In the winter, I am always happy to make chili. It is an easy, satisfying dinner and we normally have leftovers. You can make chili quickly on the stovetop or throw the cooked meat and other ingredients in a slow-cooker to eat later.
This chili can be made with ground beef or ground turkey and your preference of beans. For my family, I tend to make it with ground turkey and I buy the 2.5 pound pack at BJ’s and split it into thirds and freeze. That’s a little less than a whole pound for a meal, but I find that I don’t really need a whole pound of meat for my family and it makes meat stretch across more meals. I also usually make chili with kidney beans as they are a great source of antioxidants.
Another one of my cooking hacks is to have a jar of minced garlic to be able to easily add it to meals. A teaspoonful of minced garlic is about equal to a clove of garlic. In chili, some people cook with stewed tomatoes but I like petite diced tomatoes. If I need a bigger batch of chili, I’ll add a second can. My family also likes it if I cook half a box of elbow macaroni for them to mix into their chili. You can also have crackers, cheese and sour cream to add. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Half of a white onion, diced
Clove of minced garlic
1 lb ground turkey
1 can tomato sauce
1 can kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
Chili seasoning
Chili Seasoning
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
salt
pepper
Directions
- Heat pan on low with olive oil. Dice half of a white onion and add to the pan. After 5 minutes, add a clove of minced garlic for 30 seconds.
- Add 1 pound of ground turkey to the pan. Add half of chili seasoning. Brown and drain.
- Add tomato sauce to pan and mix. Simmer. (If you use a cast iron pan, the acidic tomato sauce will absorb iron from the pan.)
- Drain and wash kidney beans. Add beans and diced tomatoes to a large pot on the stovetop or a crockpot if you want to let it cook for a while. Add the other half of the chili seasoning and stir.
- Add meat sauce to the pot or crockpot and stir. Simmer on stovetop for 15 minutes or cook in crockpot on high for 30 min or up to 3 hours.
