Turkey Chili Recipe
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Rave Reviews!
Wow, great recipe. I added extra heat for our taste but the overall recipe was easy to follow and the flavors are spot on. ~Allison
Why Everyone Loves My Turkey Chili Recipe
I’ve spent years cooking in both restaurant kitchens and my own home, and when it comes to chili, homemade was always better. I even tried to find ways to improve our restaurant chili based on what I’ve tested at home. I’ve learned ways to make it taste incredible and still easy to make at home. This turkey chili is one I make for our family at least once a month because it’s rich, hearty, and full of flavor, but light enough to enjoy any night of the week.
- more even ratio of vegetables, meat, and beans and I always punch up the flavors!
- hearty and packed with protein and fiber, because I add extra meat. That way, we’re not just eating vegetables and beans.
- when possibly, use a white and dark turkey meat. It adds more flavor and better texture. (PRO TIP: You can ask a butcher sometimes for a mix of white and dark turkey meat.)
Table of Contents
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Ground turkey – did you know that there are also different fat to meat ratios in turkey? There is! When possibly, get the “lean” turkey meat not the “extra lean.” Something they are labeled as percentages, so get the 93%/7% but no leaner. Otherwise your chili meat will be dry and tough.
- Beans options – I use red kidney beans and navy beans, but this is your chance to use whichever beans you love. Black beans, pinto beans, or cannellini beans all work well. Drain them, but there’s no need to rinse.
- Jalapeños: Expect a fresh, medium heat from jalapeños. Most of that heat sits in the seeds and white membranes, so remove them for a milder chili or leave them in for more kick. Jalapeños with light brown veins on the skin are more mature and spicier.
- Chipotle chili powder: This is the main source of heat and smoky flavor in the chili, and at two tablespoons, you’ll taste a noticeable kick. For a milder chili, swap half or all of it for regular chili powder. Ancho chili powder is another good option with a mild, slightly fruity heat.
- Paprika, cumin, garlic powder and oregano: These round out my spice blend. Use smoked paprika for even more smoky depth, or classic or sweet paprika for a milder flavor.
- Cilantro and lime: My flavor secret! I finish the pot with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a handful of cilantro right before serving for a bright, fresh flavor. If you’re not a fan of cilantro, use chopped fresh parsley or sliced green onions instead, or skip the herbs and finish with lime juice alone.
- Vegetable options – I like to keep it to the classic onion and peppers but you can take this opportunity to include more vegetables like carrots, celery, zucchini, yellow squash, and corn.
How to Make Turkey Chili Mild or Spicy
You can easily change the heat level with a few small swaps:
- For a milder chili: Replace half or all of the chipotle chili powder with regular chili powder. Remove the jalapeño seeds and membranes, and pick jalapeños with smooth, unveined skin.
- For a spicier chili: Leave the jalapeño seeds in, add an extra teaspoon or two of chipotle chili powder, or stir in a pinch of cayenne pepper. Top each bowl with fresh jalapeño slices.
- For the whole family: Make the pot on the mild side and set out hot sauce, sliced jalapeños, and red pepper flakes so everyone can add their own heat.
How to Make Turkey Chili: Step-by Step
UPDATE NOTE: I’ve made this chili more times than I can count, and after years of cooking and testing, I updated the recipe to bloom the spices with the vegetables instead of adding them with the tomatoes. Toasting the spices in the hot oil for about a minute releases their natural oils and aromas, cooks out any raw, dusty taste, and gives the chili a deeper, richer flavor. If you’ve made this recipe before, you’ll taste the difference!
- Prep everything first. This is a fast-moving recipe, so dice the vegetables, mince the garlic, and measure the spices before you turn on the heat.
- Sauté the vegetables. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat. Cook the onion, bell peppers, and jalapeños until softened.
- Bloom the spices. Make a well in the veggies and add the garlic and spices: chipotle chili powder, paprika, cumin, and oregano into the center. Cook for about 30-45 seconds, stirring constantly, until the spices and garlic smell fragrant.
- Brown the turkey. Move the vegetables to the sides of the pot and add the turkey to the middle. Season it with the salt and break it up as much as possible. Cover the pot and open the lid every few minutes to keep breaking up the meat until it’s fully cooked.
- Add the tomatoes, beans, and broth. Stir in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, kidney beans, navy beans, and bay leaves.
- Simmer low and slow. Once the chili starts to simmer, lower the heat to low and leave the lid off. Keep it at a very gentle simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot from time to time. Taste and adjust the salt and spices.
- Finish with lime and cilantro. Discard the bay leaves, then stir in the lime juice and cilantro right before serving.
Cooking Variations
Slow Cooker: Start the turkey chili in the pot through the step of all cooking vegetables and meat. Next, transfer the mixture into the Crockpot and mix in canned tomatoes, beans, tomato sauce, broth, and spices. Close the lid on the Crockpot and cook on HIGH for about 4 hours or on LOW for about 6 hours. Discard bay leaves. Finally, stir in cilantro and lime juice right before serving.
Instant Pot: Follow the cooking steps of the recipe but sauté the veggies and meat in the Instant pot on the “saute” setting. Once all the ingredients are in the pot, close the lid and latch it. Make sure to turn the valve to “seal” and set pressure cooker to “beans/chili.” If your pressure cooker does not have that setting, set it to cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. Make sure to consult your pressure cooker’s manual for exact settings and safety instructions. Let the pressure cooker do a natural release for about 10 minutes and then carefully do a quick release. Discard the bay leaves.
Best Toppings for Turkey Chili
- Fresh: sliced avocado, sliced jalapeños, chopped cilantro, green onions, lime wedges, or a spoonful of homemade salsa
- Cheesy: shredded cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese
- Creamy: sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- Crunchy: crushed tortilla chips or corn chips
What to Serve With Turkey Chili
- Bread: Serve it with buttermilk cornbread or jalapeño cornbread for dunking. It’s also great with buttermilk biscuits, jalapeño cheddar buttermilk biscuits, or soft potato dinner rolls.
- As a topping: spoon the chili over white rice, a baked potato, hot dogs, or macaroni for a heartier meal.
- Leftover ideas: Turn leftover chili into a dip with tortilla chips, crackers, or veggies. Spoon it over nachos, tacos, fries, hot dogs, or eggs.
How to Store and Reheat Ground Turkey Chili
- Store: in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. Cool the chili to room temperature first, then keep it covered in the pot or transfer it to an airtight container.
- Reheat: individual portions are easy to reheat in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds at a time, stirring in between. Reheat the whole pot on the stovetop over medium heat until heated through, adding a splash of broth if it’s too thick.
Freezing Turkey Chili
Chili is a great freezer meal and you store it all at once or potion it:
- Cool chili as quickly as possible if you plan to freeze it.
- Once it’s cooled, portion it into smaller freezer bags, let all the air out, and close it well. Remember to label and date.
- Lay the bags flat on the cutting board and freeze. Once frozen, it will be easy to stack bags of chili.
- To thaw, take the bag out of the freezer and into the refrigerator to slow-thaw it overnight. Reheat in the microwave or it a small pot.
Turkey Chili Recipe FAQs
Chili holds up very well in the refrigerator and becomes even tastier the next day. You can easily make the chili up to 2 days ahead of time, cool it to room temperature, and store in the refrigerator. Reheat gently on stovetop with a splash of broth.
Absolutely! You can just increase the amount of vegetables or add some new ones like carrots, corn, zucchini, mushrooms, or yellow squash.
Yes! Follow the stovetop steps to sauté the vegetables, bloom the spices, and brown the turkey. Transfer everything to the Crockpot and stir in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, beans, and bay leaves. Cover and cook on HIGH for about 4 hours or on LOW for about 6 hours. Discard the bay leaves and stir in the cilantro and lime juice right before serving.
Yes! Use the “sauté” setting to cook the vegetables, bloom the spices, and brown the turkey. Stir in the remaining ingredients, then close and latch the lid. Turn the valve to “seal” and set the pressure cooker to “beans/chili.” If your pressure cooker doesn’t have that setting, cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. Check your pressure cooker’s manual for exact settings and safety instructions. Let the pressure release naturally for about 10 minutes, then carefully do a quick release. Discard the bay leaves and stir in the cilantro and lime juice.
Keep the lid off and let it gently simmer for an extra 10 to 15 minutes, so more of the liquid cooks off. If it gets too thick, stir in a splash of chicken broth until it’s the consistency you like. You can also plan to stir in a couple of tablespoons of cornmeal with the veggies for the thicker chili consistency at the end.
No. Lean 93% ground turkey has very little fat and you want to keep it for the chili. Keeping it in the pot adds flavor to the chili.
More Chili Recipes To Try
We are big fans of chili, like I mentioned above, I make it all year long. I tends to alternate between beef chili, this turkey chili, white turkey chili, and white chicken chili. During the fall months, I always make my pumpkin chili recipe. When I need to save a little time and make it faster, I turn to my Instant Pot Chili recipe.
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Turkey Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp canola oil
- 1 large yellow onion
- 2 bell peppers
- 2 jalapenos
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 lbs lean ground turkey
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
- 1 cup chicken broth low sodium
- 16 oz can red kidney beans drained
- 16 oz navy beans drained
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp chipotle chili powder
- 3 tsp paprika
- 3 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp kosher salt more of less based on personal taste
- 2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
- 1 large lime juice only
Instructions
- UPDATE: I've updated the order of steps, specifically when to add the spices, for the better overall flavor.
- Dice vegetables and measure all the ingredients before starting to cook.
- Preheat the Dutch oven (or another large soup pot) over medium heat and add oil.
- Sauté onions and peppers together until it start to soften and add garlic, oregano, chili powder, paprika, cumin, and garlic powder. Stir and cook until just until fragrant, about 30-45 seconds. (Be careful not to burn or cook too long.)
- Add ground turkey and break up the meat as much as you can. Season with salt. Cover the pot with a lid and let it cook. Keep breaking up the lumps of meat with a wooden spoon every few minutes, as it cooks.
- When turkey meat is cooked through, add canned tomatoes, drained beans, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and bay leaves.
- Carefully stir everything together, lower the heat to low, and let it simmer uncovered for 30-40 minutes.
- Discard the bay leaves.
- Stir in cilantro and lime juice and serve with your favorite toppings.
Video
Notes
- Make it more or less spicy: It’s very easy to adjust the spice level by adding or taking away a few ingredients. If you want your chili more spicy: choose older jalapeños with more veins on the skin, leave the jalapeño seeds in, and/or add more chili powder. To make the chili less spicy: choose younger jalapeños with smooth skin, discard the seeds, and don’t add extra chili powder.
- Storing: Cool chili to room temperature and store it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. You can store it in the same pot it was cooked in, covered with a lid, or transfer it into a food storage container with an airtight lid.
- Freezing: cool the chili to room temperature and either portion it into freezer zip-top bags or store it in one large freezer container. Seal, get the air-out, label, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw slowly in the refrigerator. It’s easy to reheat in the microwave or in a pot on stove-top.
- Don’t like cilantro? Use chopped fresh parsley or sliced green onions instead, or skip the herbs and finish with lime juice alone.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in January, 2018.
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Categories:
Chili Recipes, Dinner Recipes, Fall Recipes, Gluten Free Recipes, Healthy Dinner Ideas, Instant Pot Main Dishes, Instant Pot Recipes, Most Popular Recipes, Slow Cooker Recipes, Super Bowl Recipes, Turkey Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
This is the best red chili that I’ve ever made. We doubled all spices. So yummy!
Wow, what a compliment! I’m so happy you loved the turkey chili and made the spice level just right for you! Thank you for sharing! 😊
Excellent. Added chopped carrots and celery. Used fire-roasted tomatoes as that’s what I had on hand.
Yum! Those additions sound amazing 😍 I’m all about using what you have on hand, fire-roasted tomatoes are a great alternative. Thanks for commenting!
I made this with a few minor changes, to my taste. Its really good! Thank you!
I love when people tweak recipes to make them their own! I’m so glad it turned out really good for you. Thanks so much for sharing and for taking the time to leave a comment!
I love this recipe!!
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you love it—it makes me so happy to hear that 🥰
Wow, great recipe. I added extra heat for our taste but the overall recipe was easy to follow and the flavors are spot on.
Thanks, Allison! I am so glad you like the recipe!
Chili Lover:
Love all the original ingredients in this recipe and I will be making this today.
Stay tuned and I will let you know how it is. It has all the elements for a great Chili!
I am so glad you like the chili, Allison! Thanks for stopping by to let me know. 🙂
How much is a serving based on the nutrition facts listed?
My nutritional calculator doesn’t specify the serving size, so you’d need to divide it into 8 equal portions.
Easy & delicious
Perfect balance of ingredients
I am so glad to hear you liked the recipe!
This recipe is fantastic!. Everyone I’ve made it for loves it!! It’s not too spicy and not acidic. It a great balance and so tasty.
I love that everyone loves it! 🙂
I’m trying to slip my family into the habit of eating more healthy. I succeeded in reducing our red meat intake, thanks in large part to this recipe. I had to blend the vegetables up to appease my anti-vegetable eating husband, but none the less, this recipe did it! I have a HUGE smile now! 😉
I am so glad to hear this recipe has helped you and that you like it so much! 🙂
This is in fact the best Turkey Chili ever!! It’s spicy but not overbearing. I did however cut back on some of the Chipotle Chili powder. I only used 1 1/2 tablespoons. Next time I’ll probably just do one tablespoon.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m thrilled to hear that you consider it the best Turkey Chili recipe! Your adjustment with the Chipotle Chili powder is a great tip for those who prefer a milder spice level.
This was delicious! I would have given it 5 stars but as written, it is too spicy for me. But, I’m kind of a wimp. Next time I will use 1 Tbsp chili powder instead of 2 👍🏼
Oh, no! Sorry it was to spicy for your taste!
Made your recipe and it was delicious! Thanks for sharing!
You are so welcome! I am so pleased you liked it!
Made this tonight. We all loved it. Thank you.
So glad you all loved it, Sue!
Easy and delicious recipe, family approved!
I am so glad they liked it!
Excellent! My son said it’s the best chili he’s had.
Today felt like fall so I made this recipe and loved it! Both my husband and I thought it was so good. Tasted even better as leftovers. Will definitely make again.
I am so glad you liked it, Casey!
This is awesome. We will make it again. My family loved it
I am so glad your family liked it, Kathy!