Chunky Turkey Chili Meal Prep

This chunky turkey chili is sooooo easy to make and it tastes so good!! I like my chili to be thick like a stew (not watery!) so if you’re the same way this recipe is for you!

Now just a heads up…this recipe makes A LOT of chili! If you don’t want to be eating chili for at least a week, or you don’t want to put any in the freezer you can split this recipe in half. However, I figure if I’m going to spend any time in the kitchen it makes sense to prepare as much food as possible…so that’s my preference. I also tend to use larger portions, so this recipes makes about 8 portions (2 cups each) but if you want to make smaller portions you can do that too. There are no hard and fast rules here!! This is just the way that *I* choose to make it. 🙂

OK, so first you need your ingredients. Pretty simple stuff here! (Sorry I don’t remember the exact sizes of the cans but they should all be pretty standard!)

Ingredients

• 2 packages lean ground turkey (they should be 1.25 pounds each or thereabouts)
• 1-2 green peppers (depending on how much you like green peppers)
• 1 large onion
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 2 cans petite diced tomatoes (you can find some with chili seasoning already added)
• 2 cans chili beans (I get one mild and one medium since I don’t like my chili too spicy…I’m a wimp!)
• 2 packets of chili seasoning mix (I like low sodium)
• 1 TBS brown sugar (just for fun)

Supplies

1. STORAGE CONTAINERS: Besides ingredients you’ll also need a way to store your chili once it’s prepared. I use 1 quart glass jars, but you certainly don’t need to run out and by those if you don’t have any. Chances are you’re already drowning in plenty of plastic storage containers that will do the job just fine (unless you have an aversion to plastic…and in that case you probably already own glass jars!). I just think glass jars do a better job of keeping food fresh for a longer period of time (plus they look pretty cool all lined up in the refrigerator) so it’s more or less a personal preference.

Did I mention there are no hard and fast rules here?!?

2. LARGE CROCK POT OR STOCK POT: How are we defining “large” here? Well, when it comes to crock pots you’ll need something larger than 4 quarts. I have a standard size crock pot (4 quarts) and imagine my delight the first time I tried to make chili with it using this recipe and I discovered it was too small. 🙁

So instead I just make mine on the stove top in a 9 quart stock pot. If you have anything larger than a 6-7 quart stock pot I think you’ll be just fine!

The directions I’ve posted below are for the stove top, but a crock pot would be pretty much the same thing! If you’re using a crock pot you’ll need to cook up the ground turkey first on the stove top and then put it in the crock pot along with the other ingredients.

Directions

1. The first thing you’ll need to do is cook up the ground turkey (you’ll need a large pan for this obviously).
2. While the ground turkey is cooking, chop up the onion and green pepper(s). You’ll also need to gradually break up the ground turkey as it’s cooking so you don’t have huge chunks of meat…if you’re used to cooking with ground turkey you probably already know that, but I just wanted to make sure. 🙂 When you’re done chopping up the green pepper and onion add them to the ground turkey if there’s room in the pan. If not, just set aside.
3. OK, so here is the most challenging part of this recipe: you’re going to need to open up all these cans! First, start with the tomatoes…crushed, diced, and petite diced. Dump them all (including their juices) inside your stock pot or crock pot. Turn on medium heat.
4. After the tomatoes have been warmed up a bit, you can turn up the heat a little higher and add the beans (along with their juices). Then add the chili seasoning and brown sugar. Now I typically only use 1.5 packets of the chili seasoning and save the extra 1/2 packet for the next time I make chili. Again, I like a milder chili flavor so your taste preferences might be a little different. Feel free to go crazy and use both packets!!
5. If you didn’t add the green peppers and onions to the ground turkey in step #2 go ahead and dump those in with the tomato and bean mixture. Once you’ve got that mixture heated up (it should be boiling slightly) go ahead and add the ground turkey. Mix it all together with a large wooden spoon. I typically let mine simmer for at least 30 minutes. The longer it simmers the better it tastes!

I typically just enjoy the chili just the way it is, but feel free to add whatever toppings you like, or serve with bread and crackers. Just remember if you’re tracking your nutrition for fat loss, you’ll need to track any additional condiments or toppings!

Unfortunately I don’t have calories or macronutrients for this recipe…but I’m working on it! 🙂

Storage

We usually enjoy at least a serving or two before I start packing it up for future meals. Once it cools down a bit, you can use a glass measuring cup to divide it into servings. Another nice thing about glass jars is that they already have different measurements marked on the side, so you don’t even need to use measuring cups. The last time I made this recipe I divided it into 2 cup servings which was kinda big…I think I’ll probably do 1.5 cups next time. This gave us 6 servings which my husband and I easily finished up during the rest of the week.

To re-heat the chili I took the metal lid off first (important!!) and put the jar in the microwave on high for 1 minute. After that I was able to easily pour the chili into a bowl, and then I heated the bowl for another 2 minutes.

I tell ya, it’s SO much easier to eat healthy when you can just grab something out of the frig that’s all ready to go!!

If you’d like to give this recipe a try go ahead and use the social media icons below to share it or save for future reference!!

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