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1
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Bake two sweet potatoes in the oven until soft (about 45 minutes). Set aside until cool enough to peel.
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2
Fry the bacon. Once fried and cool, chop into small pieces. Save 2 TBSP of bacon grease to fry the vegetables with.
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3
Chop the vegetables, remaining sweet potatoes, tomato paste, and garlic. Fry in a pan with bacon grease until the vegetables are soft (note that the parsley takes a bit longer to soften; you can chop it into smaller pieces to shorten the time). Pierce with a fork to check the tenderness.
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4
In a separate pan or cast iron skillet, fry the ground beef until browned.
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5
In a large pot, add the sweet potato from the oven with 1-2 cups of broth. Mash or puree the sweet potato until it reaches a creamy consistency. Alternatively, you can add the sweet potato and broth to a blender to make it smoother.
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6
Add the cooked vegetables, bacon, and ground beef to the large pot. Heat the large pot on medium-high.
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7
Add the spices and tomatoes.
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8
Cook until the flavors have saturated and the beef is fully cooked. If using a crockpot, this takes 4-8 hours; if using the stovetop and short for time, this takes 1-2 hours, depending how strong you want the flavors.
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9
In the last hour of cooking, add the butternut squash soup. This makes for a better consistency (I think!). Add more or less, depending how thick you want your chili.
