Hearty and comforting Healthy Turkey Chili is bursting with flavor thanks to lean ground turkey, kidney beans, and the perfect blend of spices. Prepare on the stovetop or slow cooker for the best game day meal or an easy dinner!
We also adore this turkey pumpkin chili.
Table of contents
Fall is the perfect season for enjoying warming soups and stews like this healthy turkey chili. Inspired by The Biggest Loser TV show, it’s hearty comfort food to the max and satisfies any cool weather cravings.
Plus, it just happens to be easy to make and filled with better for you ingredients! That is what makes it the best healthy turkey chili recipe if you ask me.
While we love making award winning Instant Pot chili with ground beef, this homemade ground turkey chili is a low fat, healthier alternative packed with flavor and lean protein! Each bowl will practically be licked clean.
This healthy chili recipe is thick in texture, full of classic flavors, and just begging to be topped cheese, avocado, or crushed tortilla chips. Save some for leftovers, as it tastes even better the next day!
Ingredients and Notes
This healthy turkey chili recipe uses whole food ingredients including pantry staples and fresh vegetables.
- Ground turkey: Lean ground turkey makes this a healthier chili. Ground chicken could be used as your type of ground meat, too.
- Vegetables: You’ll need garlic cloves, white or yellow onions, celery and bell peppers. I used one red bell pepper and one green pepper. You could add 1 1/2 cups corn if desired.
- Beans: Canned beans save time, although you can cook dried beans from scratch. I used Instant Pot kidney beans and canned white beans, although any variety works like black beans, cannellini beans or pinto beans. Avoid chili beans as they have added seasoning.
- Chicken broth: Vegetable broth or chicken stock also could be used.
- Tomato sauce: Or crushed tomatoes.
- Olive oil
- Chili seasoning and spices: This simple turkey chili is seasoned with chili powder, taco seasoning, salt, black pepper, and chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. If you love lots of spices, add some cumin, oregano, and red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper, too.
- Optional toppings: Avocado, plain Greek yogurt (or a dollop of sour cream), shredded cheese, cilantro, jalapeno slices, chopped green onions, tortilla chips etc. Note that any toppings added will alter the low calorie chili nutritional information.
Recipe Tip
Add a pinch of brown sugar or maple syrup to balance the acidity of the tomatoes, if needed.
How to Make Healthy Turkey Chili
Here is a quick overview in photos how to make healthy turkey chili. There is full recipe card below.
All you need to know is that this easy turkey chili recipe is a simple one-pot meal. Add your ingredients to a stove top pan and let them cook to develop amazing flavors.
- Brown the meat: Preheat a large 5–6-quart Dutch oven, heavy bottom large pot, or large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the ground turkey and cook until it crumbled into small pieces (around 5 minutes), stirring and breaking it up constantly.
- Sauté onion and garlic: Add the chopped onion and garlic and reduce stove to medium heat. Allow them to sauté for a minute or two, stirring occasionally.
- Brown remaining vegetables: Then add the finely chopped celery and bell pepper and cook for a further five minutes. Stir only occasionally to allow the veggies to brown (which will provide tons of flavor to the healthy turkey chili).
- Simmer: Add the ground turkey and all the remaining ingredients back into the Dutch oven/pot, stir, and cover with a lid. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Recipe Tip
How to thin chili? If you prefer a thinner soup recipes, you could substitute your tomato sauce (or crushed tomatoes) for a can of diced tomatoes.
Can I Make Turkey Chili in Crockpot?
Yes. You can also make this into a slow cooker turkey chili and leave it to simmer all day. A warm bowl of chili is a perfect meal for cold days and busy weeknights!
- Sauté ingredients: First, brown lean turkey, onion, garlic and vegetables in pan (as written above for stovetop version).
- Transfer to slow cooker: Along with the meat and veggies, add the beans, tomato sauce, broth, chipotle pepper, and seasonings to the crockpot. Then, mix, cover, and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. Finally, adjust to taste preference, and serve with your favorite toppings!
Can I Make This Healthy Chili in the Instant Pot?
Sure! First saute your ground turkey for about 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients adding tomato products last. Do not stir. Pressure cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. After Quick Release, stir and enjoy.
Also be sure to check out this Instant Pot turkey chili.
How to Serve This Healthy Turkey Chili Recipe
The best part of a bowl of chili is that it’s a healthy meal on its own! That being said, I live with hungry boys and they enjoy when it’s served with cornbread muffins or almond flour cornbread.
My preference is to serve healthy turkey chili with a fresh green salad or something light like this avocado salad recipe.
Of course the best turkey chili recipe is served with toppings! In my opinion, shredded cheddar cheese, cilantro, yogurt, and diced red onion are not to be missed.
How to Store Leftovers
After the chili cools slightly, place in an airtight container and refrigerate the leftovers for up to 5 days.
To store longer, cool completely to room temperature and transfer to the freezer up to 3 months. We are a huge fan of leftovers and this healthy turkey chili recipe is great for easy meal prep!
More Chili Recipes to Try
- Instant Pot white chicken chili
- Healthy white chicken chili
- Crock pot buffalo chicken chili
- Ground chicken chili recipe
- Keto chili recipe
Browse all healthy chili recipes!
Healthy Turkey Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey extra lean
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 medium onions finely chopped
- 3 large celery stalks chopped
- 2 medium bell peppers chopped
- 14 oz can low sodium red kidney beans drained & rinsed
- 14 oz can low sodium white beans drained & rinsed
- 28 oz can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes low sodium
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth low sodium
- 1 tbsp chipotle pepper in adobo sauce minced
- 1 tbsp chili powder low sodium
- 1 tbsp taco seasoning low sodium
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- Oil for frying
- Lime, cilantro, cheese, yogurt, chips etc. for serving
Instructions
- Preheat large 5-6 quart Dutch oven, heavy bottom pot or ceramic non-stick skillet on high heat and add ground turkey. Cook until small pieces form or about 5 minutes, stirring and breaking into small pieces with spatula constantly. Transfer to a bowl or large slow cooker, and set aside.
- Return skillet or pot to medium heat and swirl a bit of oil to coat. Add garlic and onion, sauté until translucent or 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add celery and bell peppers, sauté for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. If using slow cooker, transfer there, or leave in a dutch oven.
- Then to either add red kidney and white beans, tomato sauce, broth, chipotle pepper, chili powder, taco seasoning and pepper.
- Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes. In slow cooker, cook on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours.
- Stir and adjust salt to taste, if necessary. Serve warm with your favorite toppings!
Video
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate chili for up to 5 days in an airtight container. Reheat desired amount of chili in small pot by simmering on low heat. Cover and stir occasionally until warmed through.
- Freeze: Make sure to cool chili completely and then freeze in a glass container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight.
Also made this one! Just yesterday. Had leftovers today for lunch and it was even better! Really really yummy! Thanks for the recipe!
Made this last night and LOVED it! This is definitely being saved for future meals.
THIS is my favorite chili ever!!! Fantastic. If you want to spice it up, put some drops of Frank Hot in your serving !!!
I am cooking this now, waiting on the veggies to cook and then it’ll all go in the crock pot, I’m excited about this but hope it’s ready before I leave for work.
Thank you! I just pre-chopped all my veggies and am about to pre-cook the ground turkey. Ill have enough time to quick saute the veggies and toss e everything in the crock pot on my lunch break. Excited to have this for dinner tomorrow 🙂
Wondering if it completely messes up the entire chili if you don’t do the pre-cooking? Would you be able to throw the veggies and (raw, thawed) ground turkey into the crock pot? If not what about if I cooked the ground turkey the night before, refrigerated it, and threw that in the next morning?
Don’t! I did it once and it was disgusting! My meal was like a baby food, yuk. It was disgusting!:) Pre-cooking the night before – yes, absolutely.
Made this today, and the verdict from my picky 14 year old is that this is delicious. :). I haven’t tested it myself yet (it’s not quite dinner time yet) but it smells fantastic! I did notice that it’s very soupy, though, and I followed the recipe very carefully. Wondering if I should add less chicken broth next time… Thanks for the recipe!
Sure, if you would like to. Mine wasn’t soupy. I wonder if a lot of condensation went into the crock pot off the lid once you took it off?! But still shouldn’t be that much. Feel free to adjust the liquid. I’m flattered my recipe impressed the teenager.:) Enjoy!
Thanks for the reply. I finally got to eat some after I sent the first message, and it was fabulous! BOTH of my teenage girls enjoyed it, and as a matter of fact, my 14 year old daughter had 2 small bowls before she went to dance, and another one when she got home! I’m about to make it again, but this time I’m trying it with less broth. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the condensation from the lid, and I ended up cooking the extra liquid off on the stove, but it was otherwise awesome enough to serve it again so soon! 🙂
You could also add some crushed healthy tortilla chips or masa flour to thicken it a bit. Cornmeal would work too. Glad all girls loved it!!!
Thanks! I missed that reply, but that might work for next time, which is tomorrow. 🙂 One more question…Do you use red bell peppers, or green? 🙂
I use whatever kind I have on hand and is cheaper at that time. For this chili I used red, yellow and orange.
Either I was really hungry or this turkey chili was amazing! It was probably both. I was never a big fan of chili but this was so good! Would def be making this again and again!
Haha. I think both. This chili is my favourite so far. Glad I changed your outlook on the chili world.
I just assembled this in the crockpot, an I can’t wait to have it all week!
Awesome! You can also freeze the leftovers. I know my recipes make many servings but I like leftovers and I have 3 men to feed. Enjoy!
I just cooked this for dinner tonight — delicious!! I had to make a few little modifications because I own the world’s smallest crockpot (literally) and couldn’t fit everything inside, so I made it in a pot on the stove and simmered it for an hour instead. My guy is really picky and doesn’t like cooked celery, so I added extra bell peppers. But he said it deserved a place in our dinner rotation! 🙂 I can’t wait to try your Buffalo Chicken Chili too!
Oh, that’s awesome, Amy! Means a lot to hear a positive feedback from another food blogger. I get nervous (a bit) when other food bloggers make my recipes. It’s like when I entertain, I feel I gotta deliver – I am a food blogger.:)