Put Your Leftovers to Good Use With This White Bean Turkey Chili

Looking for a recipe with minimal prep that can be made with just a few ingredients? Or a way to use up those turkey leftovers from your Thanksgiving feast? Then this one’s for you!

For such a theoretically simple dish, there seems to be a never-ending debate over how to make the best chili.

Ground meat or pulled poultry, three types of beans or no beans, beer, chocolate, jalapenos, cumin, smoked or sweet paprika, diced tomatoes – the list of options and suitable alternatives goes on and on.

And just as the ingredient list can get complicated, so can the cooking methods.

While I’ll never turn down a bowl of Colorado-style hatch green chili, making it involves multiple steps, and getting the timing just right in order to hit just the right flavor notes.

Tasty? Yes. Easy to make on a weeknight? Absolutely not.

Instead, we’re putting all those fancy, contest-ready recipes away and making a super simple, classic chili for dinner tonight.

It may not be award-winning (though I’m sure busy moms and dads would disagree), but this recipe is everything chili really should be: packed with texture, slightly spicy and smoky, with minimal hands-on time required.

Plus, if you’re looking to eat healthier, but feel like it takes too much time and is too expensive, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by this recipe.

Thanks to the turkey and hearty beans, this recipe is high in protein and fiber, while being low in fat and calories. However, if you want to make it a little more indulgent, feel free to sprinkle on some cheese and avocado slices.

And those tomatoes? Besides being the backbone of any good chili recipe, they also provide a healthy dose of potassium, vitamin C, folate, and vitamin K.

Oh, and they happen to be one of the best dietary sources of an antioxidant called lycopene. Responsible for the tomato’s classic red color, lycopene has been shown to help improve cholesterol levels, protect against heart disease, and it may even help to reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

To add a little extra smoky flavor, I used fire-roasted diced tomatoes – but feel free to use regular diced tomatoes if that’s what you already have on hand!

Okay, so now that we have the nutrition piece covered, let’s talk about actually making this bowl of warm goodness.

As long as you can open a few cans, dice an onion, and pour some ingredients into a soup pot, you’re ready to go!

Sure, there’s also the step of sauteing the onion and garlic in oil to add extra depth of flavor. But as long as you don’t mind a little multitasking, the onion and garlic will become pleasantly fragrant while the broth comes to a boil.

Once everything is in the soup pot, you can step back, letting it bubble away while you get some other stuff done around the house. Or, sit and catch up on your latest binge-worthy show. I’ll leave that decision up to you.

Whether you’re a busy parent, an on-the-go professional, or trying to feed a crowd, this chili is your answer when you’re figuring out what you should make for dinner tonight, and there’s some leftover turkey in the fridge!

White Bean Turkey Chili

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• Author: Kelli McGrane
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

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Description

Made with leftover poultry and a handful of pantry ingredients, white bean turkey chili is a healthy, budget-friendly meal.

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Ingredients

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• 2 cups homemade or low-sodium turkey or chicken stock
• 2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes (preferably fire-roasted)
• 2 14.5-oz cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 teaspoon canola oil 
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups cooked shredded turkey
• 1 tablespoon chili powder 
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Salt, to taste (optional)
• Toppings of choice, such as cheese, sour cream, or avocado slices

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Instructions

1. Place stock, tomatoes, and beans in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a low boil. 
2. In a small saute pan, heat oil over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Transfer onion and garlic to soup pot. 
3. Add turkey, chili powder, cumin, paprika, and black pepper to soup pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. 
4. Taste and adjust seasonings before serving. Ladle chili into bowls and serve with toppings of choice.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Category: Chili
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: Stew

Keywords: chili, turkey, white bean, tomato, spices

Cooking By the Numbers…

Step 1 – Prep and Measure Ingredients

Measure out all of your ingredients, and dice the yellow onion. Mince the garlic, or push it through your garlic press.

Note that shredded chicken can be substituted for the turkey. Got a rotisserie bird from the store, or a few extra grilled breasts from last night’s dinner? Leftovers are perfect for this recipe, or to use in our other poultry-based recipe for slow cooker white chicken chili.

For extra smoky flavor, I like to use fire roasted canned diced tomatoes. If you don’t have any, check your spice rack for smoked paprika for a flavorful addition!

Step 2 – Bring Stock to a Simmer

Place the stock, tomatoes, and beans in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a low boil.

Step 3 – Cook

In a small saute pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and garlic.

Cook until the onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Transfer onion and garlic to the soup pot.

Add the turkey, chili powder, cumin, paprika, and black pepper to the soup pot and bring to a rapid boil. Once it’s boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

Want another way to cook this recipe? Learn how to make chili like this one in the pressure cooker!

Step 4 – Adjust Seasonings and Serve

Taste and adjust seasonings before serving. Add a little salt if you like, or feel free to omit it entirely.

Ladle chili into bowls and serve with toppings of your choice. Some of my favorites include sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, shredded cheese, diced jalapenos, avocado slices, cilantro, or a squeeze of lime juice.

While leftovers will keep for 5 days in the fridge, I prefer to freeze this chili in single-serving portions for easy lunches or dinners when you don’t have the energy to run to the grocery store on a busy evening.

Leftovers will keep for up to 3-4 months in the freezer.

About Kelli McGrane, MS, RD

Kelli McGrane is a Denver-based registered dietitian with a lifelong love of food. She holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in nutrition science from Boston University. As a registered dietitian, she believes in the importance of food to nourish not only your body, but your soul as well. Nutrition is very personal, and you won’t find any food rules here, other than to simply enjoy what you eat.

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