That little slow cooker I got a couple of weeks ago has been amazing! A couple of nights ago, I made a delicious turkey chili with beans in it. It looked like this:
It consisted of ground turkey breast, tomatoes, kidney beans, black beans, onions, green peppers, chili powder, and smoked paprika. I also added some corn kernels – I don’t know if it’s “proper” to put corn into chili (I know a lot of people have strong opinions about whether it’s okay to add beans, too!) but I like the taste and color. When Aaron and I ate our bowls of chili, we added 2% shredded cheddar cheese and some (okay, lots of) reduced-fat sour cream. I sprinkled a few green onions on top for color and crispycrunch.
To make the chili, I made up my own recipe as I went along.
Slow Cooker Turkey Chili Recipe (makes 5-6 servings):
What you need:
- 1 pound ground turkey breast
- 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. canola oil
- 2 cans diced tomatoes (I like petite diced)
- 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels (optional)
- 2 Tbsp. chili powder
- 1 Tbsp. cumin powder
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika
- splash of Tobasco sauce (to taste)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- reduced-fat sour cream, cheese, diced green onions, tobasco sauce, and/or baked corn chips for serving
How to do it:
- Put the tomatoes, kidney beans, black beans, frozen corn kernels, and spices into the slow cooker.
- In a large nonstick skillet, sautee the peppers and onions in the canola oil on medium heat. When the onions are soft, add the ground turkey and continue to cook, breaking the turkey up into small chunks with a spatula or spoon. When the turkey is browned and cooked through, add the turkey, bell pepper, and onion mixture to the crock pot and stir to combine.
- Cook the chili on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 8 hours. Season with salt, pepper, and Tobasco to your taste.
- Serve the chili hot in bowls with cheese, sour cream, green onions, and corn chips (I used Garden of Eatin’ Black Bean Chips) as you wish.
This was another super cheap slow cooker meal. The turkey was about $3, the bell pepper $0.60, the red onion $0.75, the tomatoes $1, the beans $1, the corn $0.50, and the spices and seasonings maybe $0.50. That brings us to $7.35 for the whole pot. Divided by five servings, that’s $1.47 per serving. Add $1 or so for sour cream, cheese, chips, and green onions, and it’s still only $2.47 per serving. Not bad!
If you have lots of leftovers and are tired of eating this chili the same way every time, you could do what I did and make… nachos!
To make the nachos, I just spread some baked Black Bean Chips on a foil-lined, cooking spray sprayed baking sheet and preheated my oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. I spooned the leftover chili on top of the chips and topped them with a handful of sharp cheddar cheese made with 2% milk. I baked the nachos in the hot oven until the cheese was melted and the chips were warm. Then I removed the nachos from the oven and happily crunched into them.