Pumpkin Chili
Turkey sausage, beans, and pumpkin in a dutch oven. The pumpkin does the thickening.
- calories
- 480
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 44
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 50 min
- total time
- 60 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Nut free
- Gluten free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
|---|---|---|
| Turkey sausage | 1 lb | bulk or squeezed out of casings; rides in the cooler |
| Garlic | 4 cloves | minced at home into a small jar |
| Yellow onion | 1 large | chopped at home |
| Bell peppers | 1 red and 1 yellow | chopped at home |
| Black beans | 1 can (15 oz) | rinsed and drained |
| Fire-roasted tomatoes | 2 cans (14.5 oz each) | |
| Pumpkin puree | 1 can (15 oz) | plain, not pie filling |
| Pumpkin-style beer | 1 bottle or can (16 oz) | |
| Chili powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Cumin | 1 tbsp | |
| Cinnamon | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cayenne | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 2 tsp | plus more at the end |
| Black pepper | 1 tsp | plus more at the end |
| Shelf-stable coconut milk | 1/2 cup | replaces the cream and sour cream |
| Cilantro | 1/4 cup | optional, chopped |
Method
- Set the dutch oven over the fire ring grate or a bed of coals at a steady medium heat. Add the oil and let it thin out.
- Add the sausage. Break it apart with a spoon and brown it, five to seven minutes. Do not drain the fat.
- Stir in the garlic, onion, and peppers. Cook until the onion goes soft and translucent, about eight minutes.
- Add the chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Stir for a minute so the spices hit the hot fat.
- Pour in the beer. Scrape the bottom while it bubbles down by about half.
- Add the tomatoes, beans, and pumpkin. Stir until the pumpkin is fully worked in with no orange streaks left.
- Pull the pot to the edge of the coals and hold it at a low bubble for 40 minutes, stirring every ten so nothing catches.
- Stir in the coconut milk off the heat. Taste, add salt and pepper, top with cilantro.
Pumpkin puree in chili is not a novelty. It is starch and pectin, which means it thickens the pot without flour and holds up to a long simmer over uneven coals. It also softens the cayenne and the fire-roasted tomatoes, which is why the cinnamon does not read as sweet.
The camp change is the dairy. Heavy cream and sour cream are a cooler liability and they break if the pot gets away from you. Shelf-stable coconut milk goes in off the heat and does the same job. Chopping the vegetables at home cuts the camp prep to opening cans.
Packing
Chop the onion, peppers, and garlic at home and bag them together. Measure the dry spices into one small jar so camp is four cans, one bag, one jar. Sausage and produce ride in the cooler; everything else is shelf-stable.
Variations
- Skip the beer and use a cup of broth or water. It loses some depth and nothing else.
- Swap the sausage for a second can of beans and a cup of soy crumbles to make it vegetarian.
- Cornbread baked in a second dutch oven takes the same coals.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/pumpkin-chili