Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chili
This slow cooker pumpkin chili is packed full of pumpkin puree, spicy Italian sausage and lots of beans and vegetables. This hearty soup is perfect for cold winter nights.
Sometimes I go to write a post and my brain goes blank. Should I just talk about the dish? Should I talk about my day? Should I make up some totally amazing story just because I have nothing to write about? I just tried asking my husband what to write about and he responded with this “The peanut. It’s neither a pea or a nut.”
Well, that was helpful. Thanks.
I guess today we will go with talking about the dish. I hope you’re not sick of pumpkin just yet because if you were it would be awkward to explain that this dish does, in fact, contain pumpkin. I know it might sound odd to add pureed pumpkin to your chili but I swear it’s delicious! It brings a nice punch of nutrients and squashy flavor.
Squashy flavor. That’s a thing…right?
Instead of your typical beef chili, I opted to instead use spicy Italian sausage. Mostly because I love sausage but also because I love the spiciness. If you’re not a fan of heat you could easily use sweet Italian sausage or any other (non-breakfast style) flavored sausage. Oh, and if you want it more spicy load this baby up with as much heat as you crave. I may or may not have drizzled my bowl with a little sriracha.
Oh, and this delicious slow cooker pumpkin chili is made in the slow cooker. Hello, easy!
Looking for even more delicious chili recipes? Try my Ground Pork Chinese Chili, Slow Cooker Beef Chorizo Taco Chili, Turkey Wild Rice Chili, Short Rib Chili or my Easy Vegetable Chili. Trust me, you’ll love all these delicious chili dishes! It’s impossible to pick a favorite!
Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chili
This slow cooker pumpkin chili is packed full of pumpkin puree, spicy Italian sausage and lots of beans and vegetables. This hearty soup is perfect for cold winter nights.
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 pound spicy Italian sausage
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
- 1 (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes with chiles
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- Shredded cheese, for topping
- Chopped cilantro, for topping
- Corn chips, for topping
Adapted from Whole Foods
Directions:
Remove sausage from it's casing and brown in a skillet over medium heat.
Add browned sausage to a 6 quart slow cooker with onion, bell peppers, garlic, black beans, kidney beans, pumpkin puree, diced tomatoes, beef stock, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, allspice, chipotle chile powder and salt.
Stir to combine and cook on high for 4 hours and low for 6-8 hours.
If desired, serve with a sprinkling of cheese, cilantro and corn chips.
This is seriously one of the best chili recipes I’ve seen – I bet the pumpkin adds a hint of natural sweetness! YUM!
Your photos are absolutely stunning! It makes me want to eat the chili right from the screen. Looks sooo good and the perfect comfort food for the cooler months!
this chili looks incredible!! Your photos are gorgeous. I love the addition of pumpkin in this chili…so hearty with the sausage and beans too. Great recipe!
That sounds fantastic. I’ve only added pumpkin to chili a couple times, but it has always turned out very well.
What a fabulous pot of chili!! Love!!
This is perfect for this next week ahead and Halloween! Love it!
Hahahah – your husband’s comment literally made me L-O-L!! Great recipe, this year, I can’t get enough pumpkin!!
Love spicy Italian sausage and love that you added some pumpkin for a perfect fall chili!
Bring on the squashy goodness! This looks amazing!
Well, clearly, your husband is brilliant 🙂 and dude, when you have fritos on a gorgeous bowl of slow cooker pumpkin chili, you don’t need to write or say a word. Seriously, you could have just had the photos and the recipe card. . the photos speak for themselves. love love love this! you have now become my go-to blog for pumpkin recipes.
I love the idea of pumpkin in chili. I sometimes use sweet potatoes. Such a nice switch up from the same old…
squasy thing is totally real..love love love pumpkin everything!
I love the frito topping!!!
LOL! Your husband tried (a little) right? Your photos did all the talking for me! I’m totally sold on anything pumpkin and it happens be great pot of chili. Yum!
You are literally killing it with the recipes lately. I’m coming to move in because I love everything that you are sharing.
PS: I have a husband, toddler and two dogs…. but we are on our way.
My mind goes blank every time I write a post LOL So mostly I just end up rambling about nothing and then saying a little something about the recipe. I have no business even being a writer (ha ha). Love this recipe – hands down the best looking chili ever!
Neither a pea or a nut..hahaha! This chili is mouthwatering, I’m liking the sausage addition.
Your photos are totally gorgeous…you almost don’t need to write anything! I know what you mean, sometimes I just want to write, “Here’s the recipe and the photos – what else do you need?” Definitely one of the best looking and sounding chilis I’ve seen lately!
The whole talkie-talk thing is over-rated. I mean you can’t talk with you mouth full of chili, can you. So it’s all good in the hood. No talking, just speed eating. Because this recipe is sheer perfection and words are not necessary.
Delicious! The pumpkin and sausage are great chile ingredients!
Delish soup and gorgeous photos…I’m ready to nose dive into this chili!!
Say nothing. Nothing! This chili truly speaks for itself. And it’s a slow cooker recipe, so I’m totally down with it.
Can’t get enough chili! Love this and love your frito topping 😉
I try to ask the.boy what to write about all the time and he is totally useless! He really thinks the weather or football are reasonable topics of blog conversation.
I don’t think I could ever tire of pumpkin, so I’m right there with you with this chili!
I love this! Beautiful chili and love the addition of pumpkin!
This may be a silly question…. But after you cook the sausage, do you need to slice it? Or does removing it from its casing make it crumble while you cook? Clearly I rarely cook with sausage haha
nutmegnanny replied: — October 9th, 2015 @ 11:32 am
Hi Chelsea, Not a silly question at all! Yes, when you remove the casing and saute you should break it down as though you were browning ground beef. Just break it up with your spatula as it cooks. No need to slice 🙂 Hope you enjoy the chili!
This recipe is fantastic! I tried pumpkin chili once before (different recipe) and was not impressed, but the spicy sausage combined with this being a crockpot meal prompted me to try it again… and I’m so glad I did. I followed this recipe to the T and everyone loved it. Perfect fall recipe, thank you for sharing!
nutmegnanny replied: — September 25th, 2016 @ 12:58 pm
Hi Jillian! Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know you enjoyed the recipe! This recipe is a big time favorite around my house and I’m so glad everyone loved it in your house too. Happy fall!
A very nice recipe, thank you, I just saw this on a recent foodiecrush post featuring notable chili recipes and I see why this was included, even thought this was published in 2014 I still haven’t seen pumpkin chili recipes, so very nice and great flavor for a slow cooker!
Does it need to be cooked for 4 hours on high and 6-8 hours on low, for a total time of 10-12 hours? Or can it be one or the other?
I have a question- can you cook this on the stove top? If so, what time should you let it simmer.
Thanks!
nutmegnanny replied: — October 25th, 2017 @ 1:35 pm
Hi Lauren! Yes, you can totally give this a good simmer on the stove. I would say for full flavor give it at least 4 hours on medium low heat.