislike once it's cooked. You can always add more next time ... by making a note that you thought it'd be OK to add more next time.

Personally I'd not use oats or lentils, simply because I find them "gross to even think about" - no other reason than it's personal preference that I "don't like" (even though I've not really had/tried them).

Don't stick stuff in you think you might hate just because people on the Internet tell you to. Still stick with the stuff you know you'll like.

southantrim3

Baked Beans, make a great bulker for mince, and they don't cost the earth .

suki1964

Depends on what I'm making

With bolognaise I add a couple of handfuls of lentils as they just cook clean down and are not noticed. I also bulk out with fine chopped celery and mushrooms

With a cottage pie then I add more veg, diced carrots, celery, onions, peas and I serve with baked beans

I don't think I'd enjoy oats as a filler. I like the lentils in rich saucy dishes as they do melt down and hide and the texture of the bolognaise isn't affected

Grated carrot is very sweet so I wouldn't use that in a savoury mince dish but would be fine with mince cooked with tinned tomatoes - will offset the tartness of the toms

DanielleNic87

It's only for me, hubby and the 21 month old. Although hubby likes meat he's willing to give anything a try. We even wanted to try the lentil bolognaise on eat well for less last week.

I am just unsure of what lentils to use. Red?

[Deleted User]

Either. Personally, I can't tell the difference, especially when the dish has a strong flavour, and I just interchange them randomly.

But I may just be a Neanderthal.

Gigervamp

I would use red lentils, but any will work. It's just that the red lentils are less noticeable as they cook down, whereas other lentils tend to keep their shape.

splishsplash

I'm a bit odd in that I don't like the texture of lentils or oats in mince dishes and I can definitely taste them. Instead I use courgette, mixed peppers, celery and onions.

For 500g mince I would use 1 courgette, half each of red, green and yellow peppers and a rib of celery. That's in addition to onion, garlic, tinned toms herbs and passata for spag bol/lasagne/chili.

A bit of trial and error and you'll figure it out. There's no right or wrong way to do it, as you can see from the replies - just whatever suits you.