Ground Turkey Chili

So there is a recipe for chili already here, made with ground beef.  It's very simple and quick, and tastes great.  But now that I am trying to choose low cholesterol options for me and my family, I decided to change that recipe just a tiny bit to make it with ground turkey instead.  There's not a ton of changes made, but enough to bump up the flavor just enough so my husband doesn't miss the beef too much. It's lower in fat, and because it is poultry it's lower in cholesterol, and overall it's a pretty healthy option. It's also mild and pleases everyone, so it's kid friendly and great for the whole family.


You can serve it with cornbread if you like, but tonight I decided to just make it by itself.  I thought about it and realized that the chili really has plenty of carbohydrates in it already without the cornbread, and although I LOVE my cornbread recipe, and chili night doesn't seem to be the same without it, I decided to go without tonight and just eat a normal portion of chili. Maybe some other time I will make cornbread too!

Ground Turkey Chili

1.25 lbs ground turkey (this just seems to be the default size of ground turkey pkgs) you can use ground breast or regular ground turkey, doesn't matter. Turkey breast has less fat, but I used regular tonight.
2 cans rinsed and drained black beans
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans or 4 cups (frozen) corn (frozen is lower in salt) (if canned, undrained, if frozen, add 1 c water)
2 4-oz cans diced green chiles
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tbsp taco seasoning

Brown turkey in a large pot. Add onion powder, garlic powder and about half the chili powder.  Once meat is browned, add in your rinsed beans, tomatoes, corn, and chiles.  Stir everything to combine, and let simmer. Add coriander and taco seasoning and the rest of the chili powder (this part is sort of to taste).

Simmer about 15-20 minutes until everything is combined well and the flavors come together.  You can usually tell it is done by the smell of your kitchen.  Serve hot with your favorite toppings.  You can do grated cheese, sour cream, avocado, tortilla strips, or nothing at all.

Enjoy!

**Note**

You can make your own black beans and use frozen corn and fresh tomatoes or low sodium tomatoes to reduce the salt in this recipe.  Canned veggies are convenient but they do add salt that we are often unaware of. The beans have usually less salt after rinsing them, but doing them yourself would still make a difference. Make sure though if you are using frozen corn that you add the extra water I was talking about, to make sure you have enough liquid in the pot to create the desired consistency. By adding spices and onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder, you get flavor without adding a lot of salt. You do need a little salt, but not nearly as much as you'd think.