I love warm, hearty chili during the cool months of Fall and Winter.  It is such an easy meal to make that, let’s be honest, pretty much everyone loves!  We have A LOT of chili nights at our house…especially on Sunday during football season.  I typically throw all the ingredients in the crock pot after breakfast and let it cook low and slow all day while we watch the games.

The more I talk to friends about “Chili Night” the more I get asked for my recipe so I figured, what better way to kick off my new cooking feature!

So, first things first, I make a turkey chili in our house for a number of reasons but the biggest being, we just don’t eat a lot of red meat.  If you prefer a beef chili you can totally swap the turkey for ground beef or skip the meat all together for a veggie chili.  I also prefer a flavor rich in heat…i.e. lots of peppers and jalepenos…if you don’t like spicy you can simply leave the ingredients out.

Start by browning your turkey in a skillet with diced onion and some diced bell pepper.  I like to add a splash of olive oil, since turkey is less fatty than beef, and a generous helping of cumin to give the meat a little more flavor.  Once the meat is browned add it to your crock pot on low heat.   Add your beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and corn to the crock pot and give it a good mix.  I cook like my grandma (who taught me) and suck at measuring what I am adding to a recipe so forgive me for how vague this next part is…add a generous helping of cumin, chili powder, ground oregano, salt and pepper to your crock pot and let it do it’s thing for about 6 hours.

In our house we typically top our chili with shredded cheese and occasionally some diced green onion.  It’s also yummy with sour cream, red onion, fresh diced tomatoes, crumbled crackers, or for a true comfort meal add fresh corn bread.

Voila!

Turkey Chili

What you will need:

1 pound ground turkey (or ground chicken/ground beef)

1/4 of a red onion diced

1/2 of a green bell pepper diced

1 diced jalepeno (optional)

Frozen sweet corn

3 cans of diced & fire roasted tomatoes (I use Trader Joe’s brand)

2 cans Organic Red Kidney Beans

1 can Organic White Beans

1/2 can tomato paste

Chili powder

Cumin

Oregano leaf

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

Prepare: Cook the turkey, diced onion, green bell pepper, jalepeno, and cumin in a skillet with a splash of olive oil.  Add all skillet ingredients to the crock pot on low with beans, diced tomatoes, corn, tomato paste, and spices.  Cook on low for 6 hours.