This is my favorite fall chili. Not only is it easy on the calories, but the pumpkin and spices give this chicken chili a robust flavor balanced between sweet and spicy.
Course Main
Cuisine American
Season Fall, Winter
Key Ingredient Chicken, Jalapeno, Pumpkin, Red Peppers, Tomato
Add onions and garlic and saute until golden brown.
Transfer onions and garlic to crock-pot and add the rest of the ingredients.
Cook on low until chicken thighs reach 165F on an instant read thermometer (about 5-6 hours).
Remove thighs and a couple cups of the vegetables.
Turn up crock pot to high and cook until tomatoes and pumpkin have mostly broken down (about 2 more hours).
Meanwhile, using forks, pull chicken from the bone and shred it.
Once the soup is done cooking, use a wooden spoon or a potato masher to mash some of the vegetables and beans. This will make the soup thicker.
Add back in chicken and reserved veggies and cook until they are reheated.
Serve with garnish if desired.
Notes
I'm finding the calorie calculators are extremely off for this recipe, so I went to supertracker.usda.gov/myrecipe.aspx to manually get the calorie count. This recipe makes a GALLON of chili which I broke down into 8 portions. So, with a 2 cup bowl of soup it's only 256 calories without garnish. It's packed full of vegetables so super good for you! Add a tablespoon of each garnish and you add just 86 calories. That's a total of 342 calories.
The spiciness of peppers vary and soups have a tendency to change flavors the longer the flavors are left to mingle. At first this soup is quite spicy but once it sits in the fridge overnight, the heat mellows quite a bit. If you are serving this straight out of the crockpot for dinner, have some sour cream or avocado on hand just in case.