Healthy Pumpkin Turkey Chili
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Here it is friends, the chili recipe that wins chili cook-off competitions every single year!! This Turkey Pumpkin chili recipe is sweet and spicy, the perfect combination of pumpkin, ground turkey, warming spices, and lots of black beans.
Do you love chili as much as I do? I created a roundup of 10 healthy and creative chili recipes for you here: 10 Healthy Chili Recipes
This delicious and easy-to-make Pumpkin Turkey Chili is one of my favorite dishes when the afternoons start to get chilly. Adding pumpkin to chili creates a lovely sweetness and depth of flavor. You want to be sure to cook it for at least an hour, or ideally allow it to simmer, slow cooking on low for several hours. The longer it cooks the better the texture will be.
It’s that time of year when you just want to get a large pot of something hot and delicious on the stove and let the aromas whisk you into autumn bliss. I can’t think of a better way to welcome fall flavors to the table than a delicious healthy pumpkin turkey chili, dressed with your favorite toppings. So here you have it friends, my award-winning pumpkin turkey chili recipe. (Let me be clear, I have not won any awards but I have had numerous friends and family members who have taken this recipe to chili cook-off glory.). Truly, the best part of sharing these recipes with you is hearing that you are sharing them with your friends and family, and, if every once in a while someone wins a contest, BONUS!
You’ll Love this Recipe
- Meal Prep: One of the best things about chili is that it’s a great way to meal prep. Like most stews and hearty one-pot dishes, I think it’s even better the next day. This is a perfect dish to make in a big batch on the weekend and portion out for the week. With so much flavor, no one will ever complain about having this as a leftover. This chili with its creamy texture and mild spicy flavor, is a slam dunk on a busy weeknight
- Healthy! This dish is loaded with antioxidants, protein, carbohydrates, and healing spices.
- Easily Customizable: If you don’t have ground turkey, feel free to use ground chicken, add any bell peppers you have, mix up the beans, make it vegetarian, there are so many easy ways to customize this recipe to your preference.
Let’s Get Cooking!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Don’t be intimidated by the long list. This is an easy one. The last five ingredients are for toppings. Feel free to improvise with your favorite chili toppings.
- Organic lean ground turkey- I tend to like an 80-20 or 85-15 mix for a little more fat. This is already a very lean meat so the extra fat just adds flavor. Don’t worry if you only have 93-7. It will still make a delicious chili.
- Large onion – I prefer a using yellow onion in my chili but white onion or Vidalia onion would also work
- Bell peppers, chopped – I like to use a mix of peppers for 2 reasons. I love the look of a mixture of red, green, orange, and yellow peppers in a dish. Green bell peppers taste, well…green. This is great but I also like to mix in the sweetness of red, yellow, and orange peppers. The more red/orange the bell pepper, the sweeter it will be. One of my favorite things about bell peppers in this dish is the color splash and the varying sweetness levels in each bite.
- Garlic cloves
- Spices – Chili powder, ground cumin, smoked paprika – This is important. Do not substitute sweet paprika. The smokiness is vital.
- Salt – kosher or sea salt preferred
- Chicken stock or chicken broth
- Pumpkin puree – Canned. This stuff is different from fresh pumpkins, which would produce a much more watery version if you were to go through the trouble of scooping them out and making puree. Canned pumpkin purée actually comes from Dickson Pumpkins, also known as Dickson Squash. These pumpkins are tan and much larger than the field pumpkins you carve on Halloween. Pumpkin puree has the perfect consistency for chili and can easily be found in most grocery stores. Trader Joe’s has a great one.
- Organic diced tomatoes – Fire-roasted tomatoes are a great option.
- Black beans, you can also use kidney beans or pinto beans
- Coconut palm sugar– This is an unrefined sugar. That means it has not been adulterated by processing and stripped of its nutrients.
- Toppings – Sour cream, sliced jalapeños, fresh cilantro, diced onions or chopped scallions, shredded cheddar cheese
Detailed measurements and ingredients can be found within the recipe card at the end of this post.
Tools
- Dutch oven or large pot.
- Knife
- Cutting board
How to Make
Here are step by step instructions and photos with helpful tips to make the best pot of chili!
- Prepare vegetables: Chop onions and bell peppers in a uniform size. This is chili, it can be rustic but ideally, you are looking for the veggies to cook at the same rate. I prefer my veggies to be a bit larger because the chili cooks for a while.
- Saute: – Start with the turkey, brown in a pot with olive oil, remove and set aside. Add veggies to the same pot and saute, add spices to coat (toast the spices a bit) and then add in the beans, tomato, pumpkin, chicken stock, coconut palm sugar and turkey back to the pot.
- Simmer on low for at least one hour, testing for seasoning.
- Toppings! Add toppings like sour cream, jalapeno, cheese, avocado, tortilla chips, scallions – toppings are the best part!
Recipe Tips
- Switch up the beans – kidney beans, pinto beans, or white beans all work.
- Low and Slow- This recipe only gets better if allowed to sit on the stove at a low temperature for a couple of hours. The extended time permits the flavors to meld together and create ‘flavor harmony’. It’s the same reason why it also tastes great, dare I say better, the next day and the next day after that. As the flavors get to sit together a magic alchemy happens to solidify a sum, that is greater than its parts.
- Season! Season! Season! – I am not here for bland chili, no sir! Add the dried spices when you saute onion/pepper to allow the spices to bloom and intensify in flavor. Add salt, TASTE, and adjust seasoning as needed.
Storage, Reheating & Freezing
- Storage – Let the dish cool completely, cover, and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
- Reheating – Reheat in a saucepan on the stove, or in the microwave.
- Freezing – Chili is the ultimate friend of future you (ahem… freezer friendly!) Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months
Nutrition Tips! Chili may surprise you!
Although chili is rarely thought of as a “health” food it is surprisingly nourishing in multiple ways. Chili is the perfect example of my nourishment philosophy – lean into wholesome, home-cooked, real food and you are good to go! Source good quality ingredients (turkey from my local farmer, local veggies, excellent spices!) layer in vegetables, spices, tomatoes, and beans = nourishment in a pot!
Chili is a great source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and a balanced macronutrient meal including healthy protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
Dietary Modifications
This recipe is naturally gluten-free and modifiable in the following ways:
- Vegetarian or Vegan – Eliminate the turkey and increase beans!
- Paleo, Keto, Whole30 Compliant – Eliminate the beans and any dairy toppings
FAQ
Yes, however, I have found, much to my surprise, that turkey produces a better texture. Ground beef can sometimes get dense and chewy, whereas ground turkey breaks down into a much more velvety consistency.
Yes, omit the lean ground turkey and add an extra can of beans. If going the vegetarian route, this is a great opportunity to prepare with a mixture of different beans, like black beans, white beans, and kidney beans. The mixture of beans helps create an interesting variety of textures.
More Healthy One-Pot Meals You Should Try
For similar tasty dishes, check out my healthy Thanksgiving recipes, pumpkin recipes, fall recipes and healthy Super Bowl recipes roundups!
I can’t wait for you to try this healthy and delicious recipe! When you make it, snap a photo and tag me on Instagram @abrapappa or use the hashtag #abraskitchen so I can feature your photo!
If you’ve tried this recipe, don’t forget to rate it and leave a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my recipes!
Pumpkin Turkey Chili
Equipment
- Large pot or dutch oven
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound organic ground turkey
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 bell peppers, any color chopped
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp cumin ground
- 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 can diced tomatoes 15 ounces
- 1 can black beans 15 ounces
- 2 tbsp coconut palm sugar
Toppings (optional)
- sour cream
- sliced jalapenos
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, over medium heat, add one tablespoon olive oil and ground turkey, cook until browned about 5 minutes. Remove turkey from pot and set aside.
- Add to pot remaining olive oil, onion, bell pepper, and garlic sauté for 5-7 minutes or until tender, but not mushy. Add all dry seasoning and stir well to coat.
- Add beans, tomato, pumpkin, chicken stock and coconut palm sugar and return turkey to the pot.
- Partially cover, reduce heat to low, and allow to simmer for at least one hour. Stirring frequently.
- Taste and add seasoning if necessary.
- Serve in bowls with sour cream and sliced jalapeno
- The longer you cook this, the better it is. This is a “put a pot of pumpkin turkey chili on the stove, and watch a football game” kind of meal 🙂
Notes
Nutrition
Meet Abra Pappa, MS, CNS, LDN
Abra is a licensed nutritionist, seasoned home cook, and forever flavor-chaser. She’s spent more than two decades exploring the connection between food and health—and just as long obsessing over what makes something truly delicious. Abra’s Kitchen is where those two loves meet, with recipes that celebrate vegetables, follow the seasons, and make you excited to cook.
Wonderful. Turkey is my new go-to for chili, thanks to this post.
Such a surprise. I actually like the turkey better than beef…better texture. The flavor of the seasoning is so clear and intense..in a good way…very good. This is coming from someone who has been making chili for years. This recipe will be added to my chili rotation.