Quick, easy, and healthy turkey pumpkin chili recipe made with ground turkey, canned tomatoes, pumpkin puree, beans, and lots of hearty spices.
Adding pumpkin to chili is one of my favorite secrets to make thick, rich, healthy chili. The pumpkin adds a great texture, a nice sweetness to complement the acidic tomatoes, and a beautiful color to chili. The best part is your family will never know that you snuck a nutrient-packed vegetable into their favorite chili. Pumpkin is my secret ingredient to our favorite Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili as well as this one.
This easy Turkey Pumpkin Chili is on repeat all year long in our house because it’s so filling, healthy, and flavorful. Plus, you can’t beat that it only takes about 30 minutes to throw together and freezes well. I’ll often freeze half of the batch before the pan hits the dinner table so that I know I have a second meal in the freezer. I’ll fill out the meal with our favorite Cornbread Recipe or Mom’s Four Loaf Wheat Bread Recipe, some fruit, our Veggie Box, and some hummus too. It’s a simple, healthy, family-favorite meal that comes together easily. BONUS: you can make this in the slow cooker, too! See the notes under the recipes for instructions and cooking times.
This pumpkin recipe is part of pumpkin week! A week that I dedicate on the blog to all things pumpkin – sweet and savory alike. I’ve done this every year for a few years now, and I enjoy it so much. I hope it inspires you to get in the kitchen and gives you a few more ideas on how to use pumpkin besides the classic pumpkin cookies.
Tips and Tricks to Make Easy Turkey Pumpkin Chili
- This recipe works great in the slow cooker! Just cook the meat, onion, and garlic as directed and then add it to your slow cooker. Stir everything else in and let it cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours.
- You can let this simmer for longer than 15 minutes if you have the time – just add a lid so that all of the moisture doesn’t escape. If it does get too thick, you can also add a little more chicken stock to reach your desired thickness.
- You can use ground turkey, chicken, beef, or even elk or venison in this recipe. Use what you like or have on hand.
- I used pinto beans – use what you like. You can also use a mix of beans. I like to cook dried beans in my Instant Pot and keep them in 2-cup portions in my freezer.
- This turkey pumpkin chili freezes really well. Just store it in an air-tight container and freeze for up to a month.
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Easy Turkey Pumpkin Chili
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 20 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6 to 8 1x
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Pin RecipeDescription
Quick, easy, and healthy turkey pumpkin chili recipe made with ground turkey, canned tomatoes, pumpkin puree, beans, and lots of hearty spices.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey (or other ground meat)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4–6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can diced tomatoes (15 ounce)
- 3 cups tomato juice
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 4 cups cooked beans, such as pinto
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- additional salt and pepper to taste
- additional toppings such as sour cream, minced fresh cilantro, grated cheese, hot sauce, optional
Instructions
- In a large pan or cast iron dutch oven over medium to medium-high heat, cook the ground turkey and onion until the turkey is cooked through and the onion is very soft, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook until just fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the diced tomatoes, tomato juice, chicken stock, cooked beans, pumpkin puree, chili powder, salt, smoked paprika, and cumin. Stir to combine well.
- Reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer for at least 15 minutes.
- Adjust the salt and pepper to taste and serve hot with additional toppings of your choice.
Notes
- This recipe work great in the slow cooker! Just cook the meat, onion, and garlic as directed and then add it to your slow cooker. Stir everything else in and let it cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours.
- You can let this simmer for longer than 15 minutes if you have the time – just add a lid so that all of the moisture doesn’t escape. If it does get too thick, you can also add a little more chicken stock to reach your desired thickness.
- You can use ground turkey, chicken, beef, or even elk or deer in this recipe. Use what you like or have on hand.
- I used pinto beans – use what you like. You can also use a mix of beans. I like to cook dried beans in my Instant Pot and keep them in 2-cup portions in my freezer.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop or Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: easy chili recipe, pumpkin chili recipe, pumpkin dinner recipe, slow cooker chili recipe
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Turkey Pumpkin Chili sounding good? You might also like these pumpkin recipes:
- Rich and Creamy Pumpkin Alfredo
- How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Puree
- No-Bake Pumpkin Oatmeal Energy Bites
- Healthy Pumpkin Blender Muffins
- Simple Pumpkin Donut Holes
I have so many pumpkin recipes on my site – just search “pumpkin” in the search bar at the top! You’ll be surprised at just how many ways you can make pumpkin delicious – sweet and savory, healthy and indulgent. I got you covered.
Enjoy from my kitchen to yours.
About Melissa
Melissa is dedicated to helping parents figure out the nightly questions, "What's for Dinner?!" with her no-fuss approach to cooking. Read more...
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Ground elf?! Nooo! Poor Buddy. Seriously, though, this is right up my alley. Will definitely be making.
LOL that’s a pretty good typo! I hope you enjoy a little Elf in your chili girl!
What is the conversion from cooked to uncooked beans? If I make this in my slow cooker how many cups of dry beans do I use? Do I need to increase the liquid amount to account for cooking the beans? Or, is it better just to use cooked beans in the slow cooker?
I’d make this with cooked beans. I normally will cook up big batches of beans in my slow cooker or Instant Pot to use in recipes like this (keeping extras portioned out in the freezer) but this recipe I didn’t plan on cooking the dried beans in it, you’d have to add a ton more water and I’m just not sure how much. So yep, better to just use cooked beans here. Thanks for asking!