Easy Turkey Chili Recipe: 4 Tips for Making Turkey Chili
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Apr 2, 2023 • 2 min read
This hearty turkey chili recipe incorporates meat, beans, and aromatics. Make it your own by upping the spice level, adding your favorite vegetables, or customizing the toppings.
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What Is Turkey Chili?
Turkey chili is a hearty dish made with ground turkey simmered in a thick tomato sauce with aromatic vegetables, kidney beans, and spices. Lean ground turkey, which is full of flavor but low in fat, is a great option for anyone who wants to enjoy this comfort food staple while avoiding red meat. Serve hot turkey chili with a toppings bar of grated cheese, sour cream, and sliced green onions. A side of cornbread or tortilla chips rounds out the meal. Use leftover chili to make chili dogs, or chili fries, or chili-topped baked potatoes.
4 Tips for Making Turkey Chili
Home cooks of all experience levels can pull off this fuss-free recipe. Here are a few tips to get you started:
- 1. Try a slow cooker. You can make this recipe on the stovetop, but for hands-off dinner prep, use a slow cooker. Sauté the ground turkey, onion, and garlic, then add the mixture and the rest of the chili ingredients to a slow cooker. Cook over low heat for four to six hours.
- 2. Use leftover turkey. While this recipe calls for ground turkey, you can also use leftover cooked turkey meat. Simply shred or chop up the meat and mix it into the chili after sautéeing the onion and garlic.
- 3. Play around with ingredients. Use this simple chili recipe as a jumping-off point to create your new favorite chili recipe. Add hearty veggies like sweet potato, red bell pepper, zucchini, and corn for healthy turkey chili. Increase the heat with spicy ingredients like jalapeño peppers, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, canned green chilies, or dried chipotle chilis. Incorporate different types of beans, like black beans and pinto beans. Or use this recipe as a blueprint for beef chili and chicken chili by swapping in ground beef or ground chicken.
- 4. Make ahead and freeze. You can prepare this chili in advance and safely store it in the freezer for up to four months. Allow the chili to cool to room temperature before transferring it to an airtight, freezer-proof container. Reheat the chili over medium heat in a large pot with half a cup of hot water.
Turkey Chili Recipe
makes
prep time
15 mintotal time
1 hrcook time
45 minIngredients
For the toppings:
- 1
In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil.
- 2
Add the ground turkey to the pot and cook until well browned, about 4–5 minutes.
- 3
Add the onion and garlic, and stir to combine. Cook until the onion is slightly softened, about 2 minutes.
- 4
Add the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, kidney beans, brown sugar, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, dried oregano, salt, and black pepper to the pot, and bring the chili to a simmer.
- 5
Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer until the chili has thickened to your liking, about 35–40 minutes.
- 6
Remove the pot from the heat and allow the chili to cool for 10 minutes before ladling it into bowls.
- 7
Garnish with cheddar cheese, red onion, sour cream, and cilantro.
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