I love to make chili and have been making it for many years. I have done different variations of it over the years, but I have mostly settled on making turkey chili when I make it. The turkey is better for you than the ground beef and lends itself nicely to the long cooking process of the chili. You also don’t get all the fat in your chili that ground beef tends to add to the sauce. Michelle loves it and always make a large batch so we have it for lunches and then we can freeze some and have it when we need a quick meal or use it to make a quick batch of nachos for an appetizer. This recipe is far from exact since I pretty much eyeball everything I use for this one at this point since I have been making it so long. If you like more heat in your chili, add more hot sauce or chili powder. I try not to make it too hot since it does pick up some heat after a day of two of sitting in the fridge.

Turkey Chili

2 pounds ground turkey

1 tablespoon McCormick’s Montreal Chicken seasoning

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 large onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1-2 tablespoons chili powder

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Dash of hot sauce

2 15.5 ounce cans dark red kidney beans, drained

Heat a large Dutch oven of medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil and heat the oil until shimmering. Mix the Montreal Chicken seasoning with the ground turkey, mixing by hand until well blended. Add the turkey to the Dutch oven and heat, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and stir to mix with the turkey, heating for about 3 minutes until the onion begins to soften. Add the diced tomatoes and mix thoroughly. Cook until the tomatoes begin to release some of their juices, about 3 to minutes. Add the cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper and hot sauce and mix thoroughly. Turn the heat to low and cover. Allow the chili to cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the kidney beans and mix thoroughly (at this point I usually taste the chili to see if it needs any more spices: chili powder, salt, pepper. Add more if you think it needs more). Cover and allow to cook for 2 to 3 hours.

I typically serve the chili with white rice and have some sides if anyone wants to add anything to the chili, like sour cream, diced fresh tomato, shredded cheese and occasionally some diced jalapeno or diced avocado. As I stated earlier, this makes a great ingredient for nachos if you want to make nachos or even a great taco filling if you want to use it for tacos.

It’s a very easy recipe, doesn’t take a lot of work (you could easily put this all in the slow cooker and let it cook all day, just brown the turkey meat first) and tastes great. It’s Saturday and I am thinking I want an easy meal tonight, so I may go for some simple BLT sandwiches tonight. Check back later and see if that’s what I decide to go with! Enjoy your day, and enjoy your meal!