Sweet Potato Pumpkin Beer Chili
This sweet potato pumpkin beer chili combines three meats with sweet potatoes, three kinds of beans, pumpkin beer, and a bold chili spice blend for a rich hearty fall chili that gets better the longer it simmers.
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Servings: 8
Ingredients
The Aromatics
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 bunch green onions diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper diced
- 1 orange bell pepper diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
The Meats
- 1 package Applegate Chicken Apple Sausage sliced
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 lb 100% grass fed ground beef
The Chili
- 2 sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1 can chili ready diced tomatoes
- 1 can chili beans
- 1 can pinto beans drained
- 1 can red kidney beans drained
- 1 bottle pumpkin beer 12 oz
- 1 carton chicken broth 32 oz
The Chili Mix Seasoning
- Chili powder to taste
- Garlic powder to taste
- Oregano to taste
- Cumin to taste
- Onion powder to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Red chili flakes optional
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven melt the butter over medium heat. Add the yellow onion, green onions, bell peppers, and minced garlic. Sauté until softened and fragrant.
- Add the sliced chicken apple sausage, ground turkey, and ground beef. Season generously with the chili mix seasoning. Cook breaking the ground meats apart until everything is cooked through.
- Add the diced tomatoes and cubed sweet potatoes. Stir to combine and let cook down for a few minutes.
- Add the chili beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, chicken broth, pumpkin beer, and another round of seasoning to taste. Stir everything together. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 2 to 3 hours stirring occasionally until the sweet potatoes are tender and the chili has thickened and deepened in flavor.
- Taste and adjust seasoning before serving.
Notes
- Season in layers. Add seasoning when the meat goes in and again when the liquid goes in. Chili that gets all its seasoning at once at the beginning tastes flat. Layering builds depth.
- The pumpkin beer is the ingredient that makes this chili specifically memorable. It adds a slightly malty, slightly sweet, warm depth that makes the broth taste more complex than a standard beer chili. Use a seasonal pumpkin beer for the most pronounced effect.
- Don't rush the simmer. The 2 to 3 hour cook is what allows the sweet potatoes to become completely tender, the beans to absorb the seasoned broth, and the whole pot to develop the deep, unified flavor that makes this chili taste like it took serious effort.
- The three-meat combination is what gives this chili its depth and its heartiness. The chicken apple sausage adds a slight sweetness, the turkey adds a lean protein base, and the grass-fed beef adds a rich, deeply savory backbone.
