It’s that time of the year – coming out of Thanksgiving and jumping straight into the holiday season! Before I bombard you with Christmas yummies, let us first detox with a flavorful, cozy, comforting bowl of Simple Healthy Turkey Chili!
Because I sure need some detoxing after the Thanksgiving weekend. And if I have to detox, I will detox the TASTY way. 😉
Why Healthy Turkey Chili
I recently discovered the beauty of ground turkey. Ground turkey is leaner and much healthier than ground beef. The thing with ground turkey is it doesn’t bring as much flavor as ground beef.
However, when you are cooking ground turkey in an ultra flavorful sauce with lots of spices (e.g. THIS recipe!), it is plenty flavorful! Using ground turkey isn’t all that different compared to using ground beef!
Traditionally, chili is made out of beef, but if you want a healthier, lighter spin that is equally delicious, this Simple Healthy Turkey Chili recipe is just as amazing and so much better for you!
Whenever I come out of Thanksgiving weekend, after eating turkey, leftover turkey, and my fifth serving of mashed potatoes, the food I crave for tend to fall into three categories. 1) veggies not submerged in cheese or cream, 2) lighter foods, or 3) anything Asian.
Speaking of Thanksgiving weekend aftershock, you should have seen me trying to work out on Monday for the first time after the holiday. Every joint feels tighter, every move seems slower, and it was just hard, hard, HARD.
John and I do exercise videos and I swear, coming out from Thanksgiving, our 6-day break from workout feels like a two-week break. I might have said a few mean things to the instructor in the video every time he was overly cheerful about the exercise.
Just to clarify, we are no workout freaks. We work out because we want the benefits of having energy, keep a semi-healthy body so something doesn’t just fail on us, and now that we are a few years into our thirties, our metabolism just slowed down half its speed. We are trying to offset some of that – this way we can still eat all the yummy foods. 😉 Ha.
In other words, leave it up to us, and we will be curled up on our coach reading, watching tv or taking a nap. (No judgement please!) 😉
Call it whatever you want, but for us, this simple and healthy Turkey Chili is our post-Thanksgiving/pre-Christmas cleanse. The perfect cold-weather food that is lighter and healthier.
All you need is 30 minutes of your time, a handful of pantry-friendly ingredients, and a big old pot. I use my dutch oven (affiliate link) that I LOVE, but you can use any pot!
Easy weeknight (or weekend) dinner. Saves well for leftovers. Freeze well for make-ahead meals. In fact, I doubled the recipe the last time I made this, and have a big tupperware of this in my freezer. It’s ready for those emergency-nights when there is no food in the house but I don’t feel like eating out or grabbing fast food.
What is in Healthy Turkey Chili?
This simple chili recipe is made out of ground turkey, kidney beans, corn, lots of tomatoes, and onions. It is spiced with garlic, chili powder, smoked paprika and cumin. Simple ingredients but it brings on lots of amazing flavors.
The recipe will yield mild/medium in terms of level of spiciness. If you would like a spicier chili, add some cayenne pepper to turn up the heat!
If you ask me, garnishes on chili is a must… Add all or some of the below:
- Fresh cilantro – this is a must for me as I love me some cilantro. The more the merrier. It brings a new flavor dimension and adds lots of freshness to the chili.
- Sour cream – some added creaminess to make this chili super delicious…
- Shredded cheddar cheese – another layer of creaminess…
- Tortilla chips – bring on that crunchy texture!
- Jalapeño – more spice, anyone? 🙂
A simple chili recipe for the keeps. Make yourself a bowl today! 🙂
If you make this recipe PLEASE let me know how it goes in the comment box below, and share pictures of your creations on instagram by tagging #joyousapron! And while you are there, don’t forget to follow me!
Other soup and stew favorites on the blog!
- The Ultimate Beef Stew – My tried and true Beef Stew recipe to be made with a slow cooker, dutch oven or Instant Pot/pressure cooker!
- Lemon Chicken and Rice Soup – A chicken soup recipe for the soul! My version/twist to the Greek classic soup.
- Simple Tomato Soup – Make your tomato soup from scratch and you will never look at store bought ones the same way again!
- Egg Drop Soup – A Chinese takeout classic!
- Hot and Sour Soup – Another Chinese takeout classic! 🙂
- Chicken Enchilada Soup – by Restless Chipotle!
Healthy Turkey Chili
Ingredients
- 1 lbs ground turkey
- 1/2 large onion
- 5-7 cloves fresh garlic
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 28 oz canned petite diced tomatoes
- 15 oz canned tomato sauce
- 16 oz canned kidney beans
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 cup frozen corn
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Garnish (optional, but highly recommended!)
- shredded cheddar cheese
- fresh cilantro
- sour cream
- tortilla chips
- jalapeño
Instructions
- Dice onions and mince garlic.
- In a large pot, add olive oil, diced onions and minced garlic. Cook under medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Add ground turkey to pot, break up the ground turkey if it is clump together. Sprinkle one or two pinches of salt and pepper to turkey. Cook until turkey is almost done (no longer red/pink).
- Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans (drain liquid), chicken broth, chili powder, smoked paprika, and cumin to pot. Bring to a boil, then lower to medium low heat, and cook for another 15 minutes.
- Add frozen corn. Bring heat to medium high, cook for another few minutes or until liquid comes to a boil again. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Optional: Garnish with all of some of the garnish ingredients! We recommend garnishing with at least one or two of them!
- Serve and enjoy!
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