Pumpkin Chili Recipe (Ready in 30 Minutes)

This easy pumpkin chili recipe checks all the boxes. It’s warm, hearty, comforting, and the perfect fall dinner. I don’t know if there’s a dish that screams comfort food more than a big pot of chili, and you can have it on the table in 30 minutes!

Pumpkin is a nutritional powerhouse! It’s loaded with fiber and beta-carotene, and it’s a good source of potassium while staying naturally low in calories. If you’re looking for ways to sneak extra nutrition into your meals, this recipe is for you.

So if you’re like me and prefer savory over sweet, grab that can of pumpkin that’s been in your pantry since last year and make this healthy chili recipe! Ground beef, aromatics, salsa, and canned pumpkin make a surprisingly delicious, cozy soup!

I was hesitant to try this recipe for a long time. I don’t dislike pumpkin, but I could go without it. After learning how nutritious it was, I gave in and have been making this pumpkin chili recipe for years now. Pumpkin has an earthy flavor with a subtle sweetness, which balances the warm, smoky flavors in chili beautifully. It just works.

If you’re like me and have been on the fence about adding pumpkin to your savory recipes, this should be the first dish you try. It’s packed with protein, fiber, and nutrients, and your family will never know that they’re eating something packed with goodness!

My Pumpkin Sausage Balls Are The Perfect Fall Appetizer

Pumpkin Chili Recipe

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I have two shortcuts for making a 30-minute chili recipe. If you’ve been here long, you can probably guess the first one!

• Fire-roasted salsa is my favorite shortcut ingredient because it includes tomatoes, seasonings, onions, garlic, and pepper, and completely eliminates the need to prep those things. I personally love using fire-roasted salsa for a little more depth of flavor and smoke.
• Frozen veggies. In this case, onions. Frozen veggies are always in my freezer for nights I don’t feel like chopping. They’re prepped and ready to go. Use what you like and toss the rest back in the freezer for later. Plus, they’re a great value and last much longer than fresh produce

How To Make Pumpkin Chili

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With a few shortcuts and a little multitasking, you can have this chili on the table in about 30 minutes. Of course, if you want to cook it longer, it will only get better.

1. Start by cooking the ground beef in a Dutch oven. Since this isn’t a huge batch of chili, I typically use my 3-quart Dutch oven. You’ll want to get some good color on your ground beef. This browning process is called the Maillard reaction. Cooking the beef until it develops a deep, browned exterior creates rich, complex, savory flavors. Cooking it through without that browning yields blander ground beef by comparison.
2. After cooking the ground beef, add the onions, cook for a few minutes, then add the chili beans and salsa. For this recipe, I used one can of chili beans because I like more meat than beans, but use whatever beans you like. Chili beans are softer and almost melt into the chili. If you want more texture, I suggest adding a can of kidney beans or even black beans.
3. Using beef bone broth boosts the protein while providing a rich beefy flavor. Feel free to swap it with any beef broth or stock. The beef and beans already provide plenty of protein.

Tips + Variations

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Chili needs seasoning, but hold back on the salt. Chili cooks down quite a bit, so it’s easy to add too much at the beginning and end up with something too salty, especially since most store-bought bone broth and stock has a substantial amount of sodium. For the same reason, I prefer salt-free chili powder. This is my favorite brand.

Sweetener. This is a personal preference, but I think chili benefits from a little sweetener, especially when adding canned pumpkin. Chili powder is already very earthy, and so is canned pumpkin. Adding a small amount of sweetener helps to balance out those earthy flavors without making the chili sweet. I start with half a teaspoon of golden monk fruit, stir and taste, then add more to taste.

Chili toppings. This is the fun part! Our family is very divided on this. My husband and son love a sweet cornbread, my daughter loves macaroni, and I love corn chips. Shredded cheese, jalapeños, scallions, sour cream, and hot sauce are all delicious.

You can easily adapt this recipe into a vegan or vegetarian chili by omitting the ground beef and beef bone broth and swapping them for more beans and/or veggies and veggie stock!

If you don’t eat ground beef, ground turkey or chicken work, but for even more flavor, try making my chicken Italian sausage by omitting the Italian seasoning and adding Southwest seasonings.

To make this recipe even more budget-friendly, stock up on everything when it’s on sale. When you stock up on the grocery items you use most when they’re on sale, and you do that consistently, it will save you a lot of money in the long run.

How To Store Leftover Chili

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To store this pumpkin chili in the refrigerator, spread it in a wide container and refrigerate it as soon as everyone’s done eating. Storing it in a wide, shallow container cools it quickly, unlike a tall, deep container where the center may take hours to cool. Honestly, I’m so neurotic about food safety that I put it in the freezer until I’m done cleaning the kitchen and then put it in the fridge.

You can also freeze it in meal-size portions for up to six months. These are my favorite single-serve containers. My husband can pop one or two out in the morning, transfer the frozen blocks to his lunch container, and they’re thawed by lunch!