It doesn’t get much more autumnal than turkey and pumpkin! This seasonal take on a chilli con carne will warm your very soul.
We get inundated with pumpkin purée recipes at this time of year, don't we? But most of them are sweet - muffins, bread, lattes etc.
Pumpkin also makes a highly nutritious addition to savoury recipes. It adds a wonderful creamy texture to this chilli, making it the perfect comforting autumn dinner.
This went down SO well with the family, it’s immediately earned a place on the Family Favourites menu. I haven’t seen Lula Blue eat this much of anything in months! She polished off the entire plate for both dinner and lunch the next day, and she's in a fussy phase right now!
As an added bonus, it’s very budget friendly and waistline friendly too as turkey mince is both cheaper and lower in fat than beef or lamb mince.
Know Your Pumpkins
If you make this recipe, please be sure to use a medium sized pumpkin from the fruit & veg section of the supermarket (they're usually somewhere near the butternut squashes).
Do not try to make it with a giant jack o’lantern type of pumpkin - the type you usually find in the Halloween section of the supermarket. They are very tasteless, watery, stringy and not nice to eat. I learned this the hard way after making an enormous batch of soup that had to go down the sink in the end!
If you don't want the faff of roasting the pumpkin yourself (although it's really very easy) you could always use canned pumpkin purée instead. I just prefer to make mine from scratch as fresh usually means more nutrients, plus I can never find any canned pumpkin purée in the shops! I think it's more of an American thing.
Adaptations
If you’re making this for a baby or toddler who doesn't yet have a tolerance for spicy food, leave the chilli flakes until the very end. Just remove a portion or two for them first, then add the chilli to the rest according to your taste.
If you can find any small pumpkins, you can always use butternut squash instead. It will create the same creamy texture.
If you don't like turkey, you could easily make this with pork or chicken mince or even vegetarian mince.
If you can't find cannellini beans, butter, pinto or navy beans would work fine instead.
Instead of adding cream at the end, you could use oat, nut or hemp milk instead or just leave it out altogether - the pumpkin alone makes a really creamy texture.
Storage
This recipe can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days, so it makes a perfect dinner with leftovers for lunch. Or it can be frozen for up to a month. Just defrost and reheat thoroughly when you’re ready to finish it off.
If you try the recipe, please tag me on Instagram - @feedingtheirfutures - I’d love to see how it went down with your family!
