Chili Sin Carne with Pumpkin & Avocado
Frozen pumpkin cubes melt into the tomato-spice base as it simmers, thickening this chili without any extra effort. Kidney beans and corn add bulk, and the toppings do the rest: avocado strips, a spoon of cream cheese, and shredded cheddar.
One bowl, 15 minutes, 562 kcal. Most of the 37g of fat comes from avocado, olive oil, and cheese. 16g of fiber from the beans, corn, and pumpkin keeps this one filling well past what the calorie count might suggest.
Ingredients
- red onion 0.5
- garlic 1 clove
- olive oil 0.5 tablespoon
- pumpkin (frozen) 5 ounces
- diced tomatoes 6 ounces
- ground cumin 1 teaspoon
- chili powder 1 pinch
- avocado 0.5
- kidney beans 3 ounces
- corn 2 ounces
- cream cheese, reduced fat 1 tablespoon
- cheddar cheese, shredded 1 ounce
Method
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Chop the onion and finely mince the garlic.
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Heat the oil in a wok pan and saute the onion and garlic for about 2 minutes. Then add the pumpkin cubes to the pan and cook for 4 more minutes.
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Add the diced tomatoes, ground cumin and chili powder and bring to a boil, then simmer for approximately 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
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Slice the avocado into strips.
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Add the kidney beans and corn to the pan and heat them for another 2 minutes. Stir well.
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Serve the chili sin carne on a plate and top it with the avocado, cream cheese and cheese. Season the dish with salt and pepper to taste.
Don't skip the avocado in Step 6. Adding avocado to carotenoid-rich vegetables enhanced lycopene absorption 4.4 times and beta-carotene absorption 2.6 times in a 2005 study. This bowl pairs avocado with both pumpkin (beta-carotene) and tomatoes (lycopene), so those strips on top are pulling double duty.
Shredded cheddar adds about 200mg of calcium to this bowl. Research found that 500mg of calcium reduced lycopene absorption by 83% in a controlled meal. Calcium disrupts the fat droplets your body uses to absorb lycopene from tomatoes. At 200mg, the effect is weaker than the study dose, and the olive oil and avocado fat in this recipe push absorption in the other direction.
Why This Works
Behind this recipe
Where does the protein come from without meat?
Kidney beans are the main contributor, followed by the cheddar and cream cheese. Corn adds a small amount too. Together they deliver 21g of protein per bowl, which is about 15% of total energy from protein. Lower than a meat-based chili, but the 16g of fiber and 37g of fat from whole-food sources make this a filling meal on a different axis.
Does simmering the tomatoes for 8 minutes change the nutrition?
It does. Cooking tomatoes in oil increased plasma trans-lycopene by 82% compared to raw tomatoes in one study. Heat ruptures tomato cells, freeing lycopene from the matrix, and the olive oil helps dissolve it into absorbable fat droplets. The 8-minute simmer in Step 3 with olive oil does exactly that.
Can I use fresh pumpkin instead of frozen?
Yes, but dice it into pieces about the size of your thumbnail and expect the cooking time in Step 2 to increase by a few minutes. Frozen pumpkin is partially broken down already, which is why it melts into the sauce faster and thickens the chili without extra work.
