Healthy Turkey Chili

This healthy turkey chili is made with a blend of kidney and black beans as well as corn. It’s the perfect meal to serve for game day or as an easy dinner!

I don’t know about you, but the second cool weather hits, I crave chili! I love all types of soups and stews, but I think chili takes the cake. I love how hearty and filling it is. Comfort food in a bowl! It doesn’t hurt that it’s super easy to throw together and packed with healthy ingredients.

I love making chili because it feels like you just dump a bunch of ingredients into a pan, let them cook and marinate. The end result is so flavorful and only minimal effort was made!

Few things are better than one-pot meals, am I right?

Healthy Turkey Chili Ingredients

• ground turkey – traditionally ground beef is used for chili, but we’re keeping things on the lighter side with ground turkey for this version.
• vegetables – yellow onion, garlic, frozen sweet corn
• chicken or vegetable stock
• diced or crushed tomatoes
• beans – I like to keep things easy and used canned beans (drained and rinsed), but you can certainly cook your own beans from scratch if you have the time. I used a blend of red kidney beans and black beans, but you can use different beans if needed.
• olive oil
• seasonings and spices – chili powder, paprika, cumin, dried oregano, cayenne pepper, sea salt and pepper
• optional toppings – avocado, sour cream (or Greek yogurt), shredded cheese, cilantro, jalapeño, etc.

How to Make Healthy Chili

As I mentioned above, making a flavorful chili is so easy. Here’s how:

Sauté – Start by heating the oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add in the onion and garlic and sauté, stirring frequently until the mixture is fragrant and the onion is translucent. Add in the ground turkey, salt and pepper and cook until the turkey is browned evenly and cooked through.

Add ingredients and simmer – Add the stock, tomatoes, beans, corn, and spices. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve – Serve the chili warm with toppings of choice. I love serving mine with avocado, sour cream and cornbread.

How to Serve Chili

Chili is a hearty enough recipe to be a meal in one! Having said, I love eating it with my pumpkin cornbread muffins. It’s also delicious served with bread, crackers (I love my almond crackers) or even tortilla chips. It can also be served with a salad… I have a ton of salad recipes to choose from, but something light and fresh like this garlicky kale salad would be perfect.

How to Store Leftovers

Let the chili cool slightly before transferring to an airtight container. Store in your refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you need to store it longer, let the chili cool completely in the fridge and then transfer to the freezer for up to 3 months.

More Chili Recipes to Try:

• Healthy White Bean Chicken Chili
• Easy Vegetarian Chili
• Butternut Squash and Turkey Chili
• Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili

If you make this healthy chili be sure to leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how it turned out for you. Your feedback is so helpful for the EBF team and our readers!

Healthy Turkey Chili

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★★★★★

5 from 10 reviews

• Author: Brittany Mullins
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 4
• Diet: Gluten Free

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Description

This lightened up turkey chili is made with a blend of kidney and black beans as well as corn. It’s the perfect meal to serve for game day or as an easy dinner!

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Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons minced garlic, minced
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 (28 oz) can canned diced or crushed tomatoes
• 1 (15 oz) can canned red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups frozen sweet corn
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 –1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Toppings of choice: avocado, sour cream (or yogurt), shredded cheese, cilantro, etc.

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Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Once oil is hot add onion and garlic to the pot and cook, stirring frequently until mixture is fragrant and onion is a bit translucent. Add turkey, salt and pepper to the pot and cook, breaking apart meat with a spatula until evenly brown and cooked through.
2. Add stock to the pot. Mix in tomatoes, kidney beans, black beans, corn, chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano and cayenne pepper. Bring chili to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Serve chili warm with toppings of choice. Some ideas include avocado, sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro, etc.

Notes

Instant Pot instructions:

1. Add oil to Instant Pot and put on sauté setting. Add onion and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes, until fragrant. Add turkey, salt and pepper to the pot and cook, breaking apart meat with a spatula until evenly brown and cooked through.
2. Press cancel on the Instant Pot and add stock, tomatoes, kidney beans, black beans, corn, chili powder, paprika, cumin, oregano and cayenne pepper. Place the lid on the pressure cooker, lock lid and make sure the pressure release valve is closed.
3. Then press the soup/stew button or “pressure cook” and set time to 15 minutes.
4. Once the timer reaches 0, the cooker will switch to keep warm. Carefully switch the pressure release valve to open to manually release the pressure. (I use tongs for this).

• Category: Lunch/Dinner
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: American

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
• Calories: 488
• Sugar: 12g
• Sodium: 1502mg
• Fat: 16g
• Saturated Fat: 3g
• Unsaturated Fat: 9g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 46g
• Fiber: 20g
• Protein: 40g
• Cholesterol: 78mg

Keywords: healthy turkey chili