I’m finally back! Happy 2019. ? I apologize it’s been a little quiet around here the past few weeks! I honestly didn’t really intend to take a full 3 weeks off from blogging, but let’s just say that with crazy business of the holidays with family celebrations and work (sadly I only had Christmas day off-hospitals never close!) I just couldn’t keep up with everything. And I quickly realized that I just didn’t have enough time for everything. BUT I am back now and so excited to continue sharing recipes with you! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s.
I don’t know about where you live, but the past week or so the weather has been FREEZING cold. In reality, it’s actually been a much more mild winter this year than in past years, but that doesn’t make me want to live somewhere more south and warmer any less! My dream places to live would be either Tennessee or one of the Carolinas. I love the mountains, and how they still have a slight change of season but winter doesn’t last for months on end.
Anyways, my entire point with bringing up the cold weather is that this butternut squash turkey chili is the perfect warm, comforting, and satisfying meal to warm up with! This chili is packed with veggies, beans, ground turkey, and spices which all go so well together. This butternut squash chili is definitely not your most traditional chili recipe (it reminds me more of a white chicken chili) but I have no doubt you will love it. I do also have a more traditional chili recipe using ground beef that I will be sharing with you soon, so stay tuned for that!
Ingredients and substitutions
Let’s break down the ingredients and substitutions ideas here!
Ground Turkey
You can use any fat % ground turkey here. I also think ground chicken would be a nice substitution; in fact, I think I’ll try that next time I make it. You could also use one pound of leftover cooked turkey or chicken in place of the ground turkey too! As for ground beef, you could use this in place of the turkey…but kind of defeats the purpose of a turkey/”white” chili haha.
Butternut Squash
I have to say, butternut squash is a newer vegetable to me. It’s packed with fiber and vitamin A. I love how cheap buying a whole butternut squash is….BUT to be honest they can be a pain to cut up! They are very hard. I’ve seen several grocery stores now have butternut squash precut up into cubes in their produce section. That would definitely save a bit of time! You could also try chopped and cubed sweet potatoes in place of the butternut squash.
Kale
I love how kale is a bit more sturdy and holds up well in soups and chilis compared to other greens. However, feel free to throw in spinach, turnip greens, mustard greens, etc. in the chili instead if you’d prefer!
Beans
Along with ground turkey, I used white beans to go with the white chili theme. I used one can of great northern white beans and one can of cannellini beans, but feel free to use all of one or the other. Or pinto beans, navy beans, etc. would also work!
Chicken broth
I used a low sodium chicken broth to keep this soup lower in sodium, but regular chicken broth, vegetable broth, homemade broth, etc. would be just fine.
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 lb. (about 4 heaping cups) diced butternut squash
- 2 cans white beans (I used 1 can Great Northern and 1 can Canneliini)
- 4 cups chicken broth (I used low sodium)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½-1 teaspoon salt
- 4 packed cups kale
- Heat olive oil in pot on stove. Sauté onion and garlic until softened, and then add ground turkey. Cook until no longer pink. Drain fat.
- Add everything else except beans and kale and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer 30 minutes covered.
- Add beans and kale and cook an additional 5 minutes.
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