This Gal Cooks

Turkey and Roasted Butternut Squash Chili

Thick, hearty soups are perfect for a chilly day. This Turkey and Roasted Butternut Squash Chili is thick, hearty and pleasantly delicious!

Turkey and Roasted Butternut Squash Chili - This Gal Cooks #soup #dinner #chili

Do you ever wish you could magically pop right into your dream job so you could be totally happy with what you do during 8 hours of the day? I wish upon that quite often. I know wishing yourself into a dream job isn’t reality. That’s why I’m going to school. That’s why I will be graduating with a bachelors degree in August. Sometimes things are brought to your attention and you realize your strengths and your weaknesses. I mean, I know what my strengths are but I guess sometimes I’m less than quick to admit all of my weaknesses. But I know I have them. And I know they affect my day job. But I’m going to work on correcting the weaknesses and work on getting into a job that let’s me utilize my strengths.

I bet you’re wondering what that ramble was about. Just something that was brought to my attention at work. I won’t go into details on that, but I just had to get those thoughts above out there into the world. I hope you don’t mind listening.

So enough about that. Let’s talk about chili. I love chili. I like eating it from the bowl, topped with sour cream, cheese and cilantro. I love eating chili cheese dogs. Chili cheese nachos. Chilli cheese tacos. Are you craving chili yet?

Turkey and Roasted Butternut Squash Chili - This Gal Cooks #soup #dinner #chili

Turkey and Roasted Butternut Squash Chili

Now you are! That chili looks good, doesn’t it? So thick and hearty. And just a dash of sweet. That’s what the butternut squash does for this chili. It makes it slightly sweet and super thick but without the use of refined sugars.

I roasted some butternut squash in olive oil, maple syrup and cinnamon. I then pureed it. I cooked up a batch of turkey chili, filled with typical chili ingredients but I used black beans rather than kidney beans. It’s all about preference, though. If you prefer the kidney beans, use those instead! After adding all of the chili ingredients to the pot, I mixed in the pureed roasted butternut squash. Um yum! Serve in a bowl and top it off with your favorite ingredients. Enjoy!

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Turkey and Roasted Butternut Squash Chili

Turkey and Roasted Butternut Squash Chili

Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 C diced butternut squash (I used frozen)
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/4 tsp ground chipotle pepper
  • 1 lb lean ground turkey
  • 1/2 C sweet onion, chopped
  • 1 medium jalapeno, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 C celery, diced
  • 1 15oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 14.5oz diced tomatoes, drained
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 packet of tex mex chili seasoning (I used an all natural one that I found, use that if you can or make your own seasoning!)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 28oz can of tomato sauce

Instructions

    To roast the Butternut Squash

    1. Whisk together the 3 tbsp olive oil, cinnamon, maple syrup and ground chipotle pepper
    2. Pour over the diced butternut squash.
    3. Spread over a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
    4. Remove from the oven, cool a little and then puree in a blender.

    For the Chili

    1. In a large pot, saute the garlic, jalapeno, celery and onion in 2 tbsp olive oil. Add the turkey and cook until browned.
    2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Stir in the pureed roasted butternut squash.
    3. Cover and simmer for 1-2 hours.
    4. Serve in bowls with your favorite toppings such as sour cream, queso fresco, cheddar cheese and cilantro

     

    More tasty recipes from This Gal Cooks

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    Crockpot Turkey Chili

    Hearty No Bean Chili

    Hearty No Bean Chili

     

     

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    19 comments on “Turkey and Roasted Butternut Squash Chili”

    1. Julie, this comfort type dish is perfect for us midwesterners and we love chili! Pinning and sharing. Hang in there girl! I know a brighter future is in the cards for you.

    2. Hi Julie- I make Turkey chili, but your recipe with the butternut squash looks really delicious!

    3. Turkey chili is my favorite Julie, I love that you added butternut squash to the mix, can’t wait to try this!

    4. I’m wishing I could pop into my favorite job all the time. Hang in lady! All your effort will be paid off in the end!
      This chili looks delicious and the butternut squash addition is genius! I bet it makes this over the top yummy. Can’t wait to try : )

    5. Julie, I know what you mean about work. Mine in the past two months has been nothing but horrible due to similar inability to rise above my weaknesses. But as you said that’s why we are in school! this chilli looks amazing. I love the sweet and savory combination :)

      • Thank you, Zainab! Girl, you are doing good for yourself. I can imagine that your studies can be a little daunting at times but just think, you will have that PHd soon and that is darn awesome! :)

    6. Is it bad that I dream about that every work day? I really like the work that I do but sometimes I wish I had a normal 9 to 5 job. Or better yet, my dream job :) Thanks for sharing this chili recipe, I love butternut squash and I’m always up for trying new chili recipes!

    7. I love this hearty chilli, it sounds incredible with the roasted maple/cinnamon butternut squash! A big bowl of this sounds perfect for warming up with in this chilly weather:) All your hard work with school will pay off in the end, hang in there Julie and hope you have a great week.

    8. I always love to hear about how your days go. No matter what is all about. You are such a hard working woman. And, I have no idea how you do it! School and work?! I’d tear my hair out!
      I can’t get enough of chili… love it soooo much! This one is very creative, my friend!

    9. OMG this looks amazing!!! We love turkey chili and we love squash, but I have never thought to mix them together. Can’t wait to try this. Thank you so much for posting

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