A hearty, slow-cooker, vegetarian dish featuring butternut squash, white beans, beer and chipotle peppers. It is spicy, tangy, creamy, filling and warming to the soul! Vegan. Gluten-Free.
Well, it happened.
What you ask? My dad turned his nose up at a dish just by looking at it. That is the not the big news! The big news is that he still tried it, and he actually decided he LOVED the dish he thought he would hate.
You see, my dad, like my husband and children, often look at a dish and immediately decide whether they will like it or not. If it looks different or they see a speck of something that freaks them out (like tomato chunks with my son) it is OVER! I roll my eyes and know it may taste delicious if they try it, but even if they do, they will never admit their original perception of the dish was wrong. It was okay. That is the best I get.
Until I made Butternut Squash Chili.
The color, not appealing to my dad. I get it, it is orange. I think it makes sense to eat an orange dish in the fall–makes me feel festive.
I dare not tell him that I made the chili with beer. At times, he complains that beer overtakes the flavor of things (BUT only if he sees us using the beer!)
I figured at this point it was over, I was would surrender to making him a quesidilla and call it a day. Hey the guy had just drove 10 hours to watch my kids for a week so my husband I could get away.
But he tried it to be nice and then shocked us all by saying he loved it! Later, my mom told me he finished off the leftovers before she could get her hands on them.
All that to say, YOU will love this chili, despite the orange color. It is smoky and spicy from the chipolte peppers, rich in depth and tangy from the beer, and hearty from the beans and squash.
To me there is absolutely nothing better than curling up on the couch on a rainy day and football on, and diving into this chili.
And did I mention it is made in the slow-cooker? Yep, go ahead and lay around on that rainy day and have dinner waiting for you when you are ready to move!
Vegetarian Butternut Squash Chili
Ingredients
- 1 medium butternut squash peeled and diced into 1 inch chunks
- 1 onion finely minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 16 ounce cans white beans rinsed and drained
- 1 16 ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1 chipotle pepper in a can
- 1 12 ounce bottle dark amber beer I used an Octoberfest *Use Gluten-Free if needed
- 1 tablespoonChili Seasoning Mix
Instructions
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Place all ingredients in slow cooker and set to low for 10 hours or high for 6 hours (or until squash is tender.)
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Serve with sour cream, cheese, chips, limes, avocados, etc
For this recipe I recommend:
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Yum! I haven’t tried butternut in chili but like the sound of your recipe…beer and all!
Thanks David! It is really quite surpirising how well squash works in chili!
Butternut Squash Chili made with beer sounds like a grat idea. I bet the flavors all came together beautifully.
The beer really adds a unique depth to the chili.
We have so much winter squash from our garden this year, this is a great addition to the recipes I am collecting to use it all up! 🙂
Well if you need to send some my way, I will accept all donations! Love any kind of squash and I have a black thumb!
It is time to take full advantage of those 3 butternut squashes I bought this morning! We usually cook the squash without adding any legumes, but going to give it a try. Thank you for sharing.
Perect timing for this recipe. I would highly suggest adding the beans, it helps to complete the squash’ protein profile and fill you up better!
I love butternut squash, and this chili looks perfect for Fall comfort food!
Thanks Stacey, It is perfect comfort for me!
Cannot wait to try this one! Perfect comfort food. Sounds yummy!
This looks like typical comfort food. I could certainly do with a bowl with this terrible cold that I have right now.
Great and healthy comfort food!
Thansk Angela. I hope you love it!
Hahaha, it can be difficult to cook for Dads sometimes 😉
My brother and sister (while in their chef’s apprenticeship) had a tough time with trying new dishes. This looks awesome though, I’d love to try your butternut squash chili!
Howie, I hope you try it and love it! There is always someone (be it Dad or Brother or Child) that is a difficult eater in the family, isn’t there?!
Haha – my daughter does the same thing sometimes – if she doesn’t like the look of it, I have a hard time convincing her to eat it! Though sometimes, the smell does the convincing more than I do and she is digging into it – I bet this would be one of those recipes – it sounds so incredibly flavorful!
It is usually the kids, isn’t it? My dad and husband are my worst offenders 🙂
This is beautiful! It just looks like the perfect bowl of comfort on a cold evening!
Thanks Annie, It is pretty comforting!
We are big fans of squash in our home and while I really like a traditional chili, this is such a great alternative! It looks and sounds amazing!
Thanks Chris! I love traditional chili as well, but this is a nice change of pace.
I just love a hearty butternut squash soup in the fall….and this one has such a nice spin on it with the white beans…pinning for later!!
Thanks Melanie–I hope you enjoy it so much! So hearty and filling.
I’m still earning how to cook with pumpkin, it is a relatively new vegetable to me but this sounds wonderful!
Oh Brain, I love pumpkin and butternut squash. I hope you learn to love it yourself 🙂
This looks SO good, I am pinning for later to make, it’s so nice that it’s a slow cooker recipe, great for a weekday meal! Looks very healthy too, thank you for sharing this!
You bet Sara! I hope you enjoy it–it is a perfect healthy dish for a cold busy day 🙂
Made this for dinner last night and it was amazing. Delicious! I will definitely be making it again.
I’ve wanted to try this but I’m afriad I won’t like it and then the illusion is shattered haha. This looks so good though!
Haha. Leslie, my husband turned his nose up on it, but due to the heat and beer–he loved it and he is not a squash person at all.