Pumpkin Chili

This pumpkin chili recipe uses fresh seasonal pumpkin for a healthy, hearty addition to this cool weather favorite.

I was looking for a way to give chili more substance and skip the beans. I have often used sliced mushrooms and diced tomatoes, but this time I added fresh pumpkin chunks to the mix, which are lower in carbs than beans, filling, and have lots of great nutritional value.

I used a large fantasy pumpkin for this homemade chili dish, but you can also use other pumpkins, such as the "pumpkin pie" pumpkin shown above. You could use canned pumpkin or pumpkin puree, but I think that would defeat the purpose of adding bulk to the chili.

Here's what the fantasy pumpkin looks like.

How to Make Pumpkin Chili

Prepare the Pumpkin

Step 1. Cut open and remove the fibrous strands and seeds from the center. As you can see above, there is a good amount of flesh to this pumpkin. Save the seeds for roasting if you like, or toss them all in the compost.

Step 2. Cut the pumpkin into workable sections, then remove the rind. Toss the rinds in your compost bin/area too.

Step 3. Cut up the pumpkin flesh into bite sized pieces. My pumpkin yielded about 2.25 pounds of flesh. I only used around 1 pound for the chili or about 4 cups. The rest I saved for soup later in the week.

Making the Chili

Step 1. Saute the onions and green pepper in olive oil with all of the spices in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven until the vegetables are tender.

Step 2. Add the ground beef and saute it until it is browned through. Note: You may want to brown your beef separately if you want to remove any extra fat, or you could start with lean beef.

Step 3. Add the garlic and pumpkin and simmer for a couple of minutes before adding the mushrooms and canned tomatoes. Simmer everything for 20-30 minutes until the pumpkin chunks are softened and the flavors are well combined.

What to Serve with Pumpkin Chili

It's so good you don't even need to serve anything with it. I think cornbread will be great if you aren't trying to keep the meal low carb. However, it's always fun to have a toppings bar.

This hearty pumpkin chili was sooooo good. The pumpkin adds a delicious, slightly sweet, buttery flavor and really helps to fill you up. I'm definitely going to make this as long as I can get my hands on fresh pumpkin. I also think I could use winter squash, such as butternut squash or acorn squash, when pumpkin is not an option.