Slow Cooker Chili with Ground Turkey

Brown the turkey first—no pink left, drain the fat, and you’re already winning. This is the kind of chili that sits in your slow cooker for 7 hours 30 minutes while you do literally anything else, and comes out tasting like it’s been simmering since morning.

Why You’ll Love This Easy Slow Cooker Chili

Takes 20 minutes of actual work. The other 7 hours 30 minutes? Don’t touch it.

Comfort food that doesn’t require you to stand there. Most chili recipes have you stirring, tasting, adjusting. This one doesn’t care.

Ground turkey keeps it lighter than beef, but it still tastes like real chili. Not watered down. Not weird.

Works cold the next day. Tastes better, actually. Leftovers sit in the fridge like three days easy.

One slow cooker. One skillet. Not a sink full of dishes after.

What You Need for Ground Turkey Chili

A pound of lean ground turkey. Has to be ground. Doesn’t really matter what brand.

One medium onion diced up. Red or yellow. White onion doesn’t work here.

Three garlic cloves minced. Honestly minced, not smashed. Size matters a bit.

Kidney beans and black beans—one can of each, 15 ounces. Rinse them. The canned liquid is thick and gets weird if you don’t.

Fire-roasted diced tomatoes. One can. With the juice. Don’t drain it.

A cup of low sodium chicken broth. Regular broth works too but the salt adds up fast.

Two tablespoons of tomato paste. Not sauce. Paste. It’s concentrated and that’s the point.

Chili powder—two tablespoons. Smoked paprika, one teaspoon. Ground cumin, one teaspoon. Cayenne pepper, half a teaspoon. Dried oregano, half a teaspoon. Salt and black pepper.

Toppings: shredded cheddar, sour cream, green onions sliced. None of it is required. All of it helps.

How to Make Easy Slow Cooker Chili

Get a skillet hot. Medium heat. Ground turkey goes in and you break it up as it cooks. Watch for the pink to disappear completely. Takes maybe 5 minutes if you keep moving it around. Drain the fat off. Most of it. Some is fine.

Same skillet. Throw the diced onion in. Add the minced garlic. Let it soften—3 to 4 minutes. You’re not caramelizing it. Just getting it soft and smelling right.

Everything goes in the slow cooker now. The turkey. The onion and garlic. Both cans of beans—rinsed. The tomatoes with their juice. The broth. The tomato paste. All the spices. Stir it until the tomato paste is broken up and spread around. You don’t need it perfectly smooth. Just mixed in.

Cover it. Low heat. 7 hours 30 minutes total. Around hour 6, take a quick look at the edges. Should be bubbling slow and deep. That smell is the spices doing their thing. If it’s barely moving, low is working.

Stir it maybe once or twice. Don’t go crazy stirring—the beans fall apart if you’re rough with them.

Last half hour or so, if it looks too watery, pull the lid off. That uncovered time thins it out fast. The difference between soup chili and actual chili.

Taste it before you serve it. Salt it now if it needs it. Probably will.

How to Get Slow Cooker Turkey Chili Perfect

The meat has to brown before it goes in. Raw turkey in there tastes wrong no matter how long it sits. Five minutes in the skillet fixes it.

Don’t skip the tomato paste. It sounds like a small thing but it’s what makes this taste deep instead of bright. The paste has no acidity—just concentrated tomato and sweetness.

Low heat the entire time. High is faster but it cooks the beans to mush and the turkey gets weird. Slow cooker turkey chili needs low.

The onion and garlic should be soft before they go in too. Raw garlic in the slow cooker gets harsh. Soft garlic tastes like part of the chili.

That uncovered time at the end matters. If you come back to it and it’s basically soup, pull the lid off for the last 30 minutes. Evaporation fixes watery every time. If it’s thick enough, don’t bother.

Slow Cooker Chili Tips and Common Mistakes

Rinse the canned beans. The liquid they come in is starchy and makes everything pasty.

Low sodium broth keeps you in control of the salt. Regular broth sometimes has so much sodium it tastes salty before you even taste the chili.

The fire-roasted tomatoes matter more than you think. Regular diced tomatoes work but they taste tinny. Roasted ones taste like something.

If you forget to drain the turkey fat, the top layer gets greasy. It doesn’t ruin it. Just skim it off before serving.

Ground turkey is lean which is why it works here. Fattier ground turkey or beef makes it heavier. This stays light.

Don’t brown the turkey too hard. You just need no pink. Crusty, dark meat gets tough in a slow cooker.

The slow cooker should be at least half full. Less than that and it cooks too fast and uneven. More than that is fine.

Slow Cooker Chili with Ground Turkey

By Emma

Prep:

20 min

Cook:

7h 30min

Total:

7h 50min

Servings:

8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey lean
• 1 medium onion diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 can 15 oz kidney beans rinsed
• 1 can 15 oz black beans rinsed
• 1 can 15 oz fire-roasted diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 cup chicken broth low sodium
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• Salt to taste
• Shredded cheddar sour cream green onions for topping

Method

1. 1 Brown the turkey in a skillet on medium. Break it up. No pink left. Drain the fat.
2. 2 Same pan. Onion and garlic in. Cook till soft. Three four minutes.
3. 3 Everything goes in the slow cooker. Turkey, onion, garlic, beans, tomatoes, broth, tomato paste, all the spices. Stir it.
4. 4 Low heat. Seven and a half hours. Don't touch it much. Check edges around hour six — bubbling slow, smells deep. That's it working.
5. 5 Stir once or twice. Don't go crazy. Too much stirring breaks the beans.
6. 6 Too watery near the end — take the lid off. Last thirty minutes uncovered fixes it.
7. 7 Taste before serving. Add salt if it needs it.
8. 8 Bowl. Cheddar on top. Sour cream. Green onions. Done.

Nutritional information

Calories

335

Protein

32g

Carbs

30g

Fat

8g

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Frequently Asked Questions About Ground Turkey Chili

Can I use ground beef instead of ground turkey? Yeah. It’ll be heavier and richer. Takes the same time. Drain more fat off beef though—it’s fattier and gets greasy on top if you don’t.

What if my chili is too thin? Leave the lid off the last 30 minutes. Uncovered it thins fast. If you’re already done cooking, just serve it thicker next time and don’t add the full cup of broth.

How long does this keep in the fridge? Three days easy. Tastes better the next day. Freezes forever too.

Can I make this on high instead of low? You can. Takes maybe 4 to 5 hours. Beans get softer faster though and the turkey gets a little weird. Low is better.

What if I don’t have fire-roasted tomatoes? Regular diced works. Add a tiny bit of smoked paprika if you have it—extra half teaspoon. Tastes closer to what you’re aiming for.

Should I stir it a lot? No. Once or twice is enough. The slow cooker does the work. Stirring breaks the beans and you end up with mush instead of actual beans in there.

Can I add more spices? You can but taste first. The spices are in there long enough to get strong. If you add more now it’s too much. Adjust next time instead.

What about toppings? Cheddar and sour cream and green onions are the standard. You could skip them. You shouldn’t. They change the whole thing.