Glorious! SkinnyLicious Soup - Texan Four Bean Chilli

Today's review is the Glorious! SkinnyLicious Soup Texan Four Bean Chilli. I strayed from my usual pre-made soup brands as soon as I saw the Texan Four Bean Chilli. I love Chili Con Carne, I always order it if I see it on a restaurant menu but I rarely have the time to make a proper one at home. My favourite part of a Chili Con Carne is the thick blend of meat and beans and I wondered how this would translate over to a soup. 

From the heart of Cowboy country comes our SkinnyLicious Texan Four Bean Chilli Soup. Haricot, Red Kidney, Black Eye and Black Turtle Beans are cooked with real Texan spices such as Ancho chilli, paprika and cinnamon to create the flavour of horse riding through cacti as the sun sets over the desert sands. 

OK... I've eaten horse before, I had a Findus lasagne the day before they were recalled and I don't think I want my soup to taste like that! 

Texan Four Bean Chilli is vegetarian, dairy-free, gluten-free and half a pot is 1 of your 5 a day. 

I like to pretend I'm really cooking when I have these pre-made soups so I rarely microwave them. I chucked it in a saucepan on the hob and was pleased to find it looked like a watered down Chili Con Carne, By the time it was sufficiently heated it had thickened up nicely but still too soupy to chuck on top of rice or a jacket. 

The mixed beans were obvious but there were lots of other ingredients I could spy including rice. I know its named Texan Four Bean Chilli but the recipe stays truer to the more authentic Mexican Chilli and includes chocolate - not that it tastes of chocolate but it adds a real depth and richness to the flavours. 

I snuck a couple of mouthfuls while I was 'cooking' and felt it had a slight kick but it wasn't as spicy as I usually take my Chili. Once I'd bowled it all up and sat down things soon changed. 

I've never had vegetarian Chili, the more meat the better and at first I missed not so much the taste of the meat, more the texture but I soon found the chunky mix of the beans and rice and they were more than enough.

All the ingredients retained a good texture, no mushy beans or rice whatsoever. As mentioned the soup contains chocolate, in Chili Con Carne you aren't supposed to taste it but I've noticed whenever its used - it just adds an extra something special and the same goes here. I was really quite impressed with the flavours actually and then the spices kicked in! 

I said at first it wasn't very spicy but I take that back, my God it was hot and a good hot! Spicy hot not just ridiculously hot where you can't taste anything else, I might not have been able to feel my tongue but I could taste all the different flavours with an increasing addictive heat. 

Rating:

I ate this first on Thursday, then again on Monday and as soon as Asda get some more I'll be buying those too! One of the best pre-made soups I've tried.

9/10