This turkey chili recipe will satisfy all of your cold weather cravings for warmth and nourishment in one big pot. You guys know I’m a fan of one pot meals and you really can’t go wrong with chili in the wintertime for an easy dinner or to meal prep for the week. That’s why I already have recipes for a classic beef chili, a white chicken chili, and a vegetarian chili. But today I thought I would add to my chili recipe repertoire with this turkey chili recipe that is a simple combination of ground turkey, hearty vegetables and beans, and the perfect kick of warming spices. All of those flavors simmer and melt together on the stove for a healthy one pot meal that I know you’re gonna love.
So let me show you how to make it. To get started, you’ll dice up one onion and thankfully I remembered to put this onion in the freezer for 15 minutes before chopping today. So hooray, there are no tears. I just wish I remembered to do this all of the time. Now, if you’ve made my other chili recipes this one should be a cinch for you as they’re all quite similar.
Well at least my classic beef chili, vegetarian chili, and this turkey chili. And there’s just slight tweaks to the ingredients and spices. But at the end of the day, what you’re doing with chili is creating layers of flavor and it all starts with an onion, bell pepper, and garlic base. So once you’re done chopping up that onion, add it to a bowl and set it aside.
For the bell pepper, you could really use any color you’d like here.
I like to use red as it contrasts with the green jalapeno pepper that’s also in this recipe. And pro tip, when you’re cutting the bell peppers, slice the top and bottom off, then run your knife around the inside to remove the seeds. You can then easily slice the bell pepper by slicing down on the inside of the bell pepper rather than the outside skin. The outside is just a bit harder to slice through. This is something I learned way later than I should have so please don’t judge me by my early videos.
And once that’s all diced up, you can then dice up the remaining top and bottom pieces around the stem. You don’t waste any of the bell pepper if you chop it up this way and then add it to your bowl on top of the onions.
(gentle music) Next up is a jalapeno pepper and while a jalapeno isn’t in my classic beef chili, I decided to add it to this turkey chili recipe because ground turkey has a softer, more muted flavor than ground beef. So I thought the jalapeno was a nice little extra kick of flavor. And because it’s sauteed, it’s not overly hot, just flavorful.
So once you’ve sliced it in half and removed the seeds with a spoon, dice it up and then add it to your veggie prep bowl. You can’t have a chili recipe without garlic or at least I don’t think you can. So give three large garlic cloves a bash with a side of your knife to help remove the skins. If you don’t like bashing the garlic, you can just slice the top and bottom off the garlic and then peel the skins off after doing that.
But once they’re peeled, take them along with your prepped veggies over to the stove.
All right, moving on to the beans. You’ll need two 15 ounce cans of red kidney beans for this recipe. If you prefer another type of bean, like black beans or pinto beans, feel free to swap those in. And then give them a good rinse. You always want to rinse beans as they sit in a can of salty water and you don’t want all that extra salt in the recipe or else your chili will taste a bit funky.
Not to mention it also helps to get rid of any residual metallic flavor. So don’t dump the cans of beans straight into the pot of chili. Always make sure to rinse them first. And now that all of the prep work is done, let’s make this turkey chili. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to a pot over medium high heat.
Dump in your veggie prep bowl with the onion, bell pepper and jalapeno pepper and saute these for about four to five minutes or until the veggies have softened and the onion becomes translucent. This is the base layer of flavor in this classic one pot recipe. And from here we’ll just keep adding more to it. And that includes the garlic. So mince your three garlic cloves straight into the pot and then stir that for another 30 seconds or so until the garlic is lightly sauteed.
Add one and a half pounds of ground turkey and use your spatula or spoon to break it into smaller pieces until it’s cooked through. And it’s really easy to tell when turkey is fully cooked, as it turns white. So just keep stirring it around and breaking it up into smaller pieces until it’s all white. (gentle music) Next you’ll add two tablespoons of tomato paste, two tablespoons of chili powder, one tablespoon of ground cumin, two teaspoons of paprika or smoked paprika, it’s up to you, one teaspoon of dried oregano and one teaspoon of kosher salt. Stir all of that together to toast the spices and make sure the ground turkey is fully coated in all of that spicy goodness.
Now you’ll add the liquidy ingredients which includes one 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes. And I’m using fire roasted tomatoes because it adds heaps more flavor with no extra work which is always lovely.
Dump in your drained kidney beans and then add two cups of chicken broth. I like a really thick chili, but if you’d like a thinner, more liquidy chili, feel free to add another cup of broth. Stir that up, increase the heat to high, and bring the pot to a boil.
Then reduce the heat back down to medium low and let it simmer uncovered for 30 minutes making sure to stir it occasionally. Chili is one of those recipes that make your entire house smell amazing with those fragrant spices wafting everywhere. And during the wintertime it sends a signal directly to your stomach that hearty goodness is on the way.
Turkey chili is leaner than beef chili, but it’s definitely not lacking in substance or complexity. And by the way, don’t feel like you have to choose a favorite between all of my chili recipes.
I sure don’t. I just rotate them around and share the love equally. Now I’ll serve up my bowl here in a second and talk to you about toppings, but before I do, I’m going to meal prep and store the other portions. Chili is arguably the undisputed king of meal prep as you’ve got a complete meal in one easily reheatable container and it will last for up to three months in the freezer. In all honesty, it will last for even longer than that, though I always like to give the recommendation of three months for the best flavor on reheating.
So I’ll pop two portions in the freezer for a night when I don’t feel like cooking and put one other portion in the fridge for later this week.
But now that my stomach is grumbling and more than ready to enjoy a portion right this minute, I’ll go ahead and scoop the remaining turkey chili into a bowl. You can of course enjoy the chili plain, but I think half the fun with chili is adding toppings. You can always add a dollop or two of sour cream or a sprinkle of cheese, some diced avocado, more sliced or diced jalapeno if you like it extra spicy, and a sprinkle of cilantro or sliced green onions for the final pop of green. If you enjoy today’s video, make sure to give it a thumbs up as that helps to support my channel.
Share it with your chili loving family and friends and let me know in the comments below if there’s another variation of chili you’d like to see me make next.
