Look at that! Feel-good comfort-food! Chili, but healthy!? Yep! This is chili, exactly as chili should be! Rich, tasty, filling and delicious! But, the secret to this chili is what it is packed into it! Look closer, past the traditional meat and tomatoes that makes for that familiar chili recognizable, and you will see lots of vegetables! And also lots of beans! And that meat, it’s a leaner ground turkey meat or a ground chicken meat! Mix it all up with the perfect combination of herbs and you can devour this bowl of hearty chili after a cold well-fit winter’s adventure outdoors! All while staying nutritiously well-fed!
This is where the true secret of skinny chili is hidden… lots and lots of fresh vegetables! Peppers, Carrots, zucchini, green beans, garlic and red onion! Cut them all up in perfect bite-size pieces.
It’s a veggie rainbow! You’ve probably been told or heard the term “Eat the Rainbow”. There’s a reason for this, as each vegetable (and fruit) Mother Nature has given us in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and not to mention white are grown nourished naturally from the earth’s rich soil, helped to grow by sunlight and rain and almost magically there is a reason and purpose to the color and the corresponding nutrients it delivers! Each color family is rich in certain micronutrients, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals that fuel your body to be so Nutritiously Well-Fed! Adding more rainbow color to our eating routine, the more variety of nutrients we are adding to our bodies! Great infographic below from indulgy.com and pickyeaterblog.com
Toss all those rainbow colors into a dutch oven pot or a soup pot and saute with sliced garlic and coconut oil.
The herbs we need will be a touch of ground black pepper and pink himalayan sea salt. I just add a touch, not much. I typically allow people to add their own salt to their liking.
Then about 1/4 cup chili powder and a tablespoon each of cumin and oregano.
The meat is what makes the skinny! It’s a lean meat, ground turkey or ground chicken!
In a separate pan, cook and brown up the meat with a bit of the salt and pepper.
Once the vegetables are softened and the ground meat is cooked, add together in the soup pot and then add the chili powder, oregano and cumin.
Blend it all together nicely.
Next, you will need tomato paste, which I like the organic muir glen. I am not one to use much ingredients that come in a can but this brand I trust.
During the summer months, local tomatoes are in season and there are some great local farm stands I pick up the most amazing tomatoes! It’s almost a shame to use them in a chili recipe like this, as they should mostly be eaten raw and as is! But the heirloom tomatoes are great and I’ve used those rather than using canned.
Add the tomato paste only to the meat and vegetables and stir together. Next you will add the beans. I like a nice variety of beans in my chili to add to the meatiness of it without adding too much animal fat! Protein and fiber from beans such as kidney, pinto, black and cannellini. Beans are totally optional, which I do skip and leave out when keeping the chili calories lower. You can also make this a vegetable chili by adding beans while taking out the turkey!
Rinse each bean thoroughly then add to meat and vegetables mixture.
Lastly add the canned tomatoes with the juice/water. (don’t rinse the tomatoes).
Now… I have made a not-as-healthy chili in the past that calls for adding about 12 oz of a great ale beer, which does add some amazing flavor to the chili. You can do this… or just add water to your liking to adjust the chili’s thickness. Adding a beer obviously will take a bit away from the “skinny” of the chili.
Below is a look at the vegetable packed skinny chili without the beer! It is delish!!!!
| Prep Time | 10 mins |
| Cook Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
people
|
- 1 lb ground chicken or turkey
- 1 medium yellow bell pepper sliced and diced
- 1 medium red bell pepper sliced and diced
- 1 medium red onion sliced and diced
- 1/2 cup grean beans cut into easy to eat pieces
- 1/2 medium zucchini sliced and diced
- 1/2 - 1 cup carrots sliced and diced
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 15 oz Black Beans bag around that weight/size
- 15 oz Kidney Beans
- 15 oz Great Northern Beans or Cannellini or White Kidney Beans
- 15 oz Pinto Beans
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups fresh diced tomatoes optional
- 1-2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 1 tbsp cumin
Ingredients
|
|
- In dutch oven pot or large pot, add coconut oil and garlic with all sliced vegetables and allow to saute and soften over medium heat
- Separate skillet, cook up the ground meat.
- As vegetables are soft, add the herbs of oregano, cumin and chili powder. Stir to allow herbs to coat nicely.
- Add tomato paste to vegetables and stir and cook for a few minutes over medium heat.
- Add cooked meat to vegetable and herb mixture. If you need to drain, do so, but often with lean ground turkey or chicken meat I find I can simply transfer meat to vegetables with not much liquid to drain or keep back. Stir everything together nicely.
- Rinse and drain all beans and add to meat and vegetable mixture. Allow to simmer together over medium heat.
- Serve with avocado and scallions!
- Optional herb add-ins such as a 1-2 tsp of fennel seeds and 2-3 tsp of cayenne pepper will give the chili some heat to taste.