Best meals to make with mince

Mince is a great-value family staple that's versatile enough to be used in all sorts of crowd-pleasing dinners. Read our top 10 ways to use mince, from Tom Kerridge’s spaghetti bolognese to new twists on chilli con carne, batch-cooked ragu and flavour-packed kofte.

Senior Food Editor

Heather Taylor

Top 10 ways to use mince

Whether you fancy a comforting cottage pie, homemade burgers, or flavour-packed meatballs, mince is one of the most versatile and cost-effective ingredients. At M&S, our Remarksable Value Beef Mince is 100% British, fully traceable to the farm and animal, and sourced from trusted M&S Select Farms. Shake up your midweek meals with our top 10 family mince recipes that are good for your budget and pack a flavour punch.

More budget recipe ideas

1. Spiced beef meatballs with creamy labneh and crunchy slaw

Transform a pack of beef mince into these tender spiced meatballs, served with a crunchy slaw and an easy homemade labneh (strained yogurt). Made with Remarksable Value ingredients, this dinner is easy on your wallet without compromising on bold flavour.

Make the meatballs

2. Mini beef shawarma koftes

Use our shawarma kebab seasoning to impart smoky, spicy flavours into this easy beef kofte recipe. Succulent koftes are loaded into fluffy pittas with pickled red onions and creamy Greek yogurt for a budget-savvy supper that still feels like a family feast.

Cook the koftes

3. Tom Kerridge’s spaghetti bolognese

Everyone needs a great spaghetti bolognese recipe in their repertoire. Tom Kerridge’s version, made with quality, Remarksable Value ingredients, uses Tom’s game-changing technique of browning the mince separately first to draw out more flavour.

Try Tom's spag bol

4. Colcannon-topped cottage pie

Rich, unctuous beef mince ragu topped with creamy mash – a cottage pie is an iconic family fave for good reason. Upgrade your go-to recipe with our Colcannon-topped cottage pie, with a herby Colcannon mash topping and rich beef bone broth in the filling.

See the recipe

5. Mexican chilli bean enchiladas

Spicy, creamy, rich and cheesy, these enchiladas will be your new Friday-night favourite. Combine our Remarksable Value beef mince with a tin of chilli bean soup – an ingenious addition that not only makes the mince go further, but also packs in even more smoky, fiery flavours. Double up the filling and freeze, ready to be served with rice or jacket potatoes.

Try the enchiladas

6. Chilli con carne nacho pie

Upgrade your usual chilli con carne recipe by turning it into a nacho-topped pie. A flavour-packed beef chilli con carne is crowned with baby potatoes, crunchy tortilla chips and cheese, then baked until golden and served with all the fixings – think guacamole, pickled red onions and soured cream.

Show me the pie

7. Slow cooker meatball and chickpea curry

This brilliant batch-cooked meatball and chickpea curry recipe combines tender meatballs, made with our Remarksable Value British minced beef, with chickpeas, all simmered in a fragrant spiced tomato sauce. Adding chickpeas helps stretch the meal further and adds all-important fibre.

Cook the curry

8. Stuffed courgettes with crispy harissa mince

This stuffed courgette recipe bursts with bold flavours thanks to the fiery harissa and vibrant chimichurri topping. A deliciously different way to jazz up a pack of mince, with an extra portion of veggies from the courgettes.

Give it a go

9. Batch-cooked slow cooker bolognese

This rich beef mince ragu is cooked in the slow cooker, so it’s hands-off and has time to develop an intense flavour. This recipe makes enough to freeze half, so you can keep a batch stashed away for those nights when you’re too busy to cook. Try spicing up the leftovers by adding cumin, smoked paprika and red kidney beans to transform your bolognese into chilli con carne.

10. Chorizo chilli loaded jacket potatoes

Fluffy-on-the-inside, crispy-on-the-outside jacket spuds are one of the nation’s favourite dinners. Load yours up with a flavour-packed, crowd-pleasing chorizo chilli recipe, made easy thanks to our chilli con carne sauce.

Types of mince

As well as the classic beef mince, try our Oakham Gold Chicken Mince (great in this satay chicken meatball traybake), succulent lamb mince (delicious in this moussaka recipe) and outdoor-bred pork mince, which is great for Asian-inspired dishes like these pork lettuce wraps or sticky pork noodles.

Benefits of mince

Mince is a good source of protein, and if you choose a lean variety, it's a healthy choice, too. Try our British beef mince with 5% fat, which carries our Eat Well sunflower, so you can be sure it's good for you.

How to cook mince

Browning your mince first will add a depth of flavour – it's all about getting that caramelisation. This can be done by pan-frying or roasting on a flat baking sheet in the oven. Mince is a great carrier of bold flavours, whether punchy spices in a kofte or a rich ragu in a lasagne, so think about adding spice, acidity, seasoning and depth when cooking it, whether through a splash of red wine, fragrant spices or a dash of soy sauce.

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Published 5.4.2025