I came up with this Nightshade Free Chili recipe one fall when I was having major food sensitivity challenges with multiple foods. My food sensitivities were getting really overwhelming, (I will share that story with you soon). One of the food sensitivity’s was to tomatoes, which is so challenging, as they are in so many dishes, and can be hard to avoid.
One of my easy go to lunches has been chili. Chili is super easy to make, high in protein, and packed with fiber. It also works great for me when I am teaching all weekend and need a quick homemade lunch that I can throw in a thermos. However, due to my food sensitivities, I wanted to figure out a way to make this without tomato.
So, I got to thinking, what would happen if I made it with a pumpkin base?
I did a bit of research and experimented with a few options, and settled on a pumpkin, butternut squash and beef broth base, and frankly it fools me every time, I swear there is still tomato in this chili!
I made it easy by using some of these items in the can, (please always choose cans that are BPA free), and the cubed squash is frozen. You can totally use fresh for all of the vegi’s and soaked beans here if you like, I chose the cans and frozen to make it quicker for me, as that’s what works best for my schedule.
Nightshade Free Chili
2 lbs Ground beef or ground turkey – organic or pasture raised
2 C Beef broth – organic (I really like Imagine brand, as there is no sugar, gluten or crappy chemicals) or use a home made bone broth (See one of my Bone Broth recipes here)
1 can Pumpkin – organic
1 can Butternut Squash -organic
1 pkg Frozen Butternut Squash Cubes – organic
1 can Garbanzo Beans – organic 15 ounces (I like the brand Eden Organics, as the cans are BPA Free)
1 can Kidney Beans – organic 15 ounces
3 T Chili Powder – organic
2 tsp Turmeric – organic
1/2 tsp Nutmeg – organic
Redmonds Real Salt and Pepper to taste
*If you like things spicy feel free to add in Cayenne pepper, I usually start with 1/4 tsp at a time, until I get the temp we like.
- In a dutch oven pan (a deep kettle type pan), brown the ground beef.
- Once the beef is mostly browned, add spices to the ground beef, and stir them around to let them heat up and open for about 1-2 minutes.
- Add the beef broth to the mix and stir.
- Then add pureed pumpkin and squash and stir.
- Lastly add the beans and the cubed squash.
- Simmer for 30 mn, and serve!
The chili will thicken up overnight, so I usually keep a little extra broth on hand and add it to the pan to thin it out as needed when I am re-heating it smaller servings.
A Gluten Heads Up:
Chili is commonly gluten free already, really the only place gluten would show up in these ingredients is potentially the broth, so double check the broth you choose, if you are gluten sensitive or Celiac.
Image credit to: American Heritage Chocolate