Pumpkin Chili

A simple seasonal favorite for when it still feels like Summer, but you want to get your pumpkin on.

Ingredients

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion

2 carrots, diced

3-5 cloves minced garlic

1 can of pumpkin

1 medium sweet potato

2 cans of beans (black, pinto, kidney, etc.)

1 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp sea salt, plus a pinch

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

2 bay leaves

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups water or broth

1 1/2 tbsp coconut sugar

1 tbsp soy sauce, or tamari for GF

1 block of tempeh, grated

1 can crushed tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 chipotle pepper in adobo chopped (optional)

3 tbsp corn flour (maseca or masa harina)

Toppings (optional, but recommended)

Chopped onions

Avocado (of course! i’m from California)

Chopped fresh cilantro

Crushed chips

Cornbread

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Directions

1. Do your mise en place. Dice the onion, carrots, and mince the garlic. Open all your cans. Drain and rinse your beans. Measure out and and combine in the small bowl the chili powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, cayenne, bay leaves and cocoa powder.

2. Warm oil in a large pot, or dutch oven over medium/high. When shimmering, add onions, carrots, a pinch of salt, and a couple turns of pepper. Stir to coat and cook until the carrots begin to soften and onion is soft. Add garlic and cook for a minute, stirring so it won’t burn. Lower your heat if things are getting too crazy.

3. Add bowl of spices and toss with carrots, onion and garlic to coat. Cook for 30-45 seconds until fragrant. Cooking spices helps release their flavor.

4. Add water/broth to deglaze, stirring everything around and scraping the bottom of the pot.

5. Add all remaining ingredients except the corn flour.

6. Stir and bring to a boil. Lower heat to bring to a simmer and let cook for 30-45 minutes, stirring every 5-10.

7. Add corn flour, 1 tbsp at a time stirring continuously until desired thickness is achieved. You may not use it all.

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Notes

Rich and thick, velvety texture - everything I want from a piping hot bowl of chili. This recipe is very nearly a dump-it and forget-it situation. As always, I strongly recommend prepping your station in advance to make it even easier. With my two kiddos running around, having all the ingredients prepped means it’s less stressful once I start compiling. You can really customize spice level here. I personally prefer to make things my kids will also eat, so I don’t have to make two different dinners. With non-seasonal chili I prefer spicier, but once the seasonal ingredients get involved I really want to taste them. So I sweetened it up a bit and reduced the heat. If you like it hot, you can add some cayenne to taste or more adobo chilis.

This is a great end of Summer, into Fall dish because it still has outdoor barbecue/picnic vibes, especially if you put it on top of Frito’s cornchips and top it with vegan cheese and onions - called a “pepper belly” in my family. Joy in a bowl.

Featured is Minimalist Baker’s cornbread, which is the best vegan cornbread I’ve ever had or made. Definitely make it.