This hearty, comforting low carb pumpkin chili has all the flavors of fall and is gluten free, low carb, sugar free, and keto! It's made easily in a skillet on your stove top!
SKILLET KETO PUMPKIN CHILI
If you've never made an easy skillet chili, you are going to love this skillet pumpkin chili recipe today! If you've never tried roasted fresh pumpkin in your chili before, you are going to be blown away!
Fresh pumpkin provides a wonderful, creamy bite mixed with the traditional chili spices you love. It's so quick and delicious to make and definitely a family crowd pleasing low-carb recipe!
One of my first chili recipes was published quite a long time ago, 10 years ago in fact, October 2012! It was a sweet potato turkey chili, higher in carbs and it needed some updates for sure, but it is fun to look back at the old pics! This revised low-carb pumpkin chili will be your favorite chili for the fall season!
DO I HAVE TO ROAST THE PUMPKIN?
Roasting the pumpkin definitely gives it the best flavor and texture over just cooking it in the pan so if you have a roasting pan on hand, it’s worth it. It doesn’t take any longer to make as it cooks in the oven while you’re making the chili base, but I promise it just makes this keto chili so much tastier!
How to Adjust the Spice Level
Feel free to adjust the spiciness with more or less chili to your taste. I’d say this is a mild - medium chili. Not blow your socks off, but with enough to be darn tasty! The heat will depend on the type of chili powder you use. I used a mild, but if using a stronger one, add less chili, taste and you can always add more, plus more jalapeño if you like at the end.
This Keto Pumpkin Chili is dairy free too (if you don’t use the cheese and sour cream toppers).
CAN I USE CANNED PUMPKIN?
Unfortunately, this pumpkin chili, really needs fresh pumpkin. Canned pumpkin that is mashed is not going to work for this. You could swap the pumpkin for butternut squash as they are similar in texture, but if you've never roasted fresh pumpkin, I would highly recommend doing so for this keto pumpkin chili recipe. The flavor can not be matched!
CAN I SWAP THE BEEF?
If you're not into ground beef or just prefer not to use it, you can swap it with ground turkey or even ground chicken, ground bison, ground venison or ground pork. It's totally up to you and what your family prefers.
LOW CARB KETO MEAL PLANNING
Our membership is simple. You can subscribe for a month to try it out or you can subscribe for a yearly membership. Each Friday you will get a meal plan that comes to your email. You'll have that early in order to go food shopping before the meal plan begins on Sunday. You will be able to view and print the meal plan and the shopping list. If you don't like a meal, simply delete it and swap it with another meal you like. The shopping list will automatically adjust. It's the best software available out there for a customizable menu plan. Not many other low carb or keto meal plans allow you the option to remove, add, start with a blank menu and create your own if you so wish.
You can choose from Three Meal Plan Options:
-
Low Carb Meal Plan includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks with 40 net grams of carbs or less per day.
-
Keto Meal Plan includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks with 20 net grams of carbs or less per day.
-
Intermittent Fasting Keto Meal Plan includes 2 meals per day plus one protein/fat rich snack daily with no more than 20 TOTAL carbs per day.
TRY OUR FREE SAMPLE MEAL PLANS HERE!
SUGAR FREE LOW CARB KETO PUMPKIN CHILI
Keto Pumpkin Chili
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh pumpkin peeled + seeds removed, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 16 ounces ground beef
- 4 slices smoked bacon cut into small pieces
- 1 ounce onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1.5 ounces red bell pepper diced
- ¼ cup jalapeno finely diced
- 1 tablespoon chili powder mild
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon sea salt flaked, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper cracked, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 12 ounces tomatoes unsweetened, canned, chopped
- 2 cups chicken broth or beef broth, to desired thickness (plus more to thin as needed)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 / 200C / 180fan.
- Add the pumpkin to a baking tray lined with parchment. Toss with olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Roast for about 30 minutes until soft.
- Meanwhile, add the ground beef and bacon to a non-stick frying pan. Cook for about 5 minutes on a medium heat, or until cooked through.
- Add the onion and garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes until soft.
- Add the red pepper, jalapeño, spices, tomato paste, chopped tomatoes and broth. Simmer 20 - 35 minutes, or until nice and thick, stirring occasionally. The lower the heat and the slower you cook it, the better the flavor.
- Stir through the pumpkin. Season to taste.
- Optional: top with jalapeño, cilantro, sour cream, avocado or grated cheese.
- Storage: Fridge in a Tupperware for 3 days or freezer for 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
John Duty
Loved it! But I also love roasted garlic! So I used the opportunity to add approx 24 cloves of already peeled garlic while roasting the pumpkin for 30 min, and separated them to chop up finer. It didn’t overpower the flavor at all.
Brenda Bennett
I love roasted garlic as well!!Thank you! Happy you liked it!
Theresa
This was delicious!!! My bf looked at me like I was crazy when I told him we were having pumpkin chili, but he had a second bowl, and asked me to make a big batch! Thank you for this recipe Brenda! It's fantastic!