White Bean Pumpkin Chili

One of my favorite recipes for early in football season — I mean Fall — is White Bean Pumpkin Chili. Enjoying a nice Pumpkin ale and this chili is a great way to get the Autumnal season started. I love when summer comes, but I have to tell you, I also love to see it leave!

Chili is quite an unbelievable food because everyone makes "the best" chili but no one uses a recipe. This easy white bean pumpkin chili lets you follow an easy recipe but also explains why we make it this way.

We can always throw a bunch of white beans, kidney beans, tomato sauce, and ground beef in a pot and call it chili. But a nice autumn pumpkin chili truly needs time, care, and love. It's not even the first day of autumn yet, but as soon as the calendar hit September, I knew it was time to break out this fall chili recipe. Do you want to know how I knew that? My wife told me.

Ingredients for Dinner

Chili Ingredients

• 2 lbs Ground Beef 85% fat
• 3 Medium Carrots Chopped
• 1 Medium Onion Chopped
• 2 Celery Stalks Chopped
• 10 Cloves of Garlic Minced
• 1 Red Pepper Chopped
• 2 Jalapenos Chopped
• 1 Habanero Minced
• 6 Oz Tomato Paste
• 2 14 oz Cans Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Chiles
• 1 Cup Beef Broth
• 1 12 oz Pumpkin Brown ale
• 2 Cans White Northern Beans Rinsed
• 1 Can Kidney Beans Rinsed
• ½ Cup Pumpkin Puree
• 2 Tsp Chili Powder
• 1 Tsp Onion Powder
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 2 Tsp Cumin
• 1 Tsp Ground White Pepper
• 1-2 Tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 Tsp Nutmeg
• 2 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp 100% Cacao Powder
• 2 Tbsp Sphincter Shrinker Hot sauce or other Very Hot Sauce (optional)
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Seasoning for Ground beef

• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
• ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Tsp Chili Powder

Substitutions

It's important to mention that with chili, a lot of ingredients are optional. But this is how I make this chili. So, take it with a grain of salt, rather, take it with a corn chip.

Making White Bean Pumpkin Chili

The first step is browning your ground beef. In a pan on medium-high heat, you want to place your ground beef and break it up as much as you can. While it's browning, you want to season the ground beef with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder. This whole process should take around 6-8 minutes. Keep stirring until you barely see any pink left and then transfer it to a plate.

Wait to add the seasoning until you have broken apart all of the ground beef to make sure that the seasoning is evenly distributed

Layer Your Seasonings!

Layering your seasonings is really important to make a great fall chili. If we were going to throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and call it a day, then we really don't need recipes. Which is fine, too. Some nights are just, throw it all in the pot and get dinner out on the table type of nights. But this is an impress-the-guests type of chili.

You're going to take your vegetables next, specifically the carrots, onions, and celery, and sauté them in a large sauce pot with olive oil. This is called a mirepoix, a fancy word for a base made with sautéed chopped veggies. I really like calling it a mirepoix just to watch Marisa's face when I say it. She hasn't said anything yet, but one day I know she's going to call me an idiot for calling it that.

Over medium-high heat, you'll sauté these vegetables until they are softened, about 8 minutes. Then you want to add in a quarter of your seasoning mix and stir until combined. The seasoning may soak up a lot of the oil, so you may want to add a little extra olive oil at this next step.

Once your seasoning is mixed throughout the mirepoix, add in your garlic and allow it to sauté for about 2 minutes, or until fragrant.

Finally, add in the 6 oz. of tomato paste and allow that to cook down for about 4-5 minutes, mixing it through all the vegetables. Cooking the tomato paste before adding your liquids allows it to caramelize which will help the flavor develop a richer tomato base, or otherwise increase how savory the dish is.

Let's Make this Fall Chili Saucy

Time to add the liquids. Mix in your beef broth, roasted tomatoes with chiles, Worcestershire, and pumpkin beer and you'll bring this to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, you'll stir in the rest of your seasonings until thoroughly combined. Add in everything else now, cacao powder, ground beef, red peppers, jalapeno peppers, habanero peppers, pumpkin puree, white beans, and kidney beans.

People always ask, "why do you put cacao powder or chocolate in chili?" It's similar to why we cook the tomato paste, rather than just adding it in. The cacao powder helps balance out the acidity of the tomatoes and increases the savory taste of the dish.

Return it to a simmer and cover but leave a little crack in the pot to let the steam out. This will help the chili cook down so it isn't too saucy. You're going to simmer the chili now for about 2 hours or until it reaches the desired texture.

What to Serve with White Bean Pumpkin Chili

Marisa made an amazing cornbread to go along with our white bean pumpkin chili. It was the perfect match for chili. She got the cornbread recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction, which is our go-to for all of our baked goods. We also served it with sour cream, cheese, cilantro, avocado, and sliced jalapeno. These are my favorite chili toppings, but what are yours? Let us know in the comments!

The following day though, I put it on some chips and melted cheese with it. These were the perfect nachos I definitely did not need in the middle of my work day. The best part about this recipe is that it makes enough to freeze for later. This recipe is like a double batch for two people. We're both able to eat it twice when we make it, plus I can freeze 4 whole servings for a day when we need to heat something up without having to do all the hard work.

Can you make this White Bean Pumpkin Chili in a Crockpot

Probably. I haven't tried it yet. I would still make the mirepoix and tomato paste mix and brown the ground beef in a pan first. Then you could put it in the crock pot on low for 4-6 hours. If you do try it this way, let me know how it works for you.

My only thought with chili is that I find layering my seasonings to be important to the taste and richness of the dish. You may lose a little bit of that in the crock pot. But it would be interesting to find out.

If you're looking for some more recipes that will fill your house with the most amazing smells, check out some of our other soups and Dutch oven recipes!

Broccoli Rabe and Tortellini Soup

Curry Chicken and Rice Soup

Dutch Oven Barbacoa Tacos

Zuppa Toscana

Don't forget to leave us a review and let us know what you think of our white bean pumpkin chili! Follow us on Tiktok @alwaysfromscratch and Instagram @vindelgiudice.

📖 Recipe

Print Recipe

White Bean Pumpkin Chili

A pumpkin chili with white and kidney beans, ground beef, peppers, onions, carrots, celery and garlic best served with some corn bread or corn chips.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Course: Appetizer, Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: comfort food, football game food, pumpkin chili

Servings: 8 Servings

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Ground Beef 85% fat
• 3 Medium Carrots Chopped
• 1 Medium Onion Chopped
• 2 Celery Stalks Chopped
• 10 Cloves of Garlic Minced
• 1 Red Pepper Chopped
• 2 Jalapenos Chopped
• 1 Habanero Minced
• 6 Oz Tomato Paste
• 2 14 oz Cans Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Chiles
• 1 Cup Beef Broth
• 1 12 oz Pumpkin Brown ale
• 2 Cans White Northern Beans Rinsed
• 1 Can Kidney Beans Rinsed
• ½ Cup Pumpkin Puree
• 2 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 Tsp Ground White Pepper
• 1-2 Tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 Tsp Nutmeg
• 2 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon 100% Cacao Powder
• 2 Tbsp Sphincter Shrinker Hot sauce or other Very Hot Sauce (optional
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire
• 2 tablespoon Olive Oil

Seasoning for Ground beef

• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
• ½ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder

Instructions

• Brown your ground beef in a pan on medium high heat. Add in seasonings for ground beef once you have ground all the beef in the pan it is starting to brown. Mix in until combined. Remove ground beef from pan and put to side.
• Combine all your seasonings and split out about a ¼ of the seasonings into a separate bowl.
• In a large pot, heat up olive oil on medium high heat. Sauté your carrots, onions and celery together until they begin to soften, stirring often. Stir in the ¼ of your seasonings that you separated.
• Once softened, add in your minced garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Now add in your tomato paste. Allow it to cook for 3-4 minutes and combine well with vegetables.
• Next, mix in your beer, beef broth, fire roasted tomatoes, the rest of your seasonings, and ground beef. Bring to a soft boil.
• Once boiling, add in your red pepper, jalapenos, and habaneros. Then stir in your pumpkin puree, Worcestershire, hot sauce, cacao powder, and beans.
• Return the pot to a simmer and cover leaving an opening for steam to escape. simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours. Allow the sauce to boil down to a sauciness that you enjoy. The longer you simmer, the less liquid your chili will have.

Notes

The reason I split the seasonings up the way I did is because it's important to layer in your seasonings to maximize flavorfulness. 

Cooking your tomato paste like this brings out a richer flavor and it is highly recommended to add it in the way described to have a deeper and richer flavor.