Butternut Squash Chili

Nutritious Butternut Squash Chili is packed with flavor and filled to the brim with good-for-you ingredients, including loads of veggies, tender shredded chicken, and a superfood — quinoa! Bonus: this chili is fairly hands-off to make, thanks to the slow cooker. Top your bowl with your favorite chili toppings and dig in!

Pair a bowl of this hearty chili with some homemade cornbread or cornbread muffins. This garden salad also makes a nice side dish if you’re craving a meal of soup and salad.

Butternut Squash Chili

The minute the weather starts to cool down, chili is on the menu at my house for weeks at a time! 🙂 Chilis are an easy way to pack in good ingredients like veggies, beans, and in this case, quinoa! They’re perfect for throwing together leftover odds and ends in the fridge and there are usually plenty of leftovers that only get tastier and tastier throughout the week! Chilis are easy to customize, simple to make, totally delicious, and the perfect canvas for dunking with copious amounts of cornbread. What’s not to love?!

Here are some of our favorite chili recipes we’ve created throughout the years: Turkey Chili, Chicken Chili, Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili, Quinoa Chili, Chicken Taco Chili, Crockpot Chili, Crockpot White Chicken Chili. Whew! Told you, we’re obsessed!

Why Sauté First?

This is a slow cooker chili so it’s aimed at being quick and easy, but we do sauté some of the ingredients first. This is because sautéing is integral for the flavor and texture of this chili. And I promise it doesn’t take too much extra time — especially if you have a slow cooker with a sauté function — you won’t even need to dirty another pot!

By sautéing the aromatics, spices, tomato paste, and tomatoes we’re bringing out their natural sweetness and deepening overall flavors in this Butternut Squash Chili. We’re adding layers of flavor complexity that only comes from sautéing before slow cooking.

It’s also important to sauté these ingredients to ensure the butternut squash, carrot, and onion will be fully tender when the chili is finished. Since this chili doesn’t cook for an especially long time, these three ingredients will be under-cooked (potentially crunchy) if not sautéed first.

Prepping Butternut Squash

With its odd shape, cutting a butternut squash can be an intimidating task, but with a few good kitchen tools, you might find it’s easier than it seems! Here’s a quick overview:

1. Rinse the squash under cold water to remove any dirt or debris.
2. Use a sharp vegetable peeler to peel the entire squash. If you don’t have a peeler, cut the squash in half where the narrow section meets the wider round base. Use a pairing knife to vertically slice off the peels.
3. Place the squash on a firm and heavy-duty cutting board. Using a very sharp chef’s knife (the sharper the knife, the easier it will cut!), cut off the top stem and about 1/4th an inch from the bottom.
4. Cut the squash in half (crosswise) where the “neck” meets the wider, base-end section. Now cut each section in half again, right down the middle to get 4 pieces.
5. Use a spoon to scrape out all the seeds and stringy parts from the two insides of the base of the squash. You can save the seeds and roast them — more on this later!
6. Lay each of the halves cut side down and then cut each half into 1/2-inch pieces. Cut these half-moon pieces into 1/2-inch cubes.
7. Aim for even-sized pieces as much as possible, but it’s okay if not each of the cubes is in a perfect square, just be sure to chop the squash into small 1/2-inch pieces so they’ll be tender in time. 

8. Quick Tip

   When picking a butternut squash: Look for a uniformly beige and matte color. Choose squash that feels heavy for its size and sounds hollow (if you give the squash a tap, it should sound hollow). If you aren’t using the squash right away, keep it at room temperature in a dark/cool place (left whole, raw, and unpeeled). If you have peeled and chopped it, keep the cubes in an airtight container in the fridge.

Homemade Chili Seasoning

While store-bought seasoning mixes make things easy, they also have a lot of additives and sometimes questionable ingredients. They can also vary quite a bit in the spice level and even in overall flavor.

For these reasons, we prefer to whip up our own seasoning blend for this chili, but either works — making your own or using a packet. You can’t beat the convenience of a seasoning packet, that’s for sure! Why not make up a big batch of this homemade seasoning blend and divide it into packets so homemade will be just as convenient as packaged.

Here’s our favorite homemade chili seasoning blend: 

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (reduce or omit for less heat, increase for more heat!)
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Butternut Squash Chili Notes

• Rinse the quinoa: Quinoa has a bitter saponin coating that needs to be rinsed off before use. Place it in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse it well before adding to the slow cooker.
• Use a big enough cooker to fit everything: I recommend a 6-quart slow cooker to fit everything — this chili yields a lot!
• Cook on high. Unfortunately, this recipe doesn’t cook well on low. The quinoa needs higher heat to “pop” and cook through. 
• Cut the chicken into thin/small chunks. Otherwise, it won’t be done at the same time as everything else. You don’t need to spend much time cutting the chicken; just quickly cut 2-inch (1-inch thick) pieces.
• Use fire-roasted diced tomatoes. The tomatoes make a big difference flavor-wise, so I recommend good-quality fire-roasted tomatoes. This type of tomato is charred over a flame before being crushed and canned. Contact with that flame brings out the tomato’s sweetness and gives a distinct smoky flavor; essentially, you’re getting more flavor without any extra work. Muir Glen® is my personal favorite brand (not sponsored).

Chili Spiciness

We rate this chili as mild, especially if adding toppings like cheese, sour cream, and avocado, these additions will mute the spiciness quite a bit. 

If you don’t plan on adding some of these toppings and are sensitive to spice, leave out any cayenne pepper and slightly reduce the chili powder. You will be missing out on some flavor, but the soup will be overall milder. Or if using a chili packet seasoning, be sure to use a mild one.

Butternut Squash Chili Toppings

The toppings add so much to this Butternut Squash Chili, so you definitely don’t want to leave them out! 

• Sharp or extra-sharp Cheddar cheese: We like to grate the cheese right on top of each bowl and let it melt for a minute before stirring it throughout the chili.
• Sour cream: Fat-free or lite works great; you could even use a scoop of plain Greek yogurt. 
• Fresh lime juice: A few squeezes of fresh lime heighten all the flavors and add a burst of brightness.
• Ripe avocado: For an additional element of creaminess, we love a ripe avocado sliced on top.
• Fresh cilantro: If you’re a cilantro fan, you’ll love what this herb does to this chili. It adds a nice citrusy flavor and contrasting freshness. And if you’re in the anti-cilantro crowd, substitute a bit of chopped fresh parsley or chives.

More butternut squash recipes

• Butternut Squash Wild Rice Pilaf made on a sheet pan!
• Butternut Squash Tacos with the best taco sauce
• Roasted Butternut Squash Couscous Bowls with a simple vinaigrette
• Butternut Squash Curry with baby spinach
• Skillet Chicken and Butternut Squash with green beans