Pumpkin Chili with Avocado Cream
“Oh dear Lord, not another Paleo chili recipe!” I know. You’ve seen tens if not hundreds of chili recipes and you’ve probably eaten it that many times too. You’re probably sick of it. But, please, let us explain…
Making this spice mixture yourself is the key to the unique flavor of this chili. No chili seasoning packets allowed beyond this point! We took our chili “base” and pumped it up with some fresh pumpkin (canned would work beautifully, as well). Then for le pièce de résistance, we conjured up the avocado cream–it’s like guacamole, but not, all at the same time. It’s an unexpected, quirky, refreshing boost of flavor that kicks the chili up a level.
Ingredients
For the Chili
2 lbs ground beef
1 large yellow onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 sugar pumpkin, diced (about 3 cups) or a 14 oz can of pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie)
1 (28 oz) can diced, fire roasted tomatoes
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (7 oz) can diced, roasted green chilies
1 c chicken or beef stock
FOC (fat of choice)
S&P
Chili Spice Mixture
2 T chili powder
2 T cumin
1 T paprika
2 t salt
2 t coriander
2 t cinnamon
2 t cocoa powder
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t cayenne
Orange, Coriander Avocado Cream
2 avocados
zest of 1 orange
juice of 2 oranges
1 t coriander
1/2 t salt
Method
For the Chili
Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat with a tablespoon of your F.O.C. Add the beef and let it brown. Try not to stir it too much until you get some color on one side but make sure you break up the pieces. This should take 5-8 minutes.
While you’re browning your beef make your spice mixture. In a medium bowl, mix up all the spices.
We like to brown the beef first so we can use the fat that renders out to cook the vegetables. So, using a slotted spoon remove the beef and place in the spice mixture bowl…leaving the fat in the pot. Add your diced onion and garlic. Let those two saute for a few minutes (3-4) stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened. Add your diced or canned pumpkin.
Cover and cook about another 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the pumpkin begins to get tender (check with a fork). Add the rest of ingredients and the beef/spice mixture. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer to let all the flavors “meld”. When you’re happy with the texture, you’re done.
For the Cream
Add all ingredients to a bowl or a food processor and blend until smooth.
do you have the nutritional information for this?
we do not. if anyone has a great resource for getting it, we’d love to know also.
Just made this for dinner, and it was outstanding!! I made it with 1 pound of beef, and 1 pound of lamb. It was very, very good. Thanks for the great web site!
thank you so much andrew!
I’m a visitor from another Crossfit and this is literally the BEST paleo chilli recipe I’ve made!
The pumpkin REALLY makes a difference!
maybe we’ll take this one to a chili cook-off. thanks for the vote of confidence. where is your affiliate?
Just made this and boy is this good. Great recipe!!! I love your site and will be telling all my paleo pals about this one!!! Thank you.
thanks Jo. hope they like it as much as you did.
I’m in Atlanta at Crossfit Peachtree. I have NEVER posted comments on a recipe blog but this was really just too good =)
I have a few more folks from my gym I directed to your website.
we were just talking about that last night–why do we (people, in general) leave reviews and comments. we came up with two reasons: you really, really hate something or you really, really like something. we’re glad it was the latter for you. haha. thanks for spreadin’ the word jasmine.
Made this tonight and it was absolutely wonderful. The cream really set it off nicely. By the way Lee went back for seconds again!!! (although he didn’t eat the cream, which was his loss)
thanks kelli!
Just made the chili but used elk burger instead of ground beef and used 1 cup puree pumpkin and 1/2 cup leftover chopped butternut squash. It turned out wonderfully and now i have lots of leftovers!
Thanks for the awesome recipe! The avocado cream worked perfectly with the recipe. You guys are so awesome!
we’ve missed you juli! hahaha. thanks girl!
Haha, i’ve still been making your food, just thought i was becoming a comment freak lol. I made the paleo pad thai for my family and boyfriend this past weekend and they LOVED it!! I’m trying to learn from your recipes to make my own, but i still stink at it lol. Someday!
I just made this the other week and it turned out absolutely awesome. You’re right, the spice mixture is the key. I now have a chili recipe to destroy my friends’ bean oriented lame-o chili.
p.s. The avocado cream is phenomenal .. this could actually rival ice cream in my opinion.
we’re so glad you liked it! i’ve been playing around with making avocado ice cream–amongst other avocado-y things. we’re pretty obsessed with the “alligator pear.”
I LOVED THIS recipe! Actually got someone to convert to Paleo through this recipe! haha
Is there any nutrition information i.e. calories, protein, carbs, sodium, etc?
alright, i worked on the nutrition info for you on this one. see the update to the post. keep in mind anyone can analyze any recipe with some good online resources for building recipes. the one i used is http://nutritiondata.self.com/, but there are others out there. we generally don’t get too wrapped up with the macros and just feel good knowing we know each ingredient in the recipe will make for some clean eating. glad you liked it, thanks so much for the feedback.
Wow. Thanks for the recipe. Made it once these week, and all the leftovers were carried away by my friends. Making it again today.
Seriously the best chili recipe I’ve ever used.
that means so much to us…thank you thank you thank you kevin!
Loved the flavor in this recipe!! Definitely the best chili I’ve ever had – Paleo or not. The avocado cream is very creative and unusual – yet also tasty. I can’t wait to eat leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
YUM!! I made this last night. A couple changes:
-Roasted the pumpkin at 400 degrees beforehand to get some caramelization
-Used 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1 can of Ro*Tel (that’s all I had); left them undrained and thus didn’t add any broth
-Used dark meat ground turkey instead of beef
-Used storebought guacamole (Wholly Guacamole) instead of making the avocado cream
It was delicious!! My husband loved it, he was still talking about it this morning!
so glad ya’ll enjoyed it erica. you gotta doctor up that store-bought guac with some of the ‘cream’ ingredients and let us know what you think.
Made this one last night and it was great! My wife and I have tried a bunch of your recipes and I think this one is our new favorite. Gotta love a recipe that takes 20 minutes to make, tastes amazing, and gives a few days of leftovers.
that should be our new slogan. hahaha. glad ya’ll liked it shawn!
[...] 30, 2010 by The Foodee Pumpkin Chili [...]
Just made this with canned pumpkin and it was great! Thanks so much for the recipe
ok, I bought several pumpkins around halloween with the intention of saving them for cooking. I decided to make this chili and roasted it in one of the pumpkins. So I made the chili as described but then filled the pumpkin with it and roasted it at 320 for about 2.5 hours. It did leak a little, but it ended up so pretty! Then I just scraped the inside of the pumpkin while serving to give people pumpkin with their chili. once the avocado was added, it was perfect, and it was quite a conversation piece bringing out a whole pumpkin to the table. I took a picture, but I’m not sure how to upload it.
I made this last night with canned pumpkin and some extra vegetables that I needed to use up, and it was amazing! My favorite part was the spice mixture on the meat – I wanted to eat half the beef before it got to the pot, and I’m not even a big fan of meat. My husband especially loved the avocado cream; I only used one orange worth of juice, but it was already VERY orange-y. All told this is another fantastic recipe that we’re definitely going to make again!
Bridget – what a fun idea with the pumpkin!
This sounds delicious – can you tell me how many people this would serve?
The flavor combination in this is freakin’ incredible. I had to restrain myself from mass quantities of “taste tests” during the cooking process so there would be enough for the fam. Well done, as usual!
All I can say is Holy Cow! This stuff rocks!!! I decided to make this at about 11PM after to going to the store. SOOOO glad I did! I don’t care that it’s August and still in the upper 70′s this stuff is good anytime of the year! Love your website and all your recipes. If it wasn’t for you guys I would probably be starving
Keep it up!
Oh dear lord! This was, hands down, the best chili I’ve ever eaten. I made it for a friend who graciously accepts the role of guinea pig when I’m trying out new recipes and we both sat there groaning and moaning throughout the whole meal. I’m sure that anyone who heard us thought there was something kinky going on! This is going to be a regular occurance at my hourse and the avocado cream was simply amazing. I will be making that again and using it as a veggie dip! Thanks so much for this little gem!
you are very welcome launie. thanks for amazing review!!
Think I will make this recipe for the football game this weekend. The reviews sold me! I make my own avocado cream all the time for turkey burgers and fish tacos. Can’t wait to try it with the orange. Thanks you guys. love the website. Helps to keep my paleo train movin
[...] awesome recipe (well, 2 recipes actually!) should more than make up for it! Here’s a link to the original, and here’s the way I made it…Pumpkin Chili:1 lb ground grass-fed beef 1 lb ground [...]
This was AWESOME. I used the spice mixture exactly as is and the cream mixture (minus coriander and S&P…forgot to add them). The chili I used 2 yellow onions, 1 fresh tomato and one large can of diced tomatoes, then several massive handfuls of the inside of my regular old pumpkin we just carved. I had between 2 and 3 pounds of ribeye meat cut up in cubes marinating in my fridge so I just used all of that and omitted the stock. This had an amazing flavor even though I kinda bumbled my way through it with the “big” ingredients. Definitely a keeper!
thanks jackie!
Tried this out this weekend and my husband cannot stop raving about it.! That avocado cream with the orange was delicious and a great touch. Passing this on to a neighbor of mine- who wants to try it out. We will definitely be making this again.!
awesome. thanks lauren!
Maybe a silly question, but what is FOC in the ingredients list?
not silly at all. it’s just my acronym for fat of choice. i don’t always specify which type of fat i think you should use (olive oil, butter, coconut oil, etc)–b/c i don’t think it matters that much, so i just put f.o.c.
i have updated the recipe to spell out the acronym. thanks for bring it to my attention.
May be the best thing I have eaten in months! Thank you, thank you!!
oh my goodness, what a compliment. thank you so much tricia!
Holy Health-Bent, Batman! That is an amazing recipe…one of the best, in fact! I added some bell pepper and a jalapeño (I had one and I like spicy), used 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 ground turkey, and subbed lime for the orange (that’s what I had) in the avocado cream. This one will be a repeat for sure…hubby approved even though I made it a tad too spicy for him. I’m new to paleo eating and you guys have great recipes. When can we expect to see a cookbook in iBooks?
thank you so much cindy. we’ve been approached but turned down the offer. no cookbook on the horizon for us.
Bummer, but the blog is great and I frequently look to you guys for inspiration. Keep up the delicious and easy meals!