Crockpot Turkey Chili
A delicious and easy Crockpot turkey chili recipe. Perfect for those nights when you want dinner ready as soon as you get home!
I’m back with another delicious and easy Crockpot recipe for you all! It all started with this Crockpot apple butter and now this Crockpot turkey chili! My Crockpot has been getting some major use lately and I’m definitely not complaining. I’m just praying that my Crockpot has a lot of life left in it because I foresee a lot of this ground turkey chili over the next few months.
In my opinion, there’s really nothing better than coming home to a dinner that’s already warm and waiting for you in the Crockpot. I’ve been making Crockpot turkey chili for a couple of years now and absolutely love it. The only prep work you have to do with this chili is to cook the onion and ground turkey ahead of time.
This chili is delicious topped with a little cheese and served with a side of cornbread. Or if you’re like my husband, put it on top of a big pile of Fritos.
Ingredients in This Recipe
This is a simple turkey chili recipe with minimal ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make this healthy Crockpot chili:
- Ground turkey: I prefer using lean ground turkey in this recipe. Ground beef or chicken can also be used.
- White onion: Adds flavor. No chili recipe is complete without it!
- Bell pepper: Use any color you’d like. I used a red bell pepper since that’s what I had on hand.
- Tomatoes: I used a blend of tomato sauce and canned diced tomatoes in this recipe.
- Beans: I used black beans and kidney beans, but use whatever you’d like.
- Spices: I flavored this slow cooker turkey chili with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
How to Make Crockpot Turkey Chili
To make this ground turkey chili, first sauté the onion in an oiled skillet and cook until softened. Then, add in the ground turkey and brown.
Add the ground turkey and onion to your Crockpot, then add the remaining ingredients. Cover with lid and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 to 7 hours.
What Size Crockpot Should I Use?
This recipe will completely fill a 3-quart Crockpot, but I typically use a 5-quart Crockpot to make it.
Stovetop Instructions
Brown the ground turkey and onion as directed in a stockpot, then add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about one hour.
Cooking Tips
- I prefer to cook the turkey the night before and then throw all of the ingredients into the Crockpot on my lunch break. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
- This recipe is incredibly versatile. Not a fan of black beans? Switch them out for another kind you like! Don’t like ground turkey? Swap it out for some lean ground beef instead.
- I highly recommend lining your Crockpot with a Crockpot liner to make cleanup easier!
More Easy Dinner Recipes to Try!
Crockpot Turkey Chili
Ingredients
- 1.25 pounds lean ground turkey (or lean ground beef)
- 1 small white onion , diced
- 1 bell pepper , chopped
- 1 (29 oz.) can tomato sauce
- 1 (15 oz.) can black beans rinsed and drained
- 1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans rinsed and drained
- 1 (14.5 oz.). can diced tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper , to taste
Instructions
- Prepare Crockpot by spraying well with cooking spray or lining with a Crockpot liner.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add diced onion to the skillet and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the ground turkey to the skillet and cook until it is browned, making sure to break it up as you cook it.
- Add the turkey and onion to the bottom of the Crockpot. Add the remaining ingredients on top and stir well to combine.
- Cover with lid and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 to 7 hours.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Made this a bunch of times, only change is I add another can of kidney beans and a 4 ounce can of chili peppers. Always delicious!
I love this recipe and have made it a bunch of times! It’s great! I was wondering if you had an instant pot version?
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Arlene! I don’t have an instant post version, but if I ever do test it in an instant pot I’ll be sure to update the recipe notes.
This is the Best Crockpot Turkey Chili. I make it a lot and freeze the leftovers for quick meals through the year. Had a Chili Cook off at our campground last year and out of 25 different chilies, I won first place with this recipe. I usually double it and only put in one can of black beans instead of two. This is sure a 5 star recipe.
I’m making this tomorrow and am wondering what I can do to make it a little bit more spicy?! more chili powder or cayenne?
You could add some cayenne. I would just start with a small amount, then add more as needed.
Have you tried the recipe just cooking it in a pot on the stove? Do you think the cooking time would be hugely adjusted?
I haven’t tried it, but I imagine that would be fine. You would definitely need to cut down on the cooking time quite a bit though.
This was amazing! My family loves it. Thank you!
Where do you buy 1.25 lbs of turkey?
You can find 20-ounce packages of ground turkey in the meat section.
This chili turned out a bit too tomato-ey for my tastebuds as i sometimes get heartburn from them. Can i add perhaps some sour cream and canned cream style corn to sweeten it up a bit and tone down the heavy tomato taste?
It really just depends on your personal preference. You could stir some into a small serving and see how it tastes first.
Great chili! My entire family loved it, even my dad who is very picky!
THANK YOU-
Jackie
That is so wonderful to hear, Jackie!
Hi! Looks so yummy. My crockpot is either 4 hours (high) or 8 hours (low). Do you suggest turning it off when it gets to 3 or can it be in for the full 4 hours?
Hi, Emily! 4 hours on high should be fine.
After using this recipe in the crockpot for two years, I finally tried it in my relatively new pressure cooker. Converted seamlessly! 15 minutes instead of 6 hours–done before the cornbread!
Glad to hear that, Jason! I’ve been wanting to get an instant pot, I may need to try that out!
Hi Danielle.
This recipe sounds great and was wondering if it would work in a 4 quart slow cooker? It seems like it might or does it pretty much fill up a 6 quart one?
Thanks.
Hi, Irene! I think that it might fit in a 4 quart slow cooker. If not, you can always simmer it on the stove for a little while instead 🙂
Since chilli is one of those meals made for tayloring to your own liking I was glad to find your recipe which I found simple and easy to put together. I did how ever on the tayloring note add a half can of garbanzo beans and no salt added sweet corn each and since I like a little spice 1/2 tbsp of cayenne pepper was added too. Very tasty recipe. I will surly use it again as a base to my tayloring ☺ Thanks!
Those adjustments sound great, Chris! I may need to try that out next time I make this recipe! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Danielle. New follower here! I have a question, is there only 4 oz of ground turkey in this recipe?
You’ll need 1 and 1/4 pounds of ground turkey (1.25 pounds) or 20 ounces for this recipe 🙂
Well, I feel stupid. lol I figured that shortly after I asked the question, but thanks. Do we drain the onions and ground turkey after cooking them?
Yes, I always do before adding them to the crockpot. I’ll update the recipe to include that!
I didn’t do that and it turned out fine. It was very tasty. My mom tried it and she scraped the bowl clean. Good job!
So glad to hear everyone enjoyed the chili!
How spicy is this? Have some picky kids who won’t want to eat if too spicy.
Thanks!
Hi, Sarah! In my opinion, it’s not very hot or spicy. If you’re worried about it, you can use less spices and then add more to your preference. Hope that helps!
This was a great recipe!!
Thank you, Lisa! So glad you liked the recipe 🙂
I know this says that it serves 6, but do you know the actual serving size?
Hi, Ted! I usually don’t measure out an exact amount for each portion, but it’s always plenty enough to serve 6 people. The next time I make a batch though, I’ll measure out the serving size and update the recipe!
Thank you. I put everything I eat into MyFitnessPal and it asks for serving sizes.
Hi Danielle, I can’t wait to make this in my crock pot soon! My co-worker made it recently and absolutely loved it. The only thing is I’m not a big fan of kidney beans. I was thinking about either doubling up on the black beans or substituting the kidney beans with pinto beans.
What would you suggest?
That’s wonderful to hear, Andrea! You can certainly replace the kidney beans with another bean, doubling the black beans or using pinto beans would work great!
This was wonderful! My son is recently interested in cooking and we wanted to start with a simple recipe. We didn’t have enough tomato sauce so we added a small can of tomato paste and increased the spices just a bit. I will be making this many times over the next few months!
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the chili, Crystal! And how fun that your son is interested in cooking, this is definitely a good recipe to start with! 🙂
Look, I was raised on my mom’s beef and bean chili and never thought I would be able to replicate anything like it once the doctor told me to stop eating beef. This chili has the same richness with turkey! I added an extra cup of water to mine since my slow cooker is old as sin and needed the extra liquid to burn off over night, otherwise I got heavy handed with the chili powder because I love spice!
For the record, this is a bit tomato-y so if you don’t like that kind of base, maybe substitute out one of the tomato ingredients for chicken broth or something else to add depth. Other than that–big fan–will definitely be making again!
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed the chili, LB! And it’s definitely a bit tomato-y, so the chicken broth is a wonderful suggestion for other readers. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I love the flavor of this but when my hubby made this the first time my mouth and everyone in the houses mouth was on fire. And this coming from hispanic family who eat very spicy foods. We must have just picked up a extra spicy chili powder. We only put in 1/2 a tablespoon give or take now and it has just the right kick.
So sorry to hear that, Michelle! Do you know what kind of chili powder you used? I just use regular chili powder and haven’t had any issues with it being too spicy. I am glad you were able to adjust it with the chili powder you have on hand to your preference though 🙂
I had the same problem, but discovered that ground chipotle (chili} is not at all the same as chili powder…lol. Chili powder is apparently a blend of spices like oregano, cumin, garlic, and some small percentage of ground up chili .
A fabulous recipe once I followed correctly. Thank you.
One other thing to add: mine turned out quite salty, even though I didn’t add any salt. Next time I’m going to try and find canned sauce and beans that are lower sodium. Thought that tip might be helpful to anyone wanting to try this recipe.
So sorry to hear that! I always make sure to rinse the beans really well before I add them too. Using beans and sauce with lower sodium the next time you make it will definitely help with that as well. Thanks for sharing, Jade 🙂
Just made this chili and it turned out great! I chose this recipe because it was pretty simple (not too many ingredients or steps), but I was a bit concerned it would turn out bland or without enough “substance”, but it was flavourful and hearty even though it is a simple recipe. Thanks! Ate mine with cheddar cheese and tortilla chips 🙂
So glad to her you enjoyed the recipe, Jade! Sometimes simple recipes are the best 🙂
I have a stovetop recipe I usually make that’s similar, but has a lot more spices – 5 tsp chili powder, 5 tsp brown sugar, some cumin, coriander, oregano – could this recipe be made with those additions or would the spices get too concentrated and intense?
Hey Lisa! Since I haven’t tried it, I can’t say for sure. If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out! 🙂
Hey Danielle, what serving size are you basing that 325 calories on? 2 cups? Thanks!
Hi Jason! It’s for 1/6th of the recipe, I usually just portion it out into 6 equal size servings.
I made this yesterday and it was AMAZING! I doubled the peppers and added two diced carrots. Perfection!! Thank you!
Love the idea of adding diced carrots! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Brandi 🙂
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! I always wondered where my mom got her amazing chili from, then she showed me this site to make it. I know her secret now! This is really easy to make and my parents and I love it. I’m making it again right now as we speak for dinner. 🙂
Thank you for the kind comment, Elizabeth! I’m so happy to hear that your family loves the recipe! I make this for dinner often, so it’s great to hear when others enjoy it as well 🙂
I made a double batch of this yesterday. Filled my crock pot right to the top (so I started it off on high for 3 hours). The family LOVED it! Plenty of leftovers packed in the freezer! Thank you!
So happy to hear your family loved it, Ginna! This makes great leftovers too, we love it 🙂
Thank you for this recipe! I made this last night and added a pinch of cayenne as well as about 6-8 pickled jalapenos. I also substituted the garlic powder with garlic salt instead and used diced tomatoes with peppers in a can. It came out amazing (according to my fiance)! I have yet to try it but I did taste a little and it had the right amount of kick to it, which I like. Can’t wait to scarf it all down at lunch today. =)
So glad to hear that he loved the recipe, hope you enjoyed it too! I love the idea of adding the jalapeños, definitely need to give that a try next time!
Hi. Even though it’s summertime here in NYC, I was craving some chili. I followed your recipe exactly. My husband loved it. I even gave some to my daycare children. They also loved it. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe.
I’m so happy to hear everyone enjoyed the chili, Tevolia! I love to make this chili year round, even during the summer 🙂
I can’t say enough about this recipe!!! It is wonderful!!! I am not much of a cook, however, I love this so much that I have passed this out to co workers and honestly even told people about this recipe whenever health comes up. I am a school nurse teacher and honestly no one student or person that has made this has only had fantastic things to say about it!!! I melt cheddar cheese on tostitos chips then apply the chili on top. It makes a great snack too!
Thank you, Patty! So glad to hear that everyone enjoys the recipe!
What size of crock pot does the chili recipe fill up
It will completely fill a 3-quart crockpot, I typically use a 5-quart crockpot to make it though.
Can I double this recipe and does it change the slow cooking time? Thank you. 🙂
Hi Christine! I haven’t tried doubling it, but I think it would work if your crockpot is large enough. I would cook it the same amount of time as stated in the recipe, then check it and see if you need to let it cook just a bit longer. Hope you enjoy the recipe!