I’m not a professional cook and I’m not vegetarian. But I’m REALLY good at pumpkin recipes and can say with 100% certainty that this pumpkin chili is absolute dynamite. My assistant, Hilari, doesn’t eat meat and loved it. And my husband, who does eat meat (but doesn’t really like pumpkin) had seconds. This meatless chili is one of the best dinners I’ve made all year. Regardless of how you eat (vegetarian, vegan, meat, pumpkin, non-pumpkin, spicy, non-spicy), I’m confident you’ll enjoy this one pot meal. It joins my list of 30 delicious fall dinner recipes—and for good reason! This is an everything-into-1-pot chili. There’s wiggle room with the ingredients, which I discuss below, but I recommend sticking to the base of this recipe including the delicious spices, herbs, and other key ingredients. This is excellent served with biscuits, ham and cheese scones, brown butter sage dinner rolls, asiago-crusted skillet bread, sweet potato dinner rolls, or whole wheat dinner rolls.
Key Ingredients in Vegetarian Pumpkin Chili
Swap Your Add-Ins
I had a lot of fun testing this recipe because there are SO many add-ins to play with. Instead of pinto beans, feel free to use chick peas. In place of kidney beans, use more black beans. Instead of sweet potato, use butternut squash. If you only have 1 bell pepper, that’s cool! As long as you stick with the base of this chili including the spices, onion, garlic, broth, pumpkin, and diced tomatoes—you can really play around with the extras.
How Spicy Is This?
The vegetarian pumpkin chili as written is mildly spicy. In fact, as I ate my first bowl, I added another pinch of chili powder. (And I can’t tolerate super spicy food!) Feel free to adjust the chili powder based on your spice tolerance and you can leave out the jalapeño if desired. If removing some spice, however, keep in mind that some flavor will be lost. You can add a little more cumin, garlic, or onion powder in its place. (This is Le Creuset Dutch Oven in the pretty Berry color and the orange pumpkin bowl above is from Pier 1!)
How to Make Vegetarian Pumpkin Chili
Put everything in the pot and cook it. It’s that easy. But if we’re getting technical here, sauté the onion and peppers first, then add the rest of the ingredients. Cook for about 30 minutes. Slow Cooker Instructions: Place all of the ingredients in a 5 quart or larger slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Does this work in an Instant Pot? I don’t know, I don’t own one! Let me know if you try it. If you eat meat, you’ll love my slow cooker chicken chili, sweet potato turkey chili, and cornbread chili casserole too!
More Meatless Dinner Recipes
Alphabet Vegetable Soup Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese Biscuit Vegetable Pot Pie Minestrone Soup
And this sweet potato casserole is a favorite meatless side dish. Simple to prepare and an annual favorite on my Thanksgiving table—although we don’t limit it to the holidays!
