Packed with fiber and protein, crockpot turkey chili is super easy and low maintenance. Lots of veggies, beans, and flavor!
Ground beef is SUPER expensive where we live, so we've been finding cheaper options like ground turkey. It also happens to be more lean than beef, so it's a win! We love to serve this with Honey Butter Cornbread or Sourdough Discard Cornbread and its delicious partner Vanilla Honey Butter Spread (YUM).
I love to make a big batch of super simple ground turkey chili and save half for later. It's so easy to meal prep! It's a bit different than my Healthy Taco Soup which uses ground beef and has more peppers, with a similar but different spice mixture.
I like to make the turkey chili with Homemade Instant Pot Black Beans, because it's easy and cheaper to make them and use them in recipes like this!
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What To Expect
- Taste: A tomato base, plenty of beans and bell peppers, and a mix of classic chili spices. It's not too spicy, but definitely easy to make more spicy if you want!
- Ease: It's as easy as cooking the ground turkey and onions, then moving everything to a slow cooker to finish cooking.
- Time: It takes 5-10 minutes to cook the turkey and onions and assemble the ingredients, and 3-4 hours on high heat or 6 hours on low heat to cook until the peppers are soft and spices have infused their flavor into the chili.
🛒 Key Ingredients
- Ground Turkey - we chose it because it's cheaper than ground beef where we live, and tastes virtually the same as beef in chili with all of the veggies and spices. It's also leaner with less fat, so that's a win!
- Spices - I use a classic blend for chili, tailored to our family's not-too-spicy preferences. Not very spicy but lots of flavor! Chili powder, cumin, salt & pepper, garlic & onion powder. You can also use a blend of mexican seasoning for chicken, it tastes amazing.
- Beans - a mix of pinto and instant pot black beans (no soak), just to keep it easy. They're both full of fiber and protein, which is a big plus for us!
- Peppers - we use bell peppers to add flavor and veggies, and we used red for the pop of color. Any variety of bell pepper can be used, however.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Beans - you can use any variety you like, I use a mix of two different kinds to keep things simple. Kidney, red, pinto, navy, and black beans are all common varieties used in chili.
- Turkey - can easily be swapped out for ground beef.
- Peppers - you can use any color you like of bell pepper, or add fresh chopped jalapeño or spicy chile peppers to the chili as it cooks.
🧑🍳 Instructions
- Step 1. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add ground turkey and diced onion and cook for 5-7 minutes until there is no pink left and the onions are soft, breaking up the turkey as it cooks into small pieces.
- Step 2. While the turkey is cooking add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker. The red pepper flakes are optional, but add just a little spice.
- Step 3. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-7 hours to let the spices mix and peppers cook. Top with sour cream, cheese, cilantro, or lime. Enjoy!
📌 Top Tips & Hacks
- To make your turkey chili thicker, take some of the beans and mash them up, a half cup or so, to act as a natural thickener. The cornstarch added at the beginning also helps! You could also add a little tomato paste, which is what I use to thicken and add flavor to Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes.
- Make a batch of chili and freeze half for another dinner another day. It saves a lot of time!
- Use any color bell pepper for a fun color pop.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
It depends. Ground beef has more flavor than turkey in chili, but ground turkey tends to be cheaper than lean beef.
Flavor and not too much liquid. The addition of the cornstarch to the chili really helps!
Yes. Cooking in a slow cooker on high heat for more than 4 hours or low heat for more than 7 hours can make the lean meat taste dry and chalky.
A combination of beans and cornstarch. The cornstarch is added at the beginning, so it doesn't clump. A trick I use is to mash some beans if I want it to be thicker.
Yes, as long as it reaches a safe temperature to eat (165℉) it's fine. I prefer to cook it with the onion first to brown it (gives it more flavor) and because it's easier to break into pieces.
🥣 More Easy & Cheap Soup Recipes
Did You Try This Recipe? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Make sure to leave a star rating and a comment below the recipe card. I love hearing from you, and it is so helpful to other readers! Better yet, share it with family and friends. Thank you!!
📝 Printable Recipe
Crockpot Turkey Chili
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 medium onion diced (about 1.5 cups) approx. 190 g
- 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes (or two 15 oz cans)
- 1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
- 2 (15 oz) cans pinto beans
- 2 (15 oz) cans black beans
- 2 red bell peppers, diced (about 2 cups) approx. 237 g
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch 17
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add ground turkey and diced onion and cook for 5-7 minutes until there is no pink left and the onions are soft, breaking up the turkey as it cooks into small pieces.
- While the turkey is cooking add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker. The red pepper flakes are optional, but add just a little spice.
- Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours to let the spices mix and peppers cook. Top with sour cream, cheese, cilantro, or lime. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Hi, I'm Sara!
Registered Nurse by day, food blogger by weekend. Perfect dip tester & snack quester. I love short walks on the beach and long naps. Sharing my love for food, one bite at a time.
Sara says
We've made this with ground turkey, elk, and beef and it tastes delicious every time. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do! Please leave a comment here and share your feedback with a star rating. I really enjoyed creating this recipe and post for you!