This vegetarian pumpkin chili is filled with flavor, texture, and just enough spice. (It’s actually vegan and gluten free, too!) Combining easy canned ingredients with a few fresh components, this quick one pan meal will warm you up during colder months. Meat eaters, myself included, enjoy it too!
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, or whole wheat dinner rolls.
Key Ingredients in Vegetarian Pumpkin Chili
- Onion & Garlic: This duo creates a flavorful base for the pumpkin chili.
- Salt, Pepper, Onion Powder, Cumin, & Chili Powder: You can play around with the amounts, but don’t be afraid to use a lot of each. This is a big batch of chili. And pumpkin, a main ingredient, is pretty bland without a lot of added flavorings. For best taste, stick with the amounts I recommend below.
- Cinnamon (I forgot it in the picture!): Where there’s pumpkin, there must be a pumpkin spice. Even though this is a savory pumpkin recipe, cinnamon is most welcome. Cinnamon is actually pretty common in chili recipes.
- Vegetable Broth: If you’re not vegetarian, you can use chicken or beef broth instead.
- Diced Tomatoes: I ended up using 3 (14 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes. The juicy bursts of tomato pair wonderfully with the beans, pumpkin, and bold flavors. Do not drain the canned diced tomatoes before adding.
- Pumpkin: I recommend using canned pumpkin puree over homemade in this recipe, though 2 cups of homemade would be fine.
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
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!
Print
Vegetarian Pumpkin Chili
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: serves 10-12 (1 heaping cup serving)
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Combining easy canned ingredients with a few fresh components, this vegetarian pumpkin chili is an easy and convenient one pan meal that will warm you up during colder months. Feel free to make substitutions based on what you enjoy.
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) olive oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1/2 of a large onion)
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 small jalapeño, minced (remove seeds and ribs)*
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 cups (480ml) vegetable broth
- 3 (14 ounce) cans petite diced tomatoes, do not drain
- 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed*
- 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed*
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree*
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced (about 1 heaping cup)*
- optional: 1/2 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed*
Optional For Serving:
- chopped cilantro
- chopped red onion
- sliced avocado
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a 5 quart (or larger) pot or dutch oven. Add the onion, bell peppers, and jalapeño. Stir and cook for 5 minutes as the onion softens. Add garlic, salt, black pepper, cumin, chili powder, and onion powder. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Add the remaining ingredients including black beans, if using.
- Place the lid on top, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Serve with any optional toppings. I strongly suggest cilantro for a little fresh kick. Yum!
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Chili freezes wonderfully for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then heat in a large pot on medium heat for 20-30 minutes.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Large Pot or Dutch Oven (5 quarts or larger) | Wooden Spoon
- Spiciness: This chili, as written, is mildly spicy. Feel free to adjust the chili powder based on your spice tolerance. 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.
- Beans: You can use any beans you enjoy. I found the textures of pinto, kidney, and black beans perfect for this chili. You can use light or dark kidney beans, whichever you prefer. I added 1/2 of a can of black beans at the last minute. They’re optional, but very tasty in this dish. Chick peas would be great here, so feel free to make a swap.
- Pumpkin: I recommend using canned pumpkin puree over homemade in this recipe, though 2 cups of homemade would be fine in a pinch.
- Sweet Potato: Feel free to substitute peeled and diced butternut squash.
- Slow Cooker Instructions: Place all of the ingredients in a 5 quart or larger slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Wonderful flavors in this dish. I swapped the jalapeño for a chipotle (which I added after sautéing). It added a lovely smokiness which I think pairs great with the sweet potato. My only gripe is that my sweet potato wasn’t cooked after 30 minutes. Next time I’ll sauté it with the onions and peppers first.
I’m about to make this chili and wondering about adding red lentils instead of kidney beans. Any thoughts on this addition?
Hi Gail, that’s a great idea! You may need to add a little extra liquid.
My husband cannot eat beans. What should I substitute for the beans? I am looking forward to trying this recipe!
Hi Leslie, you can increase the other vegetables to make up for the bulk of the beans. Hope you enjoy it!
Hi Sally! Does the pumpkin cubes soften all the way when the chili is done? I cant digest root and starchy vegetables unless they are really cooked and softened. Thanks for letting me know – I want to make it for my friend next week!!
Hi Lynne! This chili has pumpkin puree in it, the chunks that you see are sweet potatoes. They’re cooked until tender, but you can certainly cook them longer if needed.
Hmm, that’s not what has happened for me – I’ve had the soup simmering for 90 minutes now and the sweet potato chunks are *just* starting to tenderize! Luckily I have time to let it simmer longer, but I’m not sure how they could cook in just 30 minutes?
Hi Beth, I’m sorry to hear this is taking an extra long time to cook! How small did you dice your sweet potato?
I did it and it’s more than yummy!!! I used diced pumpkin instead of puree in order to match with diced sweet potato.
Due to lack of vegetable broth, I used water and I think it worked.
No cilantro: shop run out of it.
Can’t stop eating it!!!
I doubled the recipe for a chili cook off. I made two days in advance because I think chili gets better with age. I sautéed the jalapeno (I didn’t double the jalapeno) and onions but added the peppers near the end. I used two cans of kidney beans, 2 cans of chick peas, and 1 can of black beans. (I’m not a fan of pinto beans and liked the chick peas.) Next time I would add another can of black beans, at the end. I simmered for 30 minutes then refrigerated. The spices were perfect! No need to alter. The day of the chili cook off, I put it in a slow cooker for on low for 4 hours. Absolutely delicious!!! I will definitely make again. Thank you!
I followed the recipe exact, not a cook! This was easy to make, and so good! If I can make it, anyone can. I’ll be freezing some for later. Recommend for sure!
I made the recipe as is and it was delicious as well as super easy to prepare! The pumpkin taste is not overwhelming at all. Thanks Sally
Sounds very yummy!!!
Really great fall chili!
I made this recipe today and it was so good!! I basically followed the recipe except for adding 1/4 pound ground beef and using borlotti beans instead of pinto beans, neither of which I suspect changed the outcome. I will be making this often. So good; thanks Sally.
BTW I also wanted to rate the creamy chicken noodle soup but the comment section seemed closed so since I had to compliment it; I’ll just add this blurb here. Sally, another big thanks.
I’ve made countless vegan chilis over the years and picked this one since I had a mostly full can of pumpkin open. Had no bell peppers but added some chipotles and 3 leftover baked sweet potato. So so so good!
I’m not prone to saying any chili recipes are THE BEST because most are similar. But this pumpkin chili was, for real, THE BEST. I can’t deal with cumin…left it out. Can’t do salt…left it out. Forgot to buy canned pumpkin…puréed half a pumpkin that was spring in the fridge that I had roasted two days ago. All my tomatoes and beans were no-sodium…but omg, this chili was perfect. I’ve gotten used to saying “this dish would have been great if it had salt,” but today, this chili was terrific and I didn’t need salt, a huge miracle. Go ahead, make it, freeze some for a cold winter night and you won’t be sorry!
Absolutely love this chili. I did add a can of corn.
Question? Would this be a good recipe for someone with diabetes? Carbohydrate count?
Hi Susan! Glad you enjoyed this recipe. We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I LOOOOOVE this chili! I just made it for the 4th time and the flavors are just so yummy! I chose to only use 2 of the canned tomatoes and prefer that best so far. And since my hubby is sensitive to chili powder, I only used half the recipe calls for. Yummy!
Absolutely love this and I didn’t know I would because I am a regular chili person. But this was so good. No I did adjust it to my own needs. For example, I added ground turkey and a little bit extra heat
this was delicious!!
Made this recipe for a ladies night since one of my friends is vegan, it was delicious and the ladies wanted me to share the recipe. The only thing that was a little confusing, cinnamon was in the list of ingredients, but seemed like it should have been added at the same time as the other spices, but was not listed in the sentence. So glad I still added it!
I made this chili in the slow cooker – simple and delicious! I personally prefer a chunkier chili, so I might use less veggie broth next time.
Ohhh my goodness! I can’t wait to try this!
HI Sally,
peppers dont often agree with me, so what do you recommend I use to substitute for the red and green peppers? THanks!
Hi Lynne, you can swap with corn, more potato or beans, or another favorite vegetable!
Hi Sally,
If I make this in a slow cooker, do I still saute the onions before putting it in the slow cooker? Also, you said 6-8 hours on low – what am I looking for to know that it is done?
Hi Lynne, no need to saute the onions—they will cook in the slow cooker. When the soup is done, it will look thickened and the vegetables/add-ins will be soft (you can test by piercing them with a fork). Hope you enjoy the chili!
This is my go to recipe for vegetarian Chili. I love it so much. Thank you for sharing
I love this chili recipe. It’s amazing. It’s a recipe that I keep going back to. My husband and I really enjoy it. I am a vegetarian and he’s not. I did change the bell peppers to 2 poblano peppers since those are the peppers we use in our house and added an additional Jalapeño pepper. I have used this recipe countless times. We pack up the chili and freeze it since it does make a lot. When we serve our chili, we use sour cream, avocado, and fresh cilantro. I can’t thank you enough for making such a delicious chili.
Do you have nutritional information for this recipe? It looks so good!
Hi Kathleen, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I made this exactly as written, and added 1/2 a can of black beans as you suggested. It was great! My son and I both loved it.
This recipe was great! I had leftover pumpkin puree from another recipe from this site (loved that a bunch of pumpkin recipes were suggested in that post, btw), and used this as the base of a “what’s in the pantry” veggie chili. It was supposed to be a meal for the week, but some unexpected guests ended up gobbling up the entire pot!
I threw in whatever veggies I had on hand, and added my own additional spices at the end, but it was great! The pumpkin really added a comforting touch that everyone loved.
Fantastic! Loved the blend of seasonings!
This was soooo good. Daughter said it was the best chili she ever had. I put all in the crockpot. It was a little more liquidy than I’m use to so maybe add vegetable broth along the way.
Hi! is it possible to use just butternut o pumpkin raw? if so, is it recommended to boil the pure first? or can just raw pureed fruit-meat be used?
I don’t usually like vegetarian chilis, but I decded to try this. So glad I did–it’s delicious!!! Followed the recipe just as written. Even my meat-loving husband raved about this chili. I’ll definitely be making this on a regular basis.