Instant Pot Butternut Squash Chili
Nov 07, 2017, Updated Nov 15, 2022
Vegan Butternut Squash Chili made in the Instant Pot. Hearty meal for cold days!
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Vegan Butternut Squash Chili made in the Instant Pot. Hearty, flavorful, spicy – this chili is so good for cold days!
If you love all the Instant Pot vegetarian/vegan recipes that I share on the blog, please join me on this Facebook Group – Instant Pot Vegetarian Recipes. The group would share/feature vegetarian instant pot recipes and ideas from all around the web!
Do you guys understand daylight savings? I for one don’t get it. Having said that, I don’t mind the extra hour that we get when clock goes back. The worst part of this whole daylight savings is that I have to start my day early and finish the cooking, videos and photo shoots by 2 pm. As it is the weather is mostly grey this time of the year and with the change in time, it gets dark at 3-4 pm. I have tried liking/using artificial light for pictures but I just prefer the natural light so much more and there’s always a scarcity of that in winters!
Because I am trying to finish work quickly, I am mostly relying on my Instant Pot for quick meals. And since it’s this cold (we had snow this weekend!!), there’s nothing better and comforting than a bowl of chili. This Instant Pot Butternut Squash Chili is perfectly spiced, really flavorful and super easy to put together using your Instant Pot. I love butternut squash during this time of the year, I think it’s my favorite fall produce. It’s such a tasty vegetable and you can use it in so many different ways to create nutritious meals. I remember making a pasta sauce with it sometime back but I never got around sharing it.
That’s the thing, sometimes I don’t really have the time to measure things and click pictures and so those recipes never make it to the blog. Anyway, I am sure I will make that pasta again and will be sure to click pictures this time around and share it with you guys!
This Butternut Squash Chili
✓ made in the instant pot – easy and quick
✓ this chili is vegan, gluten-free, nut free and dairy-free!
✓ is spiced with chipotle, cumin & smoked paprika!
This chili turned out a bit spicy and that’s because I used jalapeños and also the diced tomatoes that I used were fire roasted with green chilies. You can adjust this to taste, skip the jalapeños and use normal diced tomatoes (minus the chilies) for a less spicy chili. If you don’t mind the heat – stick to the recipe! I like flavorful chili and this instant pot butternut squash chili is just that! Super flavorful, spicy, hearty and so comforting for the cold weather. This would also be great to serve at your Thanksgiving table.
Looking for more recipes with butternut squash? Check these out!
Instant Pot Curried Butternut Squash Apple Soup
Quinoa Butternut Squash Burrito Bowl
Method
Press saute button on the Instant Pot and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add bay leaf and onions. Cook the onions till they are soft, around 3 minutes.
Add diced jalapeños, chopped garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
Add the spices- chipotle powder, cumin powder, smoked paprika and mix. Cook the spices for 30 seconds.
Stir in black beans, diced tomatoes and salt. Cook the beans and tomatoes with the spices for 2-3 minutes.
Add vegetable broth or water and deglaze the pot by scrapping the bottom. There shouldn’t be at burnt bits stuck at the bottom of the pot.
Add butternut squash on top, do not stir.
Close the lid and set valve to sealing. Press the manual/pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. The pressure valve should be in the sealing position.
Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and then do a quick pressure release by manually moving the pressure valve from sealing to venting position.
Stir in lime juice and serve.
I like to serve this vegan butternut squash chili with diced avocados and cilantro. You may use any topping of choice, tortilla chips would be nice too!
* Adjust spice levels to taste. Skip the jalapenos if you don’t like heat in your chili.
* I used a can of diced tomatoes which had green chilies in it so my chili was bit spicy. Use a regular can of diced tomatoes to cut down the heat.
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Chili
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil I used avocado oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 medium red onion chopped
- 1/2 jalapeno roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 15.5 oz can black beans drained & rinsed
- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes I used fire roasted with green chilies
- 3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 cup vegetable broth or water
- 450 grams butternut squash cubed, around 2 heaping cups, with each squash piece being at least an inch or bigger in size
- juice of 1 lime
To serve
- avocado
- cilantro
- lime wedges
Instructions
- Press saute button on the Instant Pot and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add bay leaf and onions. Cook the onions till they are soft, around 3 minutes.
- Add diced jalapeños, chopped garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
- Add the spices- chipotle powder, cumin powder, smoked paprika and mix. Cook the spices for 30 seconds.
- Stir in black beans, diced tomatoes and salt. Cook the beans and tomatoes with the spices for 2-3 minutes and then add vegetable broth (or water) and deglaze the pot by scrapping the bottom. There shouldn't be at burnt bits stuck at the bottom of the pot.
- Add butternut squash on top, do not stir.
- Close the lid and set valve to sealing. Press the manual/pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. The pressure valve should be in the sealing position.
- Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and then do a quick pressure release by manually moving the pressure valve from sealing to venting position.
- Stir in lime juice and serve butternut squash chili with diced avocado, cilantro and lime wedge!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Chili
I have made your recipe many, many times!!! It is so delicious! I often add ground turkey (plain or Italian seasoned). So THANK YOU! I do have a question, what is the serving size associated to the 292 calories? Is it 1 cup?
Glad you love the recipe, the calorie is an estimate calculated automatically by the recipe plugin that I use. This recipe serves 3 so if you divide this dish in 3 equal parts, 292 is the approximate calorie of each. Again this is just an estimate and 100% accurate.
I don’t have an instant pot. Could I make it in the crockpot?
you may but sorry I don’t have instructions for it
This looks delicious. I may play around with it to make thr chili more sodium friendly, but I can’t wait to try it!
Making it for the second time tonight, very tasty. I recommend doubling the spices and it’s better the second day after everything mingles.
I’d like to double the recipe. Are you suggesting 1 1/2 times the broth and the tomatoes?
yes that should be okay
This chili recipe was great. Very quick and easy, yet very tasty. I’ll double the recipe next time for more leftovers. Thanks!
Apryl
good to know 🙂
Our family loved this. Omitted jalapeños since we aren’t fond of spicy dishes. Easy to make (I already had cube squash). Great recipe; we will ale this again—thanks.
Could I make this with soaked dried beans? I don’t like using canned. I guess I could cook the beans first, but throwing it all in together would be nice.
dried beans will take much longer to cook and squash will turn completely mushy in that time..u can cook the beans separately and then cook it as mentioned in the recipe
You sure can! I used a no soak instapot recipe base and combined it with this one. 45min high pressure and natural release, used dry black beans. Squash breaks down but it just helps thicken it. Also used beets because we are veggie heavy to stretch everything. Those kept their form.
Are the canned beans drained?
yes!
Thanks 🙂
I doubled the recipe and just made it but it looks very watery. Will it thicken?
Hi Saba, generally one should not double the liquid when doubling recipe on IP. Since it’s not stove top and pressure cooker, water doesn’t really evaporate like it would on stove top. So two times really thin it down. Whenever you double a stew/chili/curry recipe in IP..just do 1.5 times water..you can always add more later if you like. Right now, I would press saute and let the water evaporate..it will also thicken as it cools down. hope this helps!
Yum! What size instant pot is this for?
Thanks!
6 qt!
Can you use frozen butternut?
I think it should work!
About how many cups for the squash?
2 heaping cups..remember the squash pieces should be more than an inch at least..don’t chop it fine else it will all turn mush!
I love this– I’ve made it 3 times in a month! Tried with different beans and different tomatoes (canned vs fresh) and love it every time! Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!
As a new instant pot owner I was so happy to see your very precise directions. I will be making this soon, sounds so delicious!
hope you like it!
I made this today. Didn’t have squash so used sweet potatoes. Delicious!
Good to know, sweet potatoes are awesome!
How many servings is this recipe?
3, like its mentioned!
Thanks Angie!
Do not have an “Instant Pot”, yet. What would time cooked in a slow cooker or stove top
be? Looking forward to making this!
Hi Lyn! You can make this on the stove top by cooking until butternut squash is nicely tender..maybe around 45 minutes? and slow cooker..I would do low for 5-6 hours. hope this helps!
Yummy! I love spicy food and this sounds delicious!
Thank you..spicy food is the best!