The winter season is coming upon us. Maybe in Southern California not so much. But that doesn’t stop us from enjoying soups and stews which taste especially great right now. Since one of my favorite dishes is chili, let’s be a little non-traditional and make some Pumpkin-Butternut Squash Chili. Pumpkin-Butternut Squash Soup is one of my family’s favorite soups which I serve every Thanksgiving dinner. You can check out my recipe here.

Chili is the perfect dish at this time of the year. This recipe will take some of the base ingredients from my Pumpkin-Butternut Squash soup and we will transform it into some chili. Let’s keep it healthy by using ground turkey as our protein. If you don’t mind the additional calories why not add some maple sausage to bump up the flavor.

How about including many of the spices that work well with pumpkin and butternut squash such as nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove? Add great chili flavors such as ancho, chipotle, and guajillo chili, and cumin and the result is the best flavor bomb ever! (Am I over-exaggerating? You decide…). Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. We are kicking it up another notch by adding maple syrup and a good bourbon! Is this dish a little sweet? It might be for some people. Just reduce the sweet ingredients and bump up the spice to get the heat and spice to where you would like it. Add those ingredients a little bit at a time and taste them throughout the cooking process.

Hoping that you and your family will really enjoy this recipe. Who knows, you may enjoy it enough so that there will be no second thoughts about having a bowl in the middle of summer or eating it over a hot dog.

Enjoy and as always, thanks for Spending Time in My Kitchen!

Pumpkin-Butternut Squash Chili. It’s time to Celebrate the Season!

Recipe by David Frank – Spending Time In My Kitchen

0.0 from 0 votes

Servings

6 – 8

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

hours

Ingredients

2 lbs Ground turkey
1 Onion, small dice
1 Tbl Butter
30 oz Pumpkin puree
3/4 lb Butternut squash
Grapeseed oil, to drizzle
1 Cup Burbon
1 Cup Maple syrup
32 oz Vegetable or chicken broth
2 Tbl Chipotle sauce (buy the small can and use the sauce. Chop up and use some of the chile if you need additional heat for your chili.)
2 Tbl Apple cider vinegar
Dry Spices
3 Tbl Guajillo chile powder
3 Tbl Ancho chile powder
2 Tbl Cumin
2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Nutmeg
2 tsp Cloves
2 Tbl Salt
Garnishes and Other Ingredients
Fresno or jalapeno pepper, sliced for garnish
Purple onion, small dice
Cheese, shredded
Sliced avocado
Cilantro
Maple sausage, Optional as an additional protein to add
1 Tbl Brown sugar, Optional ingredient to bump up the sweetness

Directions

Mix all your dry spices together and place them in a small bowl.
Place the ground turkey into a large bowl. Add 1/2 of the dry spices to the turkey and mix well. Cover the “spiced” turkey and let sit for two hours.
Cut your butternut squash in half; remove the seeds; cut/peel the skin off and cut into small cubes. (Option: Many of your grocery stores provide butternut squash already cut into cubes such as in the picture below. Unless you are going to use the squash in other recipes, this would be a simpler and less time-consuming option. )
Place butternut squash onto a baking sheet; drizzle grapeseed oil over squash; sprinkle some salt over the squash.
Place the tray of squash into the oven at 400°. Cook until fork tender approximately 30 minutes.
While squash is cooking, let’s cook the onions. Add a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of oil to your large chili pot and place over medium heat. Add your onions and sauté until slightly brown and translucent.
Add broth, pumpkin puree, and roasted butternut squash to your chili pot. It’s a good time to pull out the hand immersion blender and blend all the ingredients in your chili pot.
Note: If you do not have an immersion blender, place your roasted butternut squash into your regular blender. Add a little broth as needed to blend completely. Place blended squash into your chili pot.
Add remaining ingredients and dry spices to your chili pot. Stir and combine well. Set heat for the chili pot to medium, medium-low. We are looking for a slow simmer.
Time to cook the ground turkey. Add ground turkey to a large sauté pan. Place the pan over medium heat. Cook the turkey until it is no longer pink. Add cooked turkey to your chili pot and combine well.
The minimum cook time should be 1 1/2 hours to allow all the flavors to come together. Let the chili cook and reduce till you get the texture and consistency you desire. Every 1/2 hour give the chili a taste and adjust the flavor by adding additional salt, chili powders, cumin, or brown sugar. If chili has been over-reduced add more broth.
Time to serve! Add your favorite garnishes from the list above such as sliced jalapeños, diced fresh onions, shredded cheese. Enjoy!