Seasonal is the new black.
Everywhere you look and everything you hear is all about eating and cooking farm to table, with what’s fresh and in season. Add to this foodie phenom a plethora of fall squash—not just your everyday butternut or spaghetti—and I’m seeing some serious foodie cravings.
It seems that there’s a bigger demand for recipes that include non-run-of-the-mill varietals and cooks who are ready to experiment with easy recipes, like these two that I found in my tweet feed within minutes of one another for Kabocha squash: Pistachio-Dusted Kabocha Squash from Turntable Kitchen and La Fuji Mama’s Simmered Kabocha Squash in Miso.
I’m squashing my squash craving (doh!) with this recipe I whipped up thanks to some gourds and pasilla peppers pulled from the garden before the first frost. It makes for a super easy party with friends.
These are the steps: Make it, heat it and serve it.
No last minute fuss, throw out a few bowls, some sliced baguette for dipping and you have time to sip a glass and visit with guests—the antithesis of my normal party-prep frenzy. I’m thinking the recipes was a success, given that I had 3 people asking for it.
The recipe includes both roasted butternut squash—yum, buttery, earthy—and roasted pasilla peppers. If you’re a pepper roasting novice, check out this video for how to tips.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Turkey Chili with White Beans and Sage
Ingredients
- 4 cups butternut squash bite size dice
- salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic pressed
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 cans white beans rinsed and drained, I like great northern variety
- 4 cups chicken stock 32 ounces
- 3 pasilla peppers roasted, seeded and sliced into 1/4” ribbons
- 1/2 cup fresh sage leaves cut into ribbons with scissors or diced
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
Instructions
-
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place butternut squash on a baking sheet and coat with 1 tablesppon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes or until soft and browned lightly. Remove from oven and set aside.
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Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown ground turkey for 8-10 minutes. Add garlic and cumin, season with salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Add onion and cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add wine and cook until wine cooks down, about 3-5 minutes.
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Add beans, stock, roasted pasilla peppers and sage. Cook for 20 minutes. Add roasted butternut squash and cook for 10 minutes more. Serve and slurp.
So without further ado, I present to you a few more turkey (and a veg option) squash chili recipes…we all love the slurpy.
photo > Just a Taste
Served in kid-friendly mugs—a great party tip—Kelly ‘pumps’ up (doh!) the more trad version of chili with pumpkin puree and tosses in a little sweetness from a secret ingredient (hello Campbell’s) in Just a Taste’s Pumpkin Turkey Chili.
photo > Dinner With Julie
Julie adds a curry-like sweetness to a de riguer chili recipe by adding carrot, coconut milk and squash, and puts in the crockpot for a super easy meal in Dinner With Julie’s Crockpot Turkey Chili with Apples and Squash.
photo > Coconut and Lime
If I were a squash and got to choose my own name, it’d be a thumb war to choose between Delicta or Dumpling (sorry acorn and zucchini.) Coconut and Lime’s Sweet Dumpling and Delicta Squash Chili has a few extra ingredients that contribute to its depth—savor the smokey hints thanks to Worcestershire sauce, hot paprika and liquid smoke—but once you get them together, it’s a simple one pot dump and go recipe.
photo > Cookie & Kate
Okay, okay, so sweet potatoes aren’t squash, but they are orange, right? Kate’s veg friendly recipe for Cookie & Kate’s Sweet Potato Chili rings true to favorite chili cookin’ recipe ingredients—minus the texas requirement of beef only—and adds a shot of cocoa powder to the mix to elevate the solid flavors.
And if you’re like me and love searching for Turkey day inspiration, follow the Pinterest Seasonal Thanksgiving inspiration board that Becky from The Vintage Mixer put together for a few of us UT bloggers to contrib too. Addicting I tell you.
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Averie @ Love Veggies and Yoga says
Such beautiful pics and recipes from the other blogs…you always find such gems, Heidi!
heidi says
You are the bomb Averie.
Kelly Senyei says
Thank you so much for featuring my Pumpkin Turkey Chili! I am honored to be included among such a beautiful group of photos!
heidi says
So excited to feature you, I love your blog.
Bev Weidner says
Okay now this is making me want a huge bucket of seasonal right down my belly.
GOR.GEOUS.
Kalyn says
I am a huge freak for butternut squash (which is surprisingly SBD friendly, yaay!) This is such an interesting and unique way to use it; great recipe.
heidi says
Thanks Kalyn! I’m watching the waistline too, 3 months and 10 lbs til my next birthday. That’s 10 lbs OFF, not on.https://www.foodiecrush.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php#comments-form
Kate says
Thanks for including my chili, Heidi! Your chili looks fantastic. The sweet potato chili is my go-to recipe, but I want to try a veggie butternut and white bean version next!
heidi says
You can always make it veggie too, there’s a lot of flavors co-mingling.
Julie says
Wow, what a great post – and a gorgeous blog! so glad to have found you! thanks for the inspiration!
heidi says
Glad to have you a part of it! Thanks for contributing.
Maria says
I love chili season! We always make a few versions-veggie for me and all meat all the time for Josh:)
Alison @ Ingredients, Inc. says
oh wow fabulous!!!
Annalise says
I don’t know how you do it, but every photo you post here of yours is a work of art. Just lovely. Fun seeing you at lunch yesterday!
heidi says
You too! And I”m so excited about you being preggers, I can’t believe I missed that newsbreak. Urgh.
Deborah says
Love, love, love the peppers in this!
heidi says
If you like pasillas, you have to try this recipe. It is my favorite! https://www.foodiecrush.com/2011/05/craving-gimme-some-spice-for-cinco-de-mayo/
Lauren @ hey, who cut the cheese? says
Beautiful photos! This chili sounds just awesome. Thanks for sharing it!
Cookin' Canuck says
One of the reasons I like to visit my favorite food blogs is to learn about varietals that I’ve never cooked with. Of course, it also makes me want to double the size of our raised beds so we can grow as many types of vegetables as possible. Your chili recipe sounds like the perfect thing for an impromptu football-watching get-together with friends.
Jamie says
I recently stumbled upon your blog and prepared the butternut squash and turkey chili for a dinner party on Saturday. It was a raving success! Keep up the good work :)
heidi says
Thank you Jamie! Love hearing that peeps are trying the recipes and so glad you could share with friends. Thanks for commenting.
Sumayya Jamil says
OMG that looks delish! I am making this tomorrow! it’s really chilli season here in London! thanks for sharing! S x
Brooke says
Have any suggestions where to purchase the pasilla peppers?
My DH has great disdain for bell peppers, do the pasillas resemble them in flavor?
If I could not find the pasillas what would you suggest as a good substitute?
Thanks for this wonderful sounding recipe, I am obsessed with butternut squash and can’t wait to try it like this :)
chanel salado says
Hello!
New to the blogging world and saw your post through pintrest. Love these food ideas and can’t wait to make this soup today for lunch!
Thank you :]
George says
I am really impressed along with your writing talents and also with the structure to your blog.
Bill says
just curious, when is one supposed to add the onions?
heidi says
Now how did I not include the onions? Add them right after the garlic and cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. I updated the recipe, thanks for the heads up!
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felicia | Dish by Dish says
Hi Heidi!
I’d love to include you chili recipe in a chili round up I’m doing for Parade Magazine.
If you’re fine with that, could I use one of your photos with a link back to the original post (https://www.foodiecrush.com/2011/11/craving-roasted-butternut-squash-and-turkey-chili/)?
Let me know, thanks!
heidi says
Sure! Go ahead and thanks!
felicia | Dish by Dish says
Hi Heidi!
I’d love to include your turkey chili in a turkey roundup I’m doing for Parade Magazine.
If you’re fine with that, could I use one of your photos with a link back to your original post (https://www.foodiecrush.com/2011/11/craving-roasted-butternut-squash-and-turkey-chili/)?
Thanks dear!
Renee Allen says
This recipe is soooo good. I’ve made it again and again and again. Thank you!
Russian Salad says
This sound looks amazing, Its taste so awesome. I make it last night looks wonderful.I loved your way of cooking, Before this, I made Russian Salad Recipe from one of the best cooking website: Sharing a link with you ( https://www.sooperchef.pk/russian-salad-recipe/ ).
Lesa Cote says
I am excited to find the roasted butternut. I am really glad to find the turkey chili item. Thanks………………
Lesa Cote says
This is a great blog. I admire the preparation. Our professional essay writers love eating.
Mileah says
This recipe is the absolute BEST. SO cozy to have a bowl of this when it’s cold out. Instead of the pasilla peppers, I used roasted green poblano chilis that I picked up in the fall at a farmer’s market, since I needed recipes to use them up. Still turned out great despite this small change, and I will absolutely be making this again :)