A hearty and protein packed chilli that is just what you need to warm you up on a cool autumn evening. It makes use of seasonal pumpkin, bursting with beans, and a little kick from some smokey chipotle. Serve this Pumpkin Chilli with rice, a chunk of bread, or eat the leftovers on a baked potato.
I know that once November arrives everyone is pretty much over pumpkin recipes. Everyone is ready to start thinking about Christmas (no? too soon?), but this pumpkin chilli was so good that I just couldn't wait until next year to share it. So, whilst pumpkins are still in season, we will be sharing pumpkin recipes! This would be a great recipe to make use of the inside of pumpkins that you scoop out for carving, so keep it in mind for next year.
You guys know we are all about food traditions in our house. Well, one of our traditions is to make a big pot of chilli on bonfire night and when we get back from watching the fire works, we heat it up and enjoy a big bowl of it to warm ourselves up.
Now, if you are reading this from outside the UK, then you might be a bit confused about what bonfire/fireworks night is. Basically, it's a night (on November 5th) that we go and stand in a field and watch a big bonfire and fireworks display on the anniversary that a dude called Guy Fawkes tried to blow up our government building many years ago (1605 to be precise). Even more confused? It's a bit of an odd "celebration", but we love it here in the UK and for me personally it marks the beginning of the festive season.
Step by step
One: Add the oil to a pan and once hot, add the onions, beef mince, mushrooms and pumpkin and cook gently for around 4 minutes until the beef has browned.
Two: Add the rest of the ingredients and reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
Three: Serve with rice, guacamole and salsa (optional).
We are in full comfort food and batch cooking mode and this pumpkin chilli ticks both of those boxes. This chilli is packed with meat (you can use a vegetarian/vegan mince instead), beans and pumpkin to make it super filling and it's easy to make a huge batch of it and portion it out in to the freezer for a quick weeknight meal. We made another version without as much chilli (as this one has a bit of a kick to it) and Avery really loved it. She loves beans and squash, so this was a new way for her to enjoy it.
For this, we served it with rice, salsa and guacamole (obviously) here, but we had loads of leftovers and enjoyed it various ways. We loaded it on to a baked potato with some grated cheese, we added it to tortilla wraps to make a burrito and we even used it to make some nachos. We cooked it up with some scrambled eggs for a filling breakfast and we made a hash type meal with some other leftover vegetables too. There really is so much that you can do with the leftovers of this, so be sure to make a big batch.
Speaking of baked potatoes, if you love them then you will want to keep and eye on the blog later this week as we are sharing 10 healthy baked potato toppings to keep you going all the way through winter.
If you don't like pumpkin, or can't find any because someone has bought them all for carving, then you can use any kind of squash. Use a few different ones and get creative, or you could just use sweet potato instead. Or maybe a mix of sweet potato and squash. Seriously, never feel like you have to follow the recipe exactly, as they are so easy to adapt and you can make use of what you have available, or what gets sent in your vegetable box.
More pumpkin recipes
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DON’T FORGET TO RATE THE RECIPE ↓
Pumpkin Chilli
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 500 g lean beef mince
- 1 small pumpkin, skin removed and cut in to small chunks
- 1 medium onion, peeled and diced
- 8 mushrooms, sliced
- 1 x 300g can of haricot beans
- 1 x 400g can of chopped tomatoes
- 4 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 tbsp chipotle en abobo (less if you don't want it spicy)
- 1 pinch Sea salt and black pepper
- 0.5 tsp each of: cumin, paprika, ground coriander and dried oregano
Instructions
- Add the oil to a pan and once hot, add the onions, beef mince, mushrooms and pumpkin and cook gently for around 4 minutes until the beef has browned.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
- Serve with rice, guacamole and salsa (optional).
Henseez
look delicious I like to pumpkin chili ...and your recipe thank you guys for this post...:-)
Elizabeth
What a delicious, hearty sounding chilli recipe! Just the sort of thing we need during this cold snap!