Pumpkin Chili with Bison, Venison, or Beef

This chili isn’t what most people expect — especially coming from a ranch family. Pumpkin and cinnamon can sound out of place in a pot of chili, but they don’t make it sweet or fussy. They make it amazing!

This is one of those meals that surprises people in the best way: simple, nourishing, and familiar once you take the first bite.

Maybe this video will help make more sense!

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground meat
  • Could also do 2lbs if you have a lot of meat eaters!
  • Bison, Venison, Beef, any ground meat! (We prefer red meat)
• 1 tbsp cooking fat (we use tallow, could also use avocado oil)
• 1 onion, diced
  
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup broth (we use homemade chicken bone broth but any animal broth or stock will do in a pinch)
• 15 ounces diced tomatoes (we prefer fire roasted!)
• 1  cup organic pumpkin puree
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• Spices
  • 2 tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 2 tsp garlic salt--or regular salt if you don't have garlic!
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp paprika

Steps for Instapot or Stovetop

• Sauté onion until translucent in cooking fat in a large pot or instapot (my instapot has a sauté function)
• Add minced garlic for at least a minute. Don't let it burn.
• Add meat and brown
• Once browned, you can add everything else in! There's no need to ever take anything out of the pot!
• If stovetop, bring to a boil and then let simmer for at least 30 minutes or up to several hours keeping it warm on low!
• If instapot, close the lid and pressure cook on high for 10 minutes. 
  • Note: if new to instapot, this doesn't mean it cooks in 10 minutes. It has to build pressure -takes 10 minutes- and then release pressure before you can open it back up. 
  • Allow pressure to release naturally if you have time or manually if you're hungry!

Toppings we love! (Even though it's pumpkin and cinnamon--just try it!)

• Freshly Grated Cheese (reel coming soon)
• Avocado
• Cilantro
• Plain Greek Yogurt (what we use instead of sour cream)
• Corn chips! You know we basically mean fritos... but often try to find an organic yellow corn chip that's similar

Notes from TLC -Some of the links to products we recommend are affiliate links! That means we make a small commission if you purchase from our link. We only share products with you that we personally use and love!

• We actually think this chili can taste even better the next day! 
• This chili is something we love to freeze using our souper cubes. This is the same thing I use to freeze homemade bone broth so I have 1 cup increments in a pinch.
• I personally think chopping an onion with a knife is easier than cleaning this vegetable chopper but as you can see, when my husband or kids are helping, they love using the vegetable chopper! My 4 year old offers to help way more often since purchasing this. 
• There are so many instapot/pressure cookers on the market now! Between all the members in our family we've used a few. There are bonuses to ones that can also slow cook or do other things but we do prefer this model for it's price and the easy seal to make sure it reaches pressure. Take our word for it! We've set something to go overnight only to realize it never reached pressure and we had to toss!
  • Are you debating purchasing a pressure cooker? We love using it to make chili, bone broth, yogurt, and cooking whole chickens from frozen!

We hope all of this helps and inspires you to make some more nourishing meals at home! Let us know if you try it or if you think we're crazy.