Caveman Chili

...or Beanless Chili...whatever you want to call it. Need a sneaky way to add more veggies to your family's diet? This is your recipe.

The inspiration to substitute the veggies for the beans came from this recipe, but I adapted it to fit my family's favorite "Kramer Chili" recipe.  And...they didn't even notice, or at least mention, that it was missing the legumes. In fact, my boys (the big one and the almost 5 year old one) each had two bowl-fulls. 

2 lbs ground beef

1/2 large onion

1/2 green pepper

1 jalapeno pepper

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 and 1/2 Tbs. chili powder

2 Tbs. cumin

1 tsp. black pepper

salt, to taste

1 Tbs. cocoa powder

1 large bottle of Vegetable/Tomato juice (46oz)

1 can of tomato paste (6oz)
1 large can of diced tomatoes (28oz)

1 cup beef bone broth (Make your own...I keep them in my freezer in Mason jars)

1lb butternut squash, cubed (Sam's and Costco sells this right now!) or 1-2 sweet potatoes, cubed

1 zucchini, sliced and quartered

In a large pot, brown ground beef. While beef is browning, throw onion, green pepper, and jalapeno in a food process and pulverize. Add the veggies to the pot with meat and let them cook for a few minutes. Add seasonings. Stir in all remaining ingredients (except butternut squash and zucchini...if you're using sweet potatoes instead of squash put it in now since they take longer to cook). Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 45 minutes.

Stir in squash and zucchini and allow to cook for 15 more minutes.


We love to eat this topped with red onions and avocado slices.