For many, fall is the season for pumpkin spice-flavored everything. For me, the fall season is all about the chili! In addition to being the perfect cool-to-cold-weather comfort food, when prepared with the right ingredients, chili can also be the ultimate superfood. Not convinced? Take a stab at my veggie-packed turkey chili recipe and see what I mean!
Related Article: Eight Super-Simple Ways to Get More Veggies Into Your Diet
What You Need
- 1 pound of lean ground turkey
- 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 white or yellow onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 green pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
- 1 red pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
- 1 yellow pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
- 1 orange pepper, cored, seeded, and diced
- 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
- 1/4 cup of fresh herbs
- 2 tablespoons of chili powder
- 1 teaspoons of chipotle chili powder
- 1/2-1 teaspoon of dried pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
- 1-1/2 cup (or 14.5-ounce can) of diced tomatoes
- 1-1/2 cup (or 14.5-ounce can) of tomato sauce
- 3 cups (cooked or 27-ounce can) of red kidney beans, drained
- 1-1/2 cup (cooked or 15-ounce can) of black beans, drained
- 1-2 cups of water (for desired consistency)
- 2 cups of frozen sweet corn
- 1 teaspoon of fresh black pepper
- Sea salt, to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons of peanut or almond butter
How To Prepare
Add the olive oil and cook the ground turkey in a large skillet on medium-to-high heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally and then drain any fat. Stir in the beans, diced tomatoes and all seasonings (except the red pepper flakes, black pepper and sea salt) and bring the mixture to a boil.
Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Transfer all ingredients to a larger pot (if necessary) and throw in the tomato sauce, water and all the vegetables (except the corn) and cook while stirring for 3 minutes. Bring the mixture to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and cook for 20-30 minutes. At around the 10-minute mark, stir in the corn, red pepper flakes, black pepper, sea salt (to taste), and the optional nut butter. Continue to simmer.
Tip: To thicken the chili, mash some of the beans against the bottom of the pot with a potato masher. Start with about 1/4 of the beans for a medium-thick texture. The more you mash the thicker the chili will become as it cooks. Stir the mixture well and simmer for another 10 minutes.
That’s it!
My homemade veggie-packed turkey chili recipe literally incorporates every single whole food group into a single dish. You can serve it with tortilla chips, corn chips, corn bread or crackers. For a hearty, healthy vegetarian dish, simply lose the ground turkey. This oh so delish recipe makes about 10-12 servings!
