This Paleo Chili is also Nightshade free, AIP-compliant, rich, hearty and comforting. You won’t miss the beans or nightshades in this flavorful, allergen-friendly recipe.
I know what you’re thinking, can you make chili without nightshades and legumes, two seemingly essential ingredients? This recipe shows you that the answer is yes.
Creating AIP/paleo chili without nightshades, beans and seed spices is a challenge but not impossible. This recipe uses a combination of dried herbs and AIP-compliant spices to create a super flavorful base for the chili. Together with butternut squash, carrots, lime zest and red wine vinegar, the result is a rich and delicious sauce that pairs well with ground beef but would also be super delicious with ground chicken or turkey.
Here are the main ingredients in this Nightshade free, AIP/Paleo Chili:
- ground beef – you can likely also substitute the beef with ground turkey or chicken if you’d prefer that.
- onion and garlic powder, oregano, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric and cilantro – these are used to create the amazing flavor that seasons the meat in this recipe
- butternut squash, carrots and beets – don’t worry, you won’t taste the beet in here. The combination of earthy beet and sweet carrots and butternut squash are perfectly balanced in this recipe.
- red wine vinegar and lime zest – together these add a wonderful tanginess and acidity to the dish that mimic the flavor that tomato would usually provide in a chili.
How to make this easy Stovetop or Instant Pot Chili:
- You can make this with a pot on the stove or use the Instant Pot.
- In a large stockpot or in the Instant Pot on SAUTE function, begin by sautéing the celery, onion and garlic in olive oil until the onions turn translucent.
- Add dried oregano, onion and garlic powder, powdered ginger, cinnamon, turmeric and lime zest and saute 3-4 mins so that the spices bloom.
- Next, ground beef, sea salt and cilantro and cook until beef is no longer pink, stirring intermittently.
- Finally, add chunks of carrots, butternut squash and finely diced beet. Top with bone broth or stock and red wine vinegar.
- Bring to a simmer.
- If cooking on the stovetop, reduce heat, cover pot and cook 20-30 minutes until liquid has mostly cooked down. If using Instant Pot, place lid on and cook on slow cooker function for 45 minutes to an hour.
Paleo Chili FAQs
What can I serve with this AIP Chili?
This chili is amazing with these Grain Free Butternut Squash Biscuits, these Easy Vegan Gluten-free Biscuits or some AIP Sourdough Bread. I love pairing this with a refreshing salad too like this Roasted Beet and Citrus Salad
Can I omit the beet?
Trust me, you won’t taste the beet in this recipe. It provides colour and a little bit of an earthy flavor. If you really want to you can omit it, but the recipe will miss it!
How do I store this?
Store in the fridge for 4-5 days or freeze in a sealed container and defrost in the microwave or on the stovetop.
If you loved this Paleo Chili I would appreciate it if you would give the recipe a rating and review. Be sure to snap a picture of the finished product and share it with me on Instagram by tagging @healmedelicious and using the hashtag #healmedelicious.
Looking for more paleo, nightshade free recipes? Try:
Print
Paleo Chili (Nightshade free, AIP, InstantPot)
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
This Paleo Chili is nightshade free and AIP-compliant, rich, hearty and comforting. You won’t miss the beans or nightshades in this allergen-friendly dish.
Ingredients
- 2 cups celery, diced
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- zest of one lime
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 2 cups carrots, chopped into 1/2-1 inch chunks
- 1 cup butternut squash, cubed
- 1/4 cup beet, finely diced
- 2 cups chicken or beef stock or beef bone broth (ensure ingredients are AIP compliant)
- 1/2 TBSP red wine vinegar
Instructions
- In a large stockpot or in the Instant Pot on SAUTE function, begin by sautéing the celery, onion and garlic in olive oil until the onions turn translucent.
- Add dried oregano, onion and garlic powder, powdered ginger, cinnamon, turmeric and lime zest and saute 3-4 mins so that the spices bloom.
- Add ground beef, sea salt and cilantro and cook until beef is no longer pink, stirring intermittently.
- Add chunks of carrots, butternut squash and finely diced beet and stir to combine.
- Add bone broth or stock and red wine vinegar and bring to a simmer.
- If cooking on the stovetop, reduce heat, cover pot and cook 20-30 minutes until liquid has mostly cooked down. If using Instant Pot, place lid on and cook on slow cooker function for 45 minutes to an hour.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: Mains
This was incredibly delish!! I followed the recipe and cooked it in my Instana Pot. AMAZING!! The flavors were spot on and veggies perfect! Well done! Thank you for sharing, I’m looking forward to trying some of your other recipes.
Thank you so much for this recipe! My husband is following AIP to try and feel better. His symptoms are muscle/joint related rather than gut issues. However, AIP has really relieved symptoms and fatigue. The whole family enjoyed this recipe as comfort food and did not feel it was a sacrifice! I also added a bit of arrowroot as a thickener. 5 stars+😊
Hi Nicole! I’m new to AIP and have found your recipes delicious. After reading the reviews, I’m curious what you think about using your nomato sauce in place of half the broth. I was chopping the vegetables and realized it shares a lot of ingredients with it – and could perhaps thicken the sauce. I may try it when I make it Monday….and will let you know.
would work just fine 🙂
LOVE all your recipes!!! Especially this one. My other all time favorite is your pumpkin pie. I’ve been making it for years!
Amazing. Mine was more of a soup but the flavors came together wonderfully and I will definitely be making again. Thank you Nicole 😊
Thank you so much for this recipe, Nicole! It is one of my family’s favorite. Sadly we all have nightshade issues (plus I have to follow an AIP diet). I thought I would have to say goodbye to chili until I found your recipe. We do not have an insta pot, but it is delicious made on the stove. Made a slight variation…I opted to roast the squash and carrots with smashed garlic, olive oil and salt in the over at 400 for 20 min. while I prepared the first few steps of the recipe..and then diced/chopped them up and added to the pot. Amazing!
Every recipe I make of yours is stellar and this one is no exception. I don’t know what Lisa down there is smoking. She’s wrong, it’s so so good. Maybe she’s missing her Hormel chili in a can. This hits the spot for a hearty cold weather chili for sure. Thank you for all your hard work, Nicole! You’ve changed my life for the better!
Definitely a waste of time and ingredients. Recipe is poorly written… should the carrots, squash and beets be precooked before putting in the “chili”? I used an uncooked butternut squash, a precooked beet and slightly precooked the carrots and the carrots were still VERY crunchy after the “20-30 minutes” of cooking at the end. The broth never cooks down and it is more like a soup than a chili. While it eventually cooked after about 90 mins and has okay flavor, it wasn’t worth the time of cutting all those veggies and cooking. Will not be making this again and I’m extremely disappointed that when you search Pinterest for a Nightshade Free chili, this is the most popular option. There has to be something better than this and I will find it.
Hi! Wow! I’m a human here behind the blog who works hard to provide free recipes, no need to be so harsh. I’m sorry you didn’t like it. As for your question, no, none of the ingredients in this recipe should be precooked.
Hey Nicole, I’m so sorry for the nasty comment. Please don’t think that everybody feels that way. I am strictly on the AIP Core and I’ve learned that anything that has even a little bit of flavor really tastes good. The AIP is by itself a very bland diet because nightshades (that have a lot of flavor) are a big no-no. I also miss my dairy products. However, I’ve been very faithful to AIP and I’m continuing to feel better every day with less pain and a bonus of even losing weight. So, I just wanted to encourage you as you work your recipes. This CHILI really worked for me. I made it as written except I used ground beef, ground chicken and ground pork. It’s absolutely fabulous. I even made a double batch to keep me eating “comfort food” for a while and also put some in the freezer for later.
Thank you for the recipe and please keep up the good work.
Ouch, that was a very harsh review. Please be encouraged that your site is one of my go to places to find delicious AIP compliant recipes. And AIP is a fairly bland diet because of having to omit nightshades as someone else mentioned, so the fact that you created a chili at all with the ingredients we can use is impressive. And I think this recipe tastes great <3 Thank you!
I missed the cumin and am not sure why I would need to avoid it, but lots of things are struck off the AIP list and I need the AIP, so in that case this was great. I think I should have used chili cut beef and not the ground pork I had on hand to give it a more authentic texture. Overall it was good, but I can’t think of it as chili, more like a heavy soup or stew. Froze it in pint mason jars which is perfect for a single serving.
This chili/soup is so yummy! My 15-year-old loved it too! I wish I would have doubled or tripled the recipe. Thank you for this amazing recipe.
So cozy and comforting. Thank you for another great recipe!
I found it a little bland initially but I was also afraid to add the full amounts of spices/herbs. Definitely need to add it all, and then for a little more flavour, I added a Tablespoon of coconut aminos (2 tsp would have done but I always go for more when it comes to coconut aminos). So good :).
Just wondering if you could add horseradish powder to spice it up a little?
I’m not familiar with that, sorry!
Lisa…I totally think that would work!
My husband LOVED this reciipe and the leftovers for days. my three kiddos also ate it and said it was good. I subbed out the beef for bison. thank you for this delicious dish.
I tried this chili and also the nomato sauce–both are delicious! It was a bit thin, and I like thicker chili, but the flavor is great. I’m really happy I found this site! Thank you so much!
LOVE this AIP chili! When you’ve been on AIP long enough, you learn to appreciate flavors regardless of whether they are an exact replica of the foods you can’t eat. That being said, the spice blend in this chili is very reminiscent of a creative chili and it’s DELICIOUS, no matter what you call it! I love to triple it and have leftovers for the freezer.
this is wonderful warning soup – Definitely on the watery side. Didnt have time to cook it down. I’m not sure it’s ‘chili’ but it’s good!
This was amazingly (and surprisingly) DELICIOUS! I am not even that great of a cook!
I froze the extra and it tasted just as good! I was able to quickly heat a serving up and take as my lunch on the road instead of going through a drive through. This food makes my tummy feel a lot better and I just feel better in general when I eat these recipes you have created. Thank you so much for doing this and making it easy enough for people like me that really don’t cook!
OH! I did add some cumin as I did not have any ginger powder and loved it!!
Very good
this recipe is delicious! I very much enjoyed it.. however, it is not chili in anyway. I also added arrowroot starch to thicken mine. but I will make this again.. thank you
Sometimes I think people who have to eat a strict diet, like vegans or autoimmune protocol diets erroneously name them after American home cooking dishes and I think that makes people feel disappointed by tofurky or chili. This soup is absolutely delicious. But, It isn’t chili. It’s its own separate soup alive with different flavors. Absolutely do add the fresh cilantro, it pulls all the ingredients together and gives it a distinctive soup. I did double the tumeric and added a squeeze of lime in my bowl when I added the cilantro. 5 stars. So happy that I now have this in my recipe bank. Perfect for a cold rainy day like I’m having today. Definitely comfort food. Thank you.
Another great recipe Nicole!! Minor adjustments according to what I had on hand… I used smoked salt and apple cider vinegar. I really like the chunky veggies in this recipe.
We’re so glad you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
Can you make this in a slow cooker?
Yep!
Do you have nutritional info? Just like like a lot of hidden carbs. Thanks. Sorry I had to leave a eating to post a question 🙁
I don’t offer that on this site but would recommend you plug the ingredients into any online calculator if you’re curious!
Very yummy. I made this last night with these modifications: omitted the celery (I don’t like celery), added extra butternut squash, extra beets, and used ground turkey. It came out very yellow in color due to the chicken broth I used combined with the turkey, but it was still delicious nonetheless. 🙂 I also made it in my instant pot, and found it to be a little soupy at the end, so I set it to pressure cook just for 5 extra minutes after slow cooking it for an hour.
Thank you for this recipe, I’m excited to give it a try! My teenager is also allergic to onions. Do you think this recipe will still work well enough if I omit those?
Hi Candy, i’m sure it’d still be good. If he can have garlic i’d maybe amp that up a bit to compensate for the loss in flavor.
Hello! This recipe looks wonderful, I have been searching for a good chili recipe without nightshades and wasn’t sure it was possible. Question for you – I am currently not eating carrots as I have a moderate intolerance to them. I have been using parsnips as a substitute but the texture and flavor are just not quite the same. Is there another vegetable you would recommend? Thanks for creating such accessible and gut-friendly recipes 🙂
Hi Dana, hmmm, maybe zucchini? I’m thinking sweet potatoes would make the dish too sweet. Let us know if you try a substitute.
Very nice, we will make the Chili again!
A question, is cumin not AIP or why is it not in the recipe? We added it and thought it to bring even more of the typical flavour. Thanks for all the delicious options, I feel like I am finally making good AIP stuff!!
Hi Conny, since cumin is derived from seeds it is not AIP elimination stage compliant
This recipe has a lot of the main ingredients used in AIP soups and chilis, but is has a different spice and flavor palette, which is very nice and refreshing. This is the second Sunday in a row I’ve used a recipe from this site for my AIP wife and I’m very happy with it!
I love a good chili, and being without beans on AIP makes me sad, but this recipe definitely delivered that chili vibe. Really great deep flavor, a good variety of veggies, and filling. It did come out a bit soupy on my end (cooked in stovetop), but I probably could have let it reduce longer.
I made this recipe yesterday and, wow, I was impressed I knew that it was going to be good but I wasn’t expecting anything as good as the chilly I tasted, I would definitely recommend this recipe to people who are short on time or that are working or people who just want some delicious chilly! This is a really quick and simple chilly! 10/10 would recommend. You will definitely be seeing more of my comment because I will be trying all of these recipes! Can’t wait to try the patties next! Great job Nicole!
This chili is delicious! I omitted the red wine vinegar since I didn’t have any, but it was so yummy regardless.
Thanks for your comment,I was going to ask if I could omit the lime and red wine vinegar bc I have interstitial cystitis so I can’t have either but it seems it worked fine for you so I will definitely try it!
Just a wonderful dish–it really has the feel and taste of traditional tomato-y chili. For me, that means it’s just as mouth-scaldingly irresistible straight from the stovetop!
OK this is seriously good chili!!!!!!!! I chose to blend the carrots, beet, and squash, so it was more like a soup — but oh, so good.
I made this on the stovetop and maybe that’s the difference. It came out quite soupy and the flavor was a lot milder than I expected based on the ingredients. It was good but not my favorite.
I love this chili, thank you! It is the time of year where my freezer is especially packed and when I benefit the most from pulling things out of my freezer to speed up my cooking! To that end, I defrosted some of Nicole’s nomato sauce (https://healmedelicious.com/classic-nomato-sauce-aip/) I had made during late summer and hadn’t seasoned yet to swap into this recipe. I can’t wait to try this chili *exactly* as written but in the meantime, my partially-cooked-ahead version was delicious (and uses the same ingredients, blended 🙂 Such a warm and comforting dish and so especially great with avocado and cilantro on top! Thank you Nicole! Love a chili with cinnamon!
Super Delicious and easy to make!
This was sooooo delicious!!! Just what I was craving, thank you Nicole for yet another super flavourful recipe that makes doing AIP so much easier 🙂 I made your cassava wrap/tortilla recipe to go with it and it’s delish ! For anyone who is sad they can’t eat Mexican anymore I really recommend trying this recipe!