By now all you pumpkin lovers out there have likely indulged in pumpkin spice lattes, donuts and cookies. With the popularity of this nutritious and delicious vegetable, you can pretty much get pumpkin everything these days! But the real question is, have you had it in chili yet? Or better yet, have you made it yourself? Because pumpkin, my friends, is just as tasty in a warm hearty meal as it is in your dessert or flavored in your early morning coffee. I mean really, just look at that picture. It’s OK, you can drool if you want to, no one can see you behind your screen 😉
One of the reasons I love pumpkin so much is not just for its flavor, but for its health benefits. For example, it’s loaded with Vitamin A, which plays a fundamental role in our immune system, healthy vision, reproduction and bone growth. Just 1 cup of pumpkin packs almost 200% of your DV of Vitamin A. So, you can feel fab about eating all the pumpkin this fall.
I often make a sweet potato turkey chili during the winter, but this time of year I like to switch up my orange veggies and go with pumpkin. If you have 5 extra minutes to spare after reading this, you can check out my step by step video included below. Now, don’t be alarmed when you see me peeling and cutting a fresh pumpkin. Yes, I actually used a whole pumpkin, but juuuust in case you’re not interested in doing all the chopping and peeling, here’s a little tip – Trader Joe’s usually sells bags of freshly pre-cut and peeled pumpkin, and yes I have used it before. Boom! That cuts down your prep time like woah and you can eliminate breaking a sweat in the kitchen. You’re welcome! Other than chopping up a pumpkin (if you go that route), everything else is easy peasy! I will say this, I go easy on the spices for this one because I have a toddler and if I put too much then little miss tells me it’s “too spicy.” So, I recommend simply doing a taste test before serving because it’s super easy to add more of something then having the spices be too powerful. Personally I like keeping the measurements to what I’ve include here because it keeps my kid happy, and then I simply add a little more spices, specifically cumin and chili powder, when I serve myself.
So check it out, make it exactly as is or use it as a baseline to get creative and make it your own. Either way, you can’t go wrong with this vegetarian pumpkin chili. It’s warm, hearty, healthy and you won’t even miss the meat! So eat up and enjoy!
- 1 small sugar pumpkin peeled and chopped, about 3 cups
- 3 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 can kidney beans
- 1 can garbanzo beans
- 1 can tomato paste
- fresh garlic
- tomatoes - about 2 cups
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 1 red pepper chopped
- Spices
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- Garnish Suggestions
- fresh spinach
- quinoa
- tortillas
- shredded cheddar cheese
- scallions
- Chop all veggies
- Add all ingredients and spices to crockpot
- Mix well and cook on High for about 5 hours or until pumpkin is cooked through and soft.
- You can also cook this on the stove in a dutch oven. You can roast the pumpkin first and then throw into your dutch oven and let simmer on the stove for about an hour.