Feel like getting some hearty prep-and-dump slow-cooker meals under your culinary belt?  Not a very good cook, but want to eat in more to save money or eat healthier?  My Slow Cooker Turkey Chili recipe is your answer!

Welcome to Cook with Hiro 😉 If I can make it, you know it has to be easy!

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

Ever since my best friend introduced me to turkey chili back in high school, I’ve kept it in my back pocket as one of those meals I can easily make with some turkey, beans, and chili mix.  I started making them in the slow cooker instead of a pot when I bought my slow cooker, and it comes out great (and you can make a much bigger load at a time).

Prep Time: However long it takes for you to cut the vegetables
Cook Time: 4 Hours on High
Cost: $20 in NYC

Ingredients

First thing first! The ingredients!  If you are feeling too lazy to create the seasoning yourself, or don’t want to go out and buy the spices, I used a pre-made mix like this one for years. (As a matter of fact, this was the first time I went without a mix!)

Meat

• 1 lb Lean Turkey

Vegetables

• 28 oz Canned Diced Tomatoes (or dice a few tomatoes yourself!) – drained
• 15.5 oz Canned Black Beans (1 “normal” sized can) – drained
• 15.5 oz Canned Kidney Beans (1 “normal” sized can) – drained
• 8 oz Canned Tomato Sauce (little baby sized can) – don’t drain this lol
• 8.5 oz Canned Corn (or 1 cup of chopped frozen veggie mix) – drained
• 2 Bell Peppers (I chose 2 different colors) – dice
• 1 Onion – dice
• 2 Carrots -dice

Chick Peas go well with chili too, and so could a lot of other vegetables (some people really like celery!).  If you have something you want to include, try it out!

Seasoning

• 1 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 2 tbsp Ground Paprika or Chili
• OR Pre-Made Chili Mix

And of course, you need a Slow Cooker.

Cooking Directions

• Dice the fresh vegetables

• Dump the sliced vegetables and the canned corn into the Slow Cooker

• In a large pan, cook the Ground Turkey (you don’t need oil, as a lot of fat will come out of the meat to help it cook)
• Drain the liquid fat that comes out of the turkey, and transfer to the slow cooker

• Throw in the cans of beans, and lightly mix the content of the slow cooker

• Upend the cans of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce into the mix
• Throw in the seasonings (or the pre-made seasoning mix) on top
• Set the Slow Cooker to 4 Hours High, or 8 Hours Low

• After 2 hours, stir the mixture, repeating the mixing every 2 hours

• Note: Since we have a lot of vegetables, a lot of liquid will come out
  • You can decide on whether you want a drier or soupier chili by the leaving the slow cooker on “Keep Warm” for a few hours after the cooking is complete
  • I personally cooked this at night, and left it on Keep Warm overnight, and it dehydrated to the consistency I wanted

That’s It!

Serve with Mexican Rice or Italian Bread, with side of steamed veggies.

This thing:

First time, I tried it in a pan and burned half of it. Second time, we tried the rice cooker… Came out ok but it had way too much water in it, so it was really fluffy (like Japanese rice).  I guess next time, we’ll try with less water in the rice cooker. At least then I won’t be burning half of it…

Try It Out!

Let me know if you tried this recipe out, or if you’ve tried similar recipes and have recommendations for things to put into it!

You can check out all of my Recipes via my Recipes Category.