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Healthy Turkey Chili

By Brittany Mullins

4.9

48

Published Oct 03, 2023, Updated Nov 14, 2023

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This healthy turkey chili is made with kidney and black beans, corn, tomatoes and a blend of spices. 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 and this turkey chili might just be my favorite chili recipe I have on EBF.

It’s hearty, filling and always serves a crowd. Comfort food in a bowl! It doesn’t hurt that it’s super easy to throw together and packed with healthy ingredients.

Why You’ll Love This Turkey Chili

This turkey chili stands out for all the right reasons:

• Flavor-packed: With a blend of spices like chili powder, cumin, and paprika, each bite is a burst of flavor.
• Nutritious: Lean ground turkey and a variety of beans make this a protein-rich and fiber-filled option.
• Adaptable: Prefer a vegetarian twist or different beans? This recipe can handle it.
• Topping Freedom: Whether you like your chili topped with shredded cheese, avocado, or a dollop of sour cream, this dish works as the perfect base.
• One-Pot Magic: Simple to prepare and even easier to clean up, it’s the ideal weeknight or meal-prep dish.

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 and frozen sweet corn
• chicken broth or vegetable broth – chicken or vegetable broth are great options. I recommend using low sodium so you can control the saltiness of the soup.
• diced or crushed tomatoes – adds a great savory flavor to this chili.
• 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 – to sauté the vegetables and ground meat in for the stovetop method. Avocado oil works as well.
• 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, green onion, cilantro, jalapeño, etc.

How to Make

As I mentioned above, making this turkey chili recipe is so easy. Here’s how to make it:

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

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

Serve – Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed. Serve the chili warm with your favorite chili toppings. I love serving mine with avocado, sour cream and cornbread.

How to Make Turkey Chili in the Slow Cooker

1. Start by heating the oil in a large skillet oven over medium heat. Once warm add the onion and garlic and sauté, stirring frequently until the mixture is fragrant and the onion is translucent.
2. Add in the ground turkey, salt and pepper and cook until the turkey is browned evenly and cooked through.
3. Add all your ingredients (except for the toppings) including the cooked turkey, onions and garlic to your slow cooker/crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7-8 hours until veggies are cooked and tender.

How to Make Turkey Chili in the Instant Pot

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).

Customize Your Turkey Chili

The best part about chili is how versatile it is! Here are some ideas on how you can customize this chili:

• Vegetarian or vegan option – ditch the meat and add more beans to this chili. Or you can follow my vegetarian chili recipe.
• Different meat – feel free to swap the ground turkey for a different meat of choice. This chili would be delicious with ground chicken or ground beef.
• Different or more vegetables – add extra vegetables to your chili for added flavor and nutrition! Bell pepper, zucchini or carrots sound delicious to me but you really can’t go wrong.
• Spice – if you wish to add more spice you could add a chopped jalapeño or crushed red pepper flakes to this chili.

How to Serve Chili

I recommend topping this chili with shredded cheddar cheese, cilantro, sour cream (or Greek yogurt) and avocado, but you can top it with anything you’d like! It’s a filling meal on its own, but if you want to pair it with some sides here are some suggestions:

• With bread: I love eating chili with my pumpkin cornbread muffins or vegan cornbread. It’s also delicious served with crusty bread (like sourdough bread), crackers (I love my almond flour crackers) or even tortilla chips.
• Side salad: add some fresh veggies with a side salad. I have a ton of salad recipes to choose from, but something light and fresh like this garlicky kale salad or spinach salad would be perfect.
• With grains: if you want more volume, you can serve this chili over quinoa or brown rice. I find that when I serve over a grain, I need less chili overall to feel full. You could also add cauliflower rice for more veggies.

How to Store Leftovers

Let the chili cool completely before storing in an airtight container. The chili will last 3-4 days when stored in the refrigerator and can also be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. If freezing, make sure to thaw in the fridge overnight before serving.

You can reheat in a pot on the stove over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes or in the microwave for 1-2 minutes if you’re in a rush.

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
• No-Bean Chili (Beef Chili)
• Vegetarian Green Chili

Popular Soup Recipes

• Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Chicken Enchilada Soup
• Chicken Wild Rice Soup
• Mexican Sweet Potato Chicken Soup
• Taco Soup
• Turkey Soup

Be sure to check out all of my soup recipes and all of my ground turkey recipes here on EBF!

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4.90 from 55 votes

Healthy Turkey Chili

By: Brittany Mullins

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

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• ▢ 2 Tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
• ▢ 1 lb ground turkey
• ▢ 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ▢ ½ teaspoon pepper
• ▢ 1 ½ cups chicken broth or vegetable stock
• ▢ 1 28 ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes
• ▢ 1 15 ounce can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
• ▢ 1 ½ cups frozen sweet corn
• ▢ 2 ½ Tablespoons chili powder
• ▢ 2 teaspoons paprika
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ▢ ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ▢ ¼ -½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ▢ Toppings of choice: avocado, sour cream (or yogurt), shredded cheese, cilantro, etc.

Instructions 

• 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.
  
• 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.
  
• Serve chili warm with toppings of choice. Some ideas include avocado, sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro, green onion, etc.

Video

Notes

Slow Cooker Instructions:

1. Start by heating the oil in a large skillet oven over medium heat. Add in the onion and garlic and sauté, stirring frequently until the mixture is fragrant and the onion is translucent.
2. Add in the ground turkey, salt and pepper and cook until the turkey is browned evenly and cooked through.
3. Add all your ingredients (except for the toppings) including the cooked turkey, onions and garlic to your slow cooker/crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7-8 hours until veggies are cooked and tender.

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).

Nutrition

Serving: 1/4 of recipe | Calories: 488kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 40g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 78mg | Sodium: 1502mg | Fiber: 20g | Sugar: 12g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Lunch/Dinner

Cuisine: American

Keyword: turkey chili

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