The Best Vegan Pumpkin Chili

The first time I ever had pumpkin chili was at… A bagel shop?

It was a strange place to find chili on the menu, but I live in New England, and when it’s fall in New England, pumpkin is fair game just about anywhere. On front porches, in muffins and whoopie pies — we even have pumpkin festivals.

(If you’ve ever been to New England, you know that we take fall Very Seriously, and pumpkin is a key player.)

So pumpkin in chili? Sure, why not.

One bite and I was sold. I went from pumpkin chili? to pumpkin chili! faster than a leaf-peeping tourist zipping through the state to catch the best fall foliage.

I wondered why we ever made chili any other way. I wondered why no one had ever told me that yes, actually, pumpkin and chili are really good friends, and they belong together. And why, of all places, was I finding out about it at a bagel shop?!

So many questions! And one of them was, inevitably, me politely asking (begging?) the store owner for the recipe.

He wouldn’t give it up. This recipe is award-winning, he told me, somewhat smugly. We don’t give it out.

I was stumped. This was before food blogs ran the internet, and I had never even heard of pumpkin chili before this random chance encounter at a bagel shop. What was I going to do?

Well, I'll tell you. I ate that pumpkin chili weekly, until fall collapsed into winter and they finally took it off the menu. And then, more or less certain that I at least had the right flavor profiles down, I made my own.

This pumpkin chili recipe is something that has evolved with my family over the years. Writing it down took ages — I played with it a little each time I made it, depending on what we had in the pantry. After several years of tinkering, I've more or less got it down to its final form. It’s become a family staple, carrying us through many a cool evening and family potluck.

Like most of my recipes, this pumpkin chili extremely adaptable. Go ahead and swap out some of the spices, or replace the pumpkin beer with vegetable broth. If you eat meat, ground bison works well here; if not, it’s very good as is, but you can also add something like Beyond Meat if you’re looking to add a meat-like texture to it.

If you don’t want to cook it on the stovetop, you can even throw all the ingredients in the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours and call it a day. I’ve never tested it in an Instant Pot, but I suspect it would work well there, too.

The Best Vegan Pumpkin Chili

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup chopped sweet potato, pumpkin, or butternut squash
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 - 2 jalapenos, diced, depending on your heat tolerance
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne (skip if you don’t like heat)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 12 ounces pumpkin beer or vegetable broth
• 1/2 a 14-oz. can of pumpkin puree
• 1 14-oz. can of kidney beans
• 1 14-oz. can of black beans
• 1 28-oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

Directions

1. Sauté the onion, bell pepper, and sweet potato in the olive oil over low heat for a few minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and jalapenos and saute for another minute or two, until fragrant.
2. Add the spices to the sauteed vegetables and stir together until the vegetables are completely coated with the spices.
3. Add the beer or broth, pumpkin, beans, and tomatoes to the mix. Simmer over low-medium heat, stirring frequently, for at least 30 minutes. Add more vegetable broth as needed if you simmer for longer or the chili will dry out.

4. Top with cheese, avocado, sour cream, cilantro, thinly sliced red onions, or anything else you'd like. It’s very good with some maple cornbread on the side.