Another vegetable we haven’t cooked with before is butternut squash. We decided on a Squash Chicken Chili meal but if you wanted to go vegan, you could skip the bacon and chicken and substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth. Maybe we will try tofu or tempeh the next time.
Butternut Squash Chicken Chili
Ingredients
- 4 slices peppered bacon
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 large green pepper chopped
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
- 2 lb butternut squash peeled and cubed into 1/2" cubes
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 15.5 oz dark red kidney beans
- 15.5 oz light red kidney beans
- 14.5 oz diced tomatoes
- 28 oz whole peeled tomatoes broken up by hand
Instructions
- Cut bacon into ½" squares. Cook in deep pan until browned.
- Add garlic, green pepper and onion and sautee until tender. Add ground chicken, breaking up and cooking until no longer pink. Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and red pepper flakes to pot. Cook and additional 2 minutes stirring to keep from burning.
- Remove sauteed ingredients from pot, set aside and keep warm.
- Add chicken broth and squash cubes to the pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the squash softens, about 15 minutes.
- Remove 1 cup of squash cubes (strained). Set aside.
- Remove remaining squash cubes using a slotted spoon and place into the blender vessel (reserve the broth in the pot for the chili). Add 1 cup of the cooking liquid to the blender vessel. Carefully blend (hot ingredients expand when blended) into a puree.
- Place sauteed mixture baack into pot with remaining cooking liquid. Add squash puree and stir.
- Add kidney beans and tomatoes (both with their canning liquids) stirring to combine. Cook for 25 minutes allowing flavors to meld. Serve.
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