Slow Cooker Turkey Chili is so easy to throw together and is a healthy and hearty winter soup – loaded with protein, fiber, and iron.  Chili is a stick to your ribs, comfort food that is great for meal prep.  This recipe is made with lean ground turkey.  Make it ahead and enjoy it all week long.  As the spices soak in, it gets better each day.

One of the best things about using a slow cooker is being able to “set it and forget it”.  Load it with all of the ingredients, turn it on, and wait for your home to fill with savory flavors.

Reasons to love this chili:

• easy to make – slow cookers rule!
• loaded with protein & fiber
• better with time as the spices soak in
• good food source of iron/folic acid/folate

Do you ever feel low on energy?  I verge on being anemic as many women do.  I rarely eat red meat so I really need help from legume sources for iron.  I have learned that taking iron (or folic acid/ferrous sulfate) supplements can help with my iron deficiency-induced anemia to a degree.  However, my dad taught me growing up that eating your vitamins and minerals (vs. taking supplements) is always best.  Kidney beans and black beans are great sources of iron!

Serve it with a slice of warm whole grain bread, a dollop of sour cream or even healthier, nonfat plain yogurt, chives, and shredded light cheese on top.  

Making Slow Cooker Turkey Chili is very easy.  There are essentially 3 steps:

1.  Cook onions, bell pepper, and ground turkey in a skillet

2.  Add canned tomatoes, beans, and corn to the slow cooker – then stir in cooked ground turkey

3.  Add the spices

A little goes a long way with the spices.  In the recipe that follows the chili is on the spicy side.  In fact, my family advised that I put a warning on the recipe.  Suffice it to say that you can easily cut down the heat and spicyness from this recipe by leaving out the cayenne pepper.  Alternatively, if you like it extra hot, throw in a chopped, seeded jalapeno!

Yield: 6

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

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Crockpot Turkey Chili is so easy to throw together and is a healthy and hearty winter soup - loaded with protein, fiber, and iron.  Chili is a stick to your ribs, comfort food that is great for meal prep.  This recipe is made with lean ground turkey.  Make it ahead and enjoy it all week long.  As the spices soak in, it gets better each day.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 5 hours

Total Time 5 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 pound lean ground turkey
• Cooking spray oil
• 2 cans organic kidney beans, drained
• 1 can organic black beans, drained
• 1/8 cup chopped green chilis
• 1 can organic sweet corn, drained
• 1 can chopped tomatoes or jar of your favorite salsa
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste/ketchup
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice or 1/2 a fresh squeezed lemon
• Spices:
• Penzeys Chili 9000 if you can find it! (couple Tablespoons full)
• 3 Tablespoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional! will add heat)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• a dash or two of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt (less if you have salt sensitivity)
• ground pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cook chopped bell pepper and onions in a skillet sprayed with spray oil
2. Cook onions and veggies for about 5 minutes on medium low heat
3. Add ground turkey meat and minced garlic
4. Cook for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned
5. Empty cans of tomatoes, beans (drained), and corn (drained) into crockpot
6. Add cooked ground turkey and veggies to the crockpot bean mixture
7. Set crockpot to high and timer on about 5 hours
8. Stir every hour or so
9. Serve in bowls with dollop of nonfat plain yogurt, chives, and light shredded cheeses

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 483Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 95mgSodium: 1146mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 11gSugar: 9gProtein: 38g