Healthy Fall Pumpkin Chili Recipe

This Healthy Fall Pumpkin Chili is an autumn favorite. It’s loaded with healthful ingredients and big bold flavors. Comforting, cozy, and deliciously savory. 

pumpkin chili

Pumpkin Chili Recipe

It’s officially too cold in the mornings for The Littles to get away with their usual T-shirt and shorts getup. They’ve refused to don pants up until today. Their entire pants + hoodies collection has remained untouched for months. We do live in Minnesota where we wait until it snows to bring out the real clothes, so I kinda get it.

But still. When it’s 30F at the bus stop in the morning, I have to put my foot down.

Or charge a dollar every time they try to sneak out of the house with shorts on. I may get a little richer by wintertime. 😇

Thankfully, I don’t have to pull any silly stunts for the family to gobble up this Healthy Fall Pumpkin Chili.

Before you raise a brow because you saw pumpkin chili, let me reassure you that it’s not nearly as weird as it sounds. (If you didn’t think it was weird in the first place, just ignore me right now.)

In truth, this chili tastes a lot like our all-time favorite hearty chili, but we’ve seasoned it up with fall flavors that subtly amp up the autumn vibes. Give it a go; you’ll be rewarded with comforting bowls of savory, satisfying chili that tastes extraordinary…

pumpkin chili

Pumpkin: Not just for baking

The pumpkin thing? Sure, you already love it in pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie. But pumpkin chili? Nobody will guess how sneaky you were. Its main role in this recipe is to thicken the chili and provide an extra boost of nutrition. 

The pumpkin flavor is so subtle, nobody actually ever guesses it when we play “guess the secret ingredient.” We highly recommend playing this game if you get a kick out of bewildering everyone.

We season up this chili some a bit of pumpkin pie spice, which is essentially just a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice. Just a teaspoon imparts a wonderfully delicate autumn flavor, without coming off strong at all. You’ll just have to trust us on this; after all, cinnamon is the reason this Butternut Squash Chili is so popular.

Then we add in all our usual players – plenty of garlic (yum) and onion, colorful veggies, black beans, and fire roasted tomatoes – sooo good. We use ground turkey in this pumpkin chili, but feel free to go with beef. You can even make it vegetarian and replace the meat with extra beans and bells.

pumpkin chili recipe

Here’s to breaking out the hoodies, pants, and big pots of steaming pumpkin chili with extra cheese on top.

Enjoy!

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Healthy Fall Pumpkin Chili Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 6 reviews

This Healthy Fall Pumpkin Chili is an autumn favorite. It’s loaded with healthful ingredients and big bold flavors. Comforting, cozy, and deliciously savory.

  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Cook Time: 40 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: 8-10 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 TB olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 7 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 TB chili powder
  • 1 TB ground cumin
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 3 TB tomato paste
  • 2 green + 1 orange/yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 2 cans (14.5 oz each) fire-roasted tomatoes, with juices
  • 3 cups chicken or turkey broth
  • 2 (14 oz each) cans black beans, rinsed well and drained
  • 1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • shredded cheddar cheese for topping, optional

Instructions

  1. In a large heavy pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil until hot. Add onion and garlic, stirring until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add sugar, chili powder, cumin, pumpkin pie spice, oregano, and coriander. Stir to combine, 10 seconds.
  2. Add ground turkey to pot and sprinkle 1 tsp salt over it; cook/stir to break up into small pieces. When turkey is cooked through, add tomato paste and stir 30 seconds.
  3. Add bell peppers, fire-roasted tomatoes with juices, and broth. Scrape bottom of pan while stirring. Bring chili to a simmer; simmer covered for 20 minutes. Add beans and pumpkin puree. Bring chili back to a simmer for 15-20 min or until heated through. Remove from heat. Add additional kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve warm, with shredded cheddar cheese if desired.

Notes

Chili keeps well; simply cover and chill in fridge. Reheat by bringing back to simmer on stovetop.
Make it meatless by using veggie broth and omitting turkey.

  • Author: Chew Out Loud
  • Category: dinner, main

Kitchen Stuff We Love:

Crazy for Chili:

  1. 30-Minute White Bean Turkey Chili

2. Butternut Squash Chili

3. Hearty, Chunky Chili

4. Hearty White Chicken Chili

Did you make this?

Leave a comment below and tag @chewoutloud on Instagram

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Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

44 comments

    • Logan

    • ★★★★★

    Besides Kevin Malone’s chili….this is the most delicious chili I have ever made and eaten. Your recipe/creation is unreal, and I have been sharing with friends and family. Thank you for making our taste buds and stomachs happy and more than satisfied!

      • chewoutloud

      That’s so great to hear, Logan. Yay!

    • Logan

    • ★★★★★

    Besides Kevin Malone’s chili….this is the most delicious chili I have ever made and eaten. Your recipe/creation is unreal, and I have been sharing with friends and family. Thank you for making our taste buds and stomachs happy and more than satisfied!

    • Dustin

    • ★★★★★

    This was so delicious. Definitely will be making again and again throughout fall and winter. Thank you!

      • chewoutloud

      Super happy you all loved it, Dustin! 🙂

    • Stephanie Salomon

    • ★★★★★

    I just made this! I love spicy, so I added some cayenne pepper but this a delicious recipe. Wow!

    • Karen

    Did anyone ACTUALLY make it and try it?????

    • Rachel

    This sounds SO good! I can’t wait to try it!

    • Berlin Maynigo

    this is something I see myself doing for my boys. i bet they love the little spice and healthy food in one bowl.

    • Emily

    Oh yum! This looks like such a heart-warming dish for fall! Love the ingredients, healthy and delicious.

    • MUDPIEFRIDAYS

    This Spicy Pumpkin recipe is so outstanding and really great for winter and cold mornings. I would definitely try this and make my free time on this one. Thanks!

    • Sushmita

    I have tried this without the meat and black chickpeas instead of the black beans and it turned out so well! It’s a pretty simple recipe, loved it! 🙂

      • chewoutloud

      So glad you enjoyed it

    • Ruth I

    The sauce looks incredible! This is by far the best pumpkin recipe I’ve seen. I am more than happy to try this.

    • Samar

    This dish is perfect for the winters.

    Thanks for the recipe, I am gonna give it a try

    • Emily Fata

    Oh my goodness, this recipe looks divine! I think I might make a plant-based version for Thanksgiving this weekend (here in Canada). It’s sure to be a hit!

    • Patricia M.

    I’m not crazy about the cooler weather, I’m a beach/summer girl but if there is one good think about fall is all the yummy soap and chili recipes. This one looks so easy and delicious.

    • Kuntala Bhattacharya

    • ★★★★★

    I loved the pumpkin chilli recipe. In fact, I always wonder how could I best utilize pumpkin for a delicious dish. Thank you, I would definitely attempt to prepare it. My family likes pumpkin so hopefully, they will enjoy.

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