This Instant Pot Turkey Pumpkin Chili is an easy and delicious dinner recipe for cozy fall nights! It’s a quick dump and go recipe for your pressure cooker, filled with healthy ingredients and 100% kid-approved.
This is an easy, warming family meal you can throw together in no time at all. For more cozy fall and winter dinners, you’ll absolutely LOVE my Healthy Slow Cooker Chili, my Crockpot Tuscan Sausage and White Bean Soup and my Crockpot Beef Stew too.
Aren’t chilies and stews just the most heart-warming meals on earth? I sure think so.
We love a good chili on a crisp fall day around here, but without any actual chili heat for the kids of course. The girls always double check to make sure I didn’t put any pepper or cinnamon in it…
Yes, my kids think cinnamon is too spicy (even though they capital L Love my Cinnamon Swirl Zucchini Bread, ha!)…
Either way, you can make this as mild or as spicy as your family likes – and it tastes absolutely delicious however you make it!
This Instant Pot Turkey Pumpkin Chili
- its an easy “dump and go” recipe, meaning you just add all ingredients to your electric pressure cooker without precooking, seal and let it do its work. SO simple!
- it’s full of healthy fiber from the pumpkin and the beans, plus it’s low in fat and under 500 calories even with a slice of cornbread on the side (not that I care about calories in any form, but I think a lot of readers here do, so that one’s for you, friends)
- it freezes well if you want to prep some meals ahead!
This is the perfect meal to make on busy fall or winter nights.
Also, since it’s almost September (ahem) I’m allowed to talk about Halloween… Right?! Anyways, this chili is the perfect meal to serve up before going out for trick or treating.
If you ask me, it’s never wrong to have an arsenal of healthy, easy family dinners to make you feel all cozy for those long and dreary winters.
Some of our favorites include my Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup, my Instant Pot Potato Soup and my Instant Pot Irish Stew!
And, of course, this Turkey Pumpkin Chili here!
How to Make an Instant Pot Pumpkin Turkey Chili:
Read on for the detailed steps, or scroll down for how to make this recipe without an instant pot, how to freeze it, our favorite side dishes, and more tips to make this recipe foolproof and the printable recipe card.
► 1 Prep vegetables: There’s very little prep work involved in this recipe, but there’s still some vegetables that need chopping. An onion, some garlic, peppers and celery go into this chili. Just clean and dice them into pieces.
► 2 Add all ingredients to the Instant Pot: Yes, you just stir everything together in the inner pot of your electric pressure cooker. Make sure you’re stirring really well or you’ll get a “burn” error if something is stuck to the bottom.
If you don’t have an Instant Pot, scroll down for instructions for the stovetop. OR get yourself an Instant Pot, it’s worth it 😉
You can get an Instant Pot here on Amazon! They have the most fun colors, I wish they had the blue one when I got mine. (This is an affiliate link and I make a commission for purchases made after clicking through.)
► 3 Pressure cook: Close the instant pot with the lid and set the valve to “sealing”. Set the instant pot to “pressure cook” (or “manual” on older models), “high” for 45 minutes. It will take a while to come to pressure.
► 4 Pressure release: Once the cooking time is up, do a natural pressure release for 5 minutes. This means you just switch off the instant pot and leave it alone. Then carefully do a manual pressure release until the pressure is released.
► 5 Finish: Carefully open the instant pot (hot steam ahead!). If the chili is too liquid for your taste, set the instant pot to “sauté” and simmer while stirring until thickened to your liking. You can also stir in 1 cup of frozen corn here if you like.
Tips for a Foolproof Instant Pot Turkey Pumpkin Chili:
- be sure to stir the ingredients well before sealing the instant pot, or something could get stuck to the bottom and result in a burn error
- season to your taste – I use my no-heat homemade taco seasoning because I have kids who consider cinnamon too spicy, but feel free to make this as hot as you like
- if you don’t have dry black beans, use 1 can rinsed and drained black beans and reduce the water by 1 cup
- if the chili isn’t as thick as you like after cooking, just let it simmer on the sauté setting without the lid on until it has thickened to your liking. Be sure to stir and watch it closely, or it will burn.
Can you freeze this recipe?
Yes, you can!
You can either freeze it uncooked (make sure to use a container that fits into your instant pot).
To cook, place it frozen into your instant pot and cook for 60 minutes on high pressure. It could be a little more liquid-y that way, but you can just cook it down a little.
You can also freeze it cooked. Thaw in the fridge overnight and then reheat on the stove until piping hot all the way through.
When freezing a recipe, always remember:
- make sure to use containers or bags suitable for freezing
- label with the name and use-by date (freeze for up to 3 months)
- reheat until piping hot all the way through before serving
How to Make This Without an Instant Pot:
If you don’t have an instant pot, you can make this on the stove.
Just place all ingredients in a large Dutch oven, stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook with the lid on for 1.5 – 2h, stirring from time to time, until the black beans are cooked through.
If you don’t have dried beans, use 1 cup less liquid and 1 can of drained black beans instead. Cooking time reduces to 45-60 minutes.
What can you serve with this turkey pumpkin chili?
We love this as a hearty meal with a comforting side to mop up all of that delicious chili.
Starchy Sides
- Pumpkin cornbread or Honey Butter Cornbread
- No knead bread
- Mini Garlic Parmesan Monkey Bread
- Baked corn chips
- Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
Salad and Vegetable Sides
- Corn salad
- Guacamole
- Sliced peppers with a simple vinaigrette
These are all family-favorites we enjoy with a steaming bowl of chili. Though I’ll have to admit – the cornbread is always my first choice.
More Instant Pot Dinner Recipes:
And if you liked these recipes, there’s plenty more to make dinnertime easier for you! Be sure to join my FREE recipe circle here to get easy recipes by email.
P.S: If you tried this recipe, why not leave me a comment below to let me know how you liked it?
Instant Pot Turkey Pumpkin Chili
Ingredients
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 bell peppers any color, diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 2/3 cup black beans, dried OR 1 can rinsed and drained (reduce water by 1.5 cups if using canned)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 15 oz jar diced tomatoes
- 1 15 oz can pumpkin OR 2 cups homemade pumpkin purée
- 2.5 cups water
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
- 1 heaping teaspoon pumpkin spice or more if you’re really into it
- Your favorite chili toppings
Equipment
Instructions
- Place all ingredients (except for the toppingin the inner pot of your instant pot. Stir well.
- Close the lid and set the pressure valve to “sealing”. Choose “pressure cook” and set the timer to 45 minutes.
- Once the cooking time is up, do a natural pressure release for 5 minutes (just leave the instant pot alone). Then carefully manually release the remaining pressure and open the instant pot.
- If your chili hasn’t thickened enough, set the instant pot to sauté (on loand simmer for a few minutes to thicken.
Nutrition (this is an estimate)
And don’t forget adding that comment and ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below – I can’t wait to hear what YOU think of our favorite pumpkin chili!
Abby
I am excited to make this recipe! Do you cook the ground turkey before or just put it in raw?
Nora
You can do either, Abby! It’s much easier to just add everything raw to the pot. But you can definitely brown the turkey first – it would add even more flavor!
Nicole
I followed your recipe exactly and my instant pot gave me the “burn” message before it even started cooking. I have the same instant pot. Any suggestions?
Nora
Hi Nicole, hm, that’s strange. I have made this chili lots of times, also made it without the pumpkin, and with canned beans vs dried, and I never got the burn message (and I feel like my Instant Pot is extra annoying, haha). Did you make sure to stir really, really well once you added all the ingredients? I found that sometimes, even if just one piece of onion gets stuck to the bottom, my IP immediately gives me the “burn” message. I just checked a few other instant pot chili recipes on Pinterest, and they all have a similar amount of liquids as this one, so I don’t know what else could have gone wrong 🙁 Did you manage to fix it? Did you add a little extra water? So sorry it didn’t work out for you!