Ground Turkey Chili
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The Best Ground Turkey Chili Recipe. Learn how to make turkey chili that’s healthy & delicious in your crockpot, instant pot, or on the stove!
There is just something cozy and comforting about a warm bowl of chili in the fall and winter months, whether it’s a lighter white chicken chili, hearty beef sweet potato chili, or this delicious ground turkey chili!
Made with primarily pantry staples, this chili is easy to make on your stove, in the crockpot, or instant pot and can be made in about an hour. This budget-friendly chili really is just so incredibly delicious and packed with 45g of protein per serving. It’s sure to be one of your family’s favorites!
Another ground turkey recipe we love is Healthy Shepherd’s Pie.
liz’s top tip for ground turkey chili
- Let chili simmer low and slow to thicken it naturally. This method gives you the ideal texture and flavor without needing thickeners like cornstarch or flour.
Ingredients:
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can use any oil you like in this recipe. Olive oil, refined coconut oil, avocado oil, butter or ghee will all work.
Ground Turkey: You can substitute ground turkey with ground beef or ground chicken. We also have a Vegetarian Chili.
Crushed Tomatoes: If you can’t find crushed tomatoes, you can use whole tomatoes that have been pulsed in a food processor or blender.
Spices: Feel free to add more/fewer spices depending on your tastes. You could also add chopped, de-seeded jalapeno to the crockpot for more spice!
Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in any soup recipe. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Beans: We highly recommend using no salt added or low salt beans. Any beans will work in this recipe. You can use black beans, kidney beans, navy beans or pinto beans. If you prefer a no beans recipe, we love this Paleo Turkey Chili.
Veggies: You can use more or less of any veggies you want in this recipe. It’s a pretty flexible recipe.
Corn: Feel free to omit corn from this recipe
Pumpkin: If you are looking to add pumpkin to your chili, we love this Pumpkin Chili recipe and just substitute ground turkey for ground beef.
How to make Turkey Chili on the stove:
- Heat oil in a pan. Cook turkey over medium-high heat until browned, approximately 10 minutes. Add onions & garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Add crushed tomatoes, spice, beans, corn, and chicken broth to the pot. Stir together and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and cook over medium heat for 2 hours on low-medium heat, stirring every 20 minutes.
- Serve over rice with your favorite chili toppings!
How to serve this Turkey Chili Recipe with Beans:
- Over rice or quinoa: Our favorite way to serve this is over white or brown rice
- Other things to serve this chili over: cauliflower rice, Crispy Sheet Pan Roasted Potatoes, or with your own homemade roasted plantains
- With Healthy Cornbread, Green Beans Almondine or Garlic Brussels Spouts
- With a kale salad
- Toppings: Guacamole, avocado, and chopped onion are all great paleo toppings for this recipe. If you’re not strictly paleo, you could add cheddar cheese or crushed tortilla chips.
What toppings are good on chili?
Here are some of our favorite toppings for chili:
- guacamole/avocado
- chopped onion
- cheddar cheese
- crushed tortilla chips
- nonfat greek yogurt/sour cream
Storage
Refrigerator: Leftover Ground Turkey Chili is good for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. You can freeze it before then if you don’t plan on eating it.
Does turkey chili freeze well? Yes! You can freeze this chili! This chili freezes very well. In fact, I love these containers for freezing chili. They’re portioned silicone molds that make freezing so easy!
Then, when you’re ready to enjoy, you can take a container out of the freezer and heat it over the stove or in the microwave. It’s great for a quick meal!
How do you reheat leftover chili? I usually reheat chili in the microwave for about 1-2 minutes. You could also reheat chili in a pan on the stove.
Ground Turkey Chili
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 lbs ground turkey
- 1 cup minced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 15 oz can low sodium black beans rinsed & drained
- 1 cup corn
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Stovetop Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground turkey to the pot and cook for 5 minutes, breaking it apart with a spatula as it cooks.
- Add the onions and garlic. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Add crushed tomatoes, beans, corn, chicken broth, paprika, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, red pepper, and salt to the pot. Stir together.
- Cover the pot, turn the stove to high and bring the chili to a low boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and cook for an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes. Cooking for 2-4 hours is best, but this can be enjoyed after 1 hour.
- Serve over rice with your favorite chili toppings!
Crockpot Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground turkey to the pot and cook for 5 minutes, breaking it apart with a spatula as it cooks.
- Add the onions and garlic. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Add the cooked turkey, vegetables, crushed tomatoes, beans, corn, chicken broth, paprika, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, red pepper, and salt to the crockpot base.
- Stir all of the ingredients together until thoroughly mixed
- Cook on low for 6 hours.
- Serve over rice with your favorite chili toppings!
Instant Pot Instructions
- *Warning* The instant pot Is very finicky. We do not recommend making this chili in it unless you must as it may give you a burn notice. This chili tastes much better and is easier to make in your crockpot or on the stove.
- Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode for 10 minutes. Heat the olive oil. Add the ground turkey to the pot and cook for 5 minutes, breaking it apart with a spatula as it cooks.
- Add the onions and garlic. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Important: Make sure to scrape off any pieces of food on the bottom of the Instant Pot or you will get a burn notice during cooking.
- Add crushed tomatoes, beans, corn, chicken broth, paprika, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, red pepper, and salt to the pot. Stir together.
- Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook for 10 minutes on high pressure. Make sure the pressure release is set to sealing (on older models). When finished cooking, allow pressure to release naturally for 5 minutes, then release any remaining pressure.
- Serve over rice with your favorite chili toppings!
So good and easy to make! I meal prepped and stored for later in the week. Protein packed with lots of veggies too.
I love chili and this is an easy recipe to follow! I also appreciate the instant pot instructions!
Hi everyone. I just made this recipe, but as I dumped in a tablespoon of Paprika and a teaspoon of cumin, I wonder if there is a typo there…? Doesn’t chili usually have more cumin than paprika??
There’s no typo in the recipe, this is how I made it! if you would like to add more cumin feel free 🙂