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I couldn’t think of a better recipe to kick the month off than this healthy slow cooker turkey and white bean chili. Nothing beats a slowly simmered chili on a cold October day. Made with ground turkey, bell peppers, smoky chipotle peppers, white beans, and served with sharp cheddar cheese and avocado. This bowl of chili is a hearty, healthy and cozy dinner that you can feel good about eating.
Happy October first! It’s the month of all things Halloween and as you can tell from Saturday’s “spooky” Poison Apple Martini I am very, very excited! I love the month of October so much, and I’m looking forward to all that is to come!
I spent the weekend finally getting caught up with work. And while I’m still not where I’d like to be, I am entering the month feeling a little more on top of things and a little more confident. It feels good. My goal for this month is just to take things one day at a time. In an effort to not feel like I’m being pulled in a million different directions, I also want to focus my energy on one project at a time. I put my new mantra into practice over the weekend and so far so good. Fingers crossed I can’t stick with this. My mom always says it’s best to take things one day at a time, so I’m listening to her words of wisdom. After all, it’s true what they say, moms know best.
No real reason in sharing all that, other than a little positive Monday pep talk for us all…
Ok, I’ll go back to writing about what I am good at now, the food.
How much do you guys love chili?
It’s always been one of my favorites come the fall, but growing up the only chili I ever knew was Cincinnati style chili. If you’ve never experienced Cincinnati chili, it’s just a thicker chili served over angel hair pasta. It is my mom’s favorite. To this day, the only way she will eat chili is over pasta and topped with cheddar. The only way…so yes, when I gave the family this chili to try, she indeed ate it over pasta.
Anyway, point is, I didn’t grow up eating bowls of chili. So making a soupy style chili feels like something completely new and different to me. I’ll always love Cincinnati chili, but I also love today’s healthier chili probably just as much.
On to the details…
To start, you’ll want to brown the ground turkey on the stove-top. You can also use ground chicken, both will work equally great. I know that this extra step is a bit of a pain, but trust me, when working with ground meat it’s a step you have to take. On that note, I recently got a slow cooker that can also brown meat before you begin slow cooking. It’s a game-changer. I highly recommend investing in an all in one browning slow cooker if you love slow cooking.
Brown the meat, add all the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and set for six or so hours. Then come home to the most delicious smells and dinner that’s ready for eating. Does not get better than that.
To bump up the flavors of my chili, I used a mix of chipotle chili peppers, chili powder, and my secret ingredient, apple butter. I know it may seem weird to use apple butter in chili, but the sweetness balances out the spice of the chili. Go with me on this, promise it takes the chili to a who would have known delicious level.
Finish each bowl off with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese, sliced avocado, and green onions. AND serve with the 5 Ingredient Honey Butter Beer Bread from the cookbook. A bowl of chili is not complete without beer bread.
Also, while I am providing you guys with Instant Pot directions, I much prefer this recipe to be made in the slow cooker if time allows. No matter how much pressure cooking you do, nothing will be the same as slow cooking a chili all day long. It gives the chili time to develop flavor and creates the most wonderful smells throughout your house.
I highly recommend making this for Sunday night dinner and then enjoying the leftovers throughout the week. Perfection.
If you make this Healthy Slow Cooker Turkey and White Bean Chili, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Healthy Slow Cooker Turkey and White Bean Chili
Servings: 8
Calories Per Serving: 849 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 small yellow onions, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 2 pounds ground turkey or chicken
- 2 red peppers, seeded and chopped
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, finely chopped (use 1 pepper for less heat)
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2-3 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 can (28 ounce) crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon apple butter
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 can (14 ounce) white beans, drained
- cheddar cheese, avocado, green onions, and cilantro for serving
Instructions
Slow Cooker
- 1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and cook about 5 minutes or until it begins to caramelize around the edges. Stir in the garlic and cook another minute. Add the turkey and brown all over, breaking up the meat as you go, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat.2. Transfer the turkey to the bowl of your slow cooker. Add in the red bell peppers, chipotle peppers, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in 2 cups chicken broth, the tomatoes, tomato paste, apple butter, and bay leaves, stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. During the last hour of cooking, stir in the beans. If your chili is too thick, add the remaining broth to thin as desired. 3. Remove the bay leaves and ladle the chili into bowls. Top with cheddar cheese, avocado, and green onions. Eat!
Instant Pot
- 1. Set the instant pot to sauté. Add the olive oil and onion and cook about 5 minutes or until it begins to caramelize around the edges. Stir in the garlic and cook another minute. Add the turkey and brown all over, breaking up the meat as you go, about 5 minutes. Turn the instant pot off.2. Add in the red bell peppers, chipotle peppers, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in 2 cups chicken broth, the tomatoes, tomato paste, apple butter, and bay leaves, stir to combine. Cover and cook on soup/chili for 25 minutes.3. Once done cooking, use the quick release and release the steam. Stir in the beans. Remove the bay leaves and ladle the chili into bowls. Top with cheddar cheese, avocado, and green onions. Eat!
So good! The apple butter really makes!
Thank you so so much for trying out the recipe! Have an amazing week! 🙂 xT
Just wondering why (I’m the slow cooker method), you recommend storing in the beans for the last hour only? I have always added the beans at the beginning for all my chillies. I actually add the red pepper in the last hour (so the peppers are not too mushy).
Hi Tammie! I just like to add them in at the end so they don’t get too mushy or anything! xT
This is my favorite chili recipe and I’ve made it lots of times! Super easy, love a crock pot meal! Delicious with sour cream and fritos on top 🙂
Hi Kelly,
Fantastic!! So glad to hear that this recipe was a hit, thanks for making it:)
Making this right now and realized I don’t have apple butter. 🙁
Hi Emily,
You can skip the apple butter, should be just fine! Let me know how this recipe turns out, I hope it’s delish! xT
I make this chili once a week during winter and have a bowl for lunch. It is delicious. I add white, black and pinto beans. Sometimes I swap smoked paprika for sweet.
Hey Deb,
Happy Wednesday!! Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it was tasty! xx
I made this in the instant pot. I was feeling lazy and needed something incredibly easy to cook. This was perfect.
Hey Djienne,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for trying this recipe, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! Have a great weekend:)
Hi Tegan, I absolutely LOVE this chili recipe. I’m really into meal prepping and was so excited when my MIL made this recipe for me when we visited. When I asked her about the macros, she showed me that your recipe says an estimated 849kcal per serving! I nearly died of sticker shock! I’m curious as to why your calorie estimate is so high on this chili, it seems like it would be much lower than that given there is no sugar, pasta or potatoes etc. Are you counting the suggested cheese and guacamole toppings? Because she didn’t use the cheese, guacamole or apple butter and used 98% lean turkey and overall seems pretty healthy. If it were 849kcal per serving, that would be 351 calories short my daily intake of calories for one bowl of chili. Is there something I’m missing here? Hope to hear back!
Hey Julianna,
I always recommend that if the nutritional information is important to you, you use your own personal calculator. Ours is automatic and controlled by google. It’s not something we’d prefer to be using. We are required to. I’m sorry for the trouble, we do our best! Let me know if I can help in any other way! xT
Incredibly simple, well-designed recipe. Lots of flavour and texture in the chili with minimal effort and ingredients. Only change I made was to halve the amount of ground turkey because our household likes more vegetables and legumes. So I did 1 lb ground turkey, the can of white beans, and a scoop of dry lentils. Added the lentils at the beginning of the cook since they needed time to hydrate and soften. Worked out well. The apple butter was my favourite surprise! Perfect sweetener for this.
Hey Emily,
Happy Wednesday!! ❄️ I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xT
This recipe is a go-to in our household! Best chili ever! Question – if I wanted to make this and freeze it, how should I do that?
Hey Kayla,
Happy Sunday!🌾🌽 I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for making it and sharing your feedback! I would just freeze after making:) xx
Yum! I didn’t have apple butter, so I added a splash of apple cider vinegar, a little honey and diced up a half of any apple to simmer in. Loved the tiny bites of sweetness mixed with the smokey and spicy flavors. I think I’d add a whole apple diced next time. Great chili!! I paired it with corn bread and honey butter.
Hey Sherri,
Happy Tuesday!! Thanks a lot for making this recipe and sharing your feedback, I love to hear that it turned out tasty for you! xT
I added the beans to the slow cooker up front with the rest of everything! Oh no.. just now seeing it says to add at the end. I’m only 10mins into the slow cooking. Do you think it’ll be ruined?
Hi Jamie,
It should be okay:) I hope you love the recipe, let me know how it turns out! xx
Loved this chili recipe! I omitted the chipotle peppers only because I was serving it to our 1 and 4 yr old also. Everyone loved this & ate it right up! Added more broth & another lb of Turkey to make 2 dinners out of it for our family of 5.
Hey Molly,
Happy Friday!!🌻 I am so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for trying it and sharing your review:) xT
Can’t wait to try! Can I add the raw ground turkey to the slow cooker without browning it first? Or do I have to cook it on the stovetop first before slow cooker step?
Thank you!!
Hey Presley,
You will want to follow the instructions as written:) Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope it turns out tasty! xT
Can I make this on the stoves top?
Hey Lizzy,
Totally, that will work well for you, maybe just simmer for 2-3 hours! I hope this recipe turns out tasty, please let me know if you give it a try! xT
Followed the recipe to a T (just 1 adobo Chile). And of course I had apple butter (because HBH). My 19m old daughter kicked the plate clean:) we did the instapot version.
Licked *
Hey Jacqueline,
Wonderful!! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks so much for giving it a try! xx
I plan to make this recipe for the weekend. I’m going to use Impossible meat, leave out the adobo peppers, add a little apple cider instead of butter, and use 2 cans of beans. I hope I don’t wreck it!
Sounds like a great idea Anne! I hope you love the recipe, let me know how it turns out! xT