This ground Turkey Chili is packed with healthy deliciousness with an added touch of chipotle pepper heat. Full of healthy vegetables and beans, and all those lovely smoky ingredients like chipotle paste, smoked paprika and earthy cumin.
This variation of chili is big on flavor and pretty good for you too! I used lean ground turkey and then added much more vegetables than in a normal chili, added lots of dried spices and chipotle pepper paste to bulk up the flavor. Oh, and I threw in both black beans and kidney beans for some variation in flavor and visual appeal.
Here in Sweden turkey is still not that common yet. Maybe for new years but not ground or as a whole breast. But it is available in most stores now. This was not the case 15 years ago when we had to special order it for Thanksgiving if we wanted a fresh one.
Why turkey:
Turkey meat packs a powerful nutritional punch and it’s healthier overall than red meat. Many people choose this meat as a replacement for beef in recipes. It will take on any flavor you want so use. It is a great source of high-quality protein, as well as many B vitamins and several minerals.
Health benefits:
Turkey is especially high in protein, zinc, B vitamins, tryptophan and selenium which give numerous health benefits. It is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and fat if you don’t eat the skin. Turkey is also believed to play a role in cancer prevention and mood enhancement because of the high amount of tryptophan that it contains. Which is a building block to produce serotonin. Serotonin is believed to promote better quality sleep, relieve depression and anxiety, increased emotional well-being and manage pain tolerance.
Since serotonin is an inducer of sleep, consumption of turkey may help improve sleep quality. Most Americans have probably experienced the food coma after Thanksgiving dinner. We can probably blame the turkey and tryptophan for that.
How to make:
Chop and fry the vegetable until translucent. Remove from pan and fry the meat and spices, once done add all the other ingredients and cook for another 20 min or more.
Other additions to this dish can be:
- Avocado for some richness
- Corn for some extra color and sweetness
- Tortilla chips for added crunch
- Shredded cheese for added umami and tanginess
- Sour cream or greek yogurt for sharpness and tanginess
- Fresh coriander an absolute must if you don’t think it tastes like soap.
CHIPOTLE TURKEY CHILI
Ingredients
- 900 g ground turkey
- 1 tbsp chipotle paste or more if you like spicy and hot
- 2 tbsp onion yellow chopped
- 1 tbsp red bell pepper chopped
- 1 tbsp yellow bell pepper chopped
- 1 tbsp green bell pepper chopped
- 8 tbsp garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 4 tbsp ground cumin ground
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 liter stock chicken, vegetable or umami
- 800 g crushed tomatoes
- 460 g black beans drained
- 230 g kidney beans drained
Instructions
- In a large pot add oil and turn to medium heat and saute the minced vegetables until translucent and with some bite left. This will be about 5-8 minutes. Then remove the vegetables.
- Turn up the heat a litle and fry the ground turkey, garlic and spices. Make sure to break down the mince with a spatula. This will take about 10 min.
- Add all the ingrediences togetha, stir to combine and simmer for about 35 min.
- Add salt to taste and enjoy!
