Pumpkin Turkey Chili Recipe
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This delicious pumpkin turkey chili recipe is perfect for chilly weather!
Getting settled into a new town is a lot of work. You have to open new bank accounts, get familiar with new grocery stores, learn your way around so you’re not getting lost every time you have to go to the post office, and just generally familiarize yourself with a place that is completely foreign. It ain’t no picnic.
Harder still, is meeting new people, especially when you’ve moved to a small town. People tend not to “let you in” as readily as they do in larger towns and cities. While the people are all very friendly, they tend to hold me at arm’s length simply because they haven’t known me for 40 years like they have their own neighbors.
I’ve done my share of pouting and being homesick. I’ve done my share of feeling lonely and wondering if I did the right thing by moving here. But now that I’m finally done feeling sorry for myself, I’m finding that the solitude can be very introspective if I take the time to enjoy it. And cooking… well… that’s all I seem to do anymore. But I love it, so no complaints here.
In fact, when the holidays hit, and the canned pumpkin came in, I stocked up with as much pumpkin as I could afford. I try hard to buy enough through the season to last me all year long. I don’t always get enough, but most of the time, I do.
I spent a nice morning in my kitchen feeling happy instead of lonely for the first time in about 5 months. It felt great, and the chili tasted amazing. Funny how our food turns out well when we’re in a good mood while preparing it. And as for me, I plan on finding some places to volunteer and hopefully find a play group for Mini Chef. I’ll just bring along some clean eating chocolate chip cookies. That ought to win them over!
More Healthy Chili Recipes
PUMPKIN TURKEY CHILI RECIPE:
Clean Eating Pumpkin Turkey Chili
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 ¼ lb. ground turkey
- 2 medium carrots, sliced
- 1 medium orange bell pepper (chopped fine)
- 2 tbsp. garlic powder
- 2 tbsp. onion powder
- 2 tbsp. ground cumin
- 15 oz. can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 15 oz. can tomato sauce (no or low sodium)
- 15 oz. can light coconut milk
- salt to taste after cooking
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, brown turkey in the olive oil.
- Add in all other ingredients and simmer until the meat is fully cooked (about 20-30 minutes)
- Add salt to taste.
Notes
Nutrition
Thanks for sharing. And the recipe of course.
My pleasure! 🙂
Tiffany, I had a break this morning and had been thinking about you and wondering if I’d come to your site post the New Year and find a bunch of Paleo recipes since we talked way back before I moved this summer and you hinted about changes….ANYHOO, I have just spent well over an hour trying to piece together that it looks like you moved in August to an apt. (so cute) but now this post speaks of being lonely and homesick but I don’t find anything about another move. I am excited about your culinary dream that WILL come true. So can you point me in the direction to fill in the blanks so I can catch up PLEASE? Thanks so much. Lots of great new clean eating recipes! The coconut flour IS a bear btw!
Kal
Kal – Well, we moved to the first apartment, and then 2 months later, moved again into this small town. But it is getting better, thank goodness. I love this place and the people. It’ll just take some time. 🙂
Thanks for this recipe! I can’t wait to try it. I could SO relate with your move. I too, moved to a smaller town in 2009, it’s only 11 square miles and I left behind 20 years of history in Los Angeles. I was heartbroken, tired and knew no one here.. so I turned to food, fake, greasy, chemically processed food… then one day I snapped out of it. You are WAY wiser than me for sure… it took me 55 lbs of extra weight and a high blood sugar count for me to change my lifestyle. I am thankful though, because I learned so much through the process of healing myself, losing the weight and getting my sugars back to normal. I’m grateful that cooking became fun again as I created brand new recipes too. I’m an avid follower of your blog. Thank you for sharing your knowledge <3
My pleasure! Hope you enjoy the chili. 🙂
This looks and sounds great. I just started cooking recently and love the idea of clean eating and avoiding all the processed foods. Will be attempting this for my family soon.
Do you have vegan recipes?
Yes I do! https://www.thegraciouspantry.com/category/vegan/
I am having trouble understanding this recipe. You call for several ingredients to be divided but in the directions you have everything going in the pot at once. Also it seems like a lot of garlic and onion powder as well as cumin. Am I missing something here as I would love to try this recipe.
My apologies. It has been fixed.
What can I use instead of coconut milk? Hubby is allergic to coconut. Thanks!
Jenn – The flavor will be different, but you could try using chicken broth instead.
Will it make a big difference if I am to steam and process my own pumpkins for the purée as I can’t find this ingredient anywhere
Thanks
Simone – Nope! Should be just fine! 🙂
Can I make this in a crock pot? I’m a working mom and love coming home to a dinner all done!
Maureen – You can try, but I haven’t done it myself so I can’t be sure how it will do with the recipe as written. A better bet is to choose a recipe from my slow cooker section.
I was thinking of substituting seitan for the ground turkey, to make it vegetarian, but I don’t know whether seitan is a clean ingredient?
Fal – That would depend on how it’s made and with what ingredients. I don’t really know anything about it. I do know you can make it at home, so maybe that’s the cleanest option.
Just wanted to post because I had a chance to make this chili today and it came out great!! I added a bit more pumpkin because I really wanted to taste to come through the spices a bit more but it was a hit! My 5 year old & 2 year old LOVED IT!
John – That’s awesome! 🙂 Thanks for the feedback!
Anything you could substitute for the tomato puree? My husband and I have acid reflux, so we’re always looking for tomato-free chili recipes. We have home-canned yellow tomatoes we could use (less acid), but I’m guessing you need the paste for texture and consistency. Any suggestions?
Jess – I haven’t tried it, so this is just a guess. But you could leave it out and try thickening it a bit as needed with flour. I would remove some of the broth and do that separately in another pot though. Then add it back in.
I added a half a cup of quinoa and my family loved it. Thank you it was delicious. My two children six and five asked for seconds they have never asked for seconds and I didn’t even feel bad about it. Thank you for a wonderfully healthy dish my family loved.
Darlene – Fantastic!!! I love that!! 😀
Hello! I am so excited to make this for a dinner party tomorrow. I cannot eat onions or garlic (scallions are ok though) – do you have suggestions for subs for these so that the flavor isn’t bland? Thank you!!
Amanda – Well, I haven’t tried it, so I can’t guarantee the outcome in any way. But I would bump up the cumin just a little and maybe add some chili powder for a truer chili flavor. That’s about all I can think of! Let me know how it turns out!