Harvest Chicken Lentil Chili

Remember those bizarre recipes I found in my most recent cookbook purchase? Well, they do not top this one:

A peanut butter, raisin, pickle and mayonnaise sandwich?! What??? What kind of blasphemy is this? I—-I just—-I can’t even imagine this. It sounds so incredibly disgusting.

I had to drink a gallon of water just to get that image out of my head. Yuck. I don’t know who you are, Mary Hedger, but you disgust me.

To try and cleanse my soul of this recipe, I made a scrumptious pot of chili. Not just any chili; no, no. A chicken-lentil-pumpkin chili. Sound good? Sounds a hell of a lot better than that bizarro recipe up there to me!

Harvest Chicken Lentil Chili

• Servings: 6-8
• Time: 1 hr 15 mins
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

A hearty, healthy chili made of chicken, lentils, pumpkin, and veggies.

Ingredients

• 1 TBS. olive oil
• 2 cups onion, diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
• 2 lbs. bone-in chicken thighs
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup brown lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15oz.) can pumpkin
• 1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 TBS. chili powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 TBS. hot sauce (Louisiana is the best!)
• yogurt, pumpkin seeds…for topping

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onions, celery, and carrots. Cook 6-8 minutes or until slightly tender, stirring. Add chicken, broth and water. Bring to a oil and then reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
2. Remove chicken from Dutch oven; cool slightly. Remove chicken meat from bones; discard bones. Chop chicken and chill until needed.
3. Meanwhile, stir lentils into broth mixture. Return to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes or until lentils are tender.
4. Stir in chicken, pumpkin, diced tomatoes, chili powder, ground cumin, oregano and hot sauce. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes more or until heated through. Top each serving with yogurt, pumpkin seeds, and additional chili powder if needed.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Heat oil over medium high heat in a Dutch oven. Add onions, carrots, and celery. Cook 6-8 minutes or until slightly tender, stirring while cooking.

Add chicken, broth and water to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove chicken from Dutch oven and let cool slightly. Remove chicken meat from bones and discard bones. Chop chicken and chill until needed.

Meanwhile, stir lentils into broth mixture, return to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

Stir in chicken, pumpkin, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, oregano and hot sauce. Simmer, covered, for 10 more minutes or until heated through.

Top each serving with yogurt, pumpkin seeds, and additional chili powder if needed.