Slow Cooker Turkey Chili is a hearty, healthy bowl of goodness that cooks in the slow cooker all day long and is a guaranteed weeknight dinner winner.
The slow cooker / crockpot is a great tool for cooking chili because its low temperatures and long cook times allow all of the flavors to develop. And there's nothing quite as satisfying as coming home to dinner that has cooked all day, is ready to serve, and leaves only one dish to clean. It's super and easy and just takes a few minutes to prep. This hearty, protein-packed slow cooker turkey chili recipe has been one of my most popular recipes since I first shared it in 2016.
This post has been updated with new tips and a new freezer label in the recipe card below. But it is still the same recipe that many of you know and love! And if you haven't tried it, I can't wait for you to give it a try.
Ingredients
- Ground Turkey - Slow cooker turkey chili can be made with any ground meat as a substitute. Try it with ground beef or ground chicken. If you use ground beef or ground pork, drain it well before adding it to the slow cooker.
- Dried Spices - Use classic dried spices in this chili - chili powder and ground cumin. I look for a more mild chili powder so that I can add more spice if I want. I love McCormick chili powder which is very mild.
- Onion and Garlic - Chopped onion and garlic add a lot of flavor as they cook.
- Sweet Potatoes - These add nutrition and a subtly sweet flavor to the chili. They will soften significantly in the slow cooker and will start to sort of melt into the finished dish.
- Uncooked Quinoa - It will seem like a small amount to add to the chili, but the quinoa will expand as it cooks and will give the chili a rich, thick texture.
- Fire-Roasted Diced Tomatoes and Tomato Sauce - The combination of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce form a base with great texture and flavor. Be sure to look fore "fire-roasted" diced tomatoes because they have the best flavor.
- Black Beans - Even more protein and texture to add to your slow cooker turkey chili.
- Stock - You'll need a small amount of chicken or vegetable stock for the quinoa to absorb as it cooks.
How to Make Chili in the Slow Cooker
- Chop vegetables and aromatics - Chop onions, garlic, and sweet potatoes.
- Saute turkey with spices - In a skillet, brown the turkey with onions, garlic, and dried spices until cooked through and fragrant.
- Slow cook - Combine turkey, sweet potatoes, beans, tomatoes, chicken stock, and quinoa in a 6-quart slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
- Ladle chili into bowls and add toppings!
Make Ahead / Freezer Friendly Chili
There is some magic that happens when you make chili ahead of time that means it tastes better a day or two after making it. In this case, you can slow cook the whole batch early in the week, or load up the slow cooker on Sunday night (pre-cook the turkey as outlined in Step #1 in that case) and just start it cooking first thing Monday or Tuesday morning.
And bonus that this freezes well too. Be sure to print the freezer label in the recipe card below and add it to our list of favorite freezer meals!
Yes. Ground chicken or beef work well in this recipe. If using ground beef, use a lean ground beef.
Usually ground turkey just needs more spices in order to taste more meaty and flavorful. This recipe works well because it is absolutely packed with flavorful spices and herbs, but you can even increase the dried spices if you'd like.
In addition to classic toppings like sour cream, green onions, and tortilla chips, try serving turkey chili with cornbread or baked potatoes.
Turkey chili is lighter in calories when compared to versions made with beef. This recipe also includes healthy quinoa, sweet potatoes, and beans.
More Slow Cooker Recipes
- Slow Cooker Classic Beef Chili
- Slow Cooker Corn Chowder
- Slow Cooker Chicken Carnitas
- Slow Cooker Puttanesca with Beef
- Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili
- Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
- And one Instant Pot recipe too - Instant Pot Potato Leek Soup
Favorite Tools
Slow Cooker Turkey Chili Recipe
Equipment
- Skillet
- 6-quart Slow Cooker
Ingredients
For Chili:
- 1 Tablespoon Oil
- 1 ½ pound Lean Ground Turkey
- 2 Tablespoons Chili Powder
- 2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 1 cup Diced Red Onion
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 pound Sweet Potatoes, cubed
- ¼ cup Uncooked Quinoa
- 1 15 ounce can Fire-Roasted Diced Tomatoes
- 1 15 ounce can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15 ounce can Tomato Sauce (or tomato "puree")
- 1 cup Low-Sodium Chicken or Vegetable Stock
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
Optional Toppings:
- Shredded Cheese
- Tortilla Chips
- Sour Cream
- Cilantro or Chopped Green Onions
Instructions
- Pre-Cook Turkey: (Do this up to 3 days in advance and refrigerate the turkey until you're ready to start the slow cooker.) Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic and saute until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add turkey, chili powder and cumin and continue cooking until turkey crumbles and is no longer pink, about 8 minutes.
- Slow Cook Chili: Combine cooked turkey and all remaining ingredients (through the toppings). Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve with your favorite toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
The original photo of this recipe from 2016.
Katie Motta
Looks yummy but aren't you missing the chili powder? I'd like to make this on the weekend - please let me know if you make chili without chili powder, or if you just forgot it on ingredient list. Thanks!
Jess
Katie - you are spot on! Thanks so much for your note. The recipe is correct now. We recently moved all of our recipes into a new format and have found one or two ingredients that were improperly formatted in the process. Thanks again!
Kristina
We had this for dinner last night! The kids were devouring the chili and the look on their faces was priceless when I told them thanks for eating quinoa (they hate it). I added more beans and put my twist on the spices but this gave me a good start.
Jess
Love that Kristina! So glad that even the kids liked it - they're always our toughest (and best!) critics!
Ellen Mercer
Doubled this recipe and brought it to a potluck. There was not a drop left at the end of the day!
Thank you for such a wonderful recipe.
Naomi Davis
OMG!!! My first time making homemade chili, and it is amazing!!! I don't even need toppings 🙂
Jess
Awesome Naomi! I'm so glad you liked it! Definitely one of our favorites!! Thanks so much for letting us know.
Chelsea
This chili has become a staple in our house! We are obsessed over it! I even entered it into a chili competition at work and it placed third out of 10 - amazing for an office that isn't keen on healthy food! Thanks again for sharing this amazing chili!
Jess
Yay! We're so glad to hear that and congratulations on the third place win! How fun!!!
The Fife Life
This is AMAZING!!!! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! we loved it!!
Jess
YAY! So glad you liked it, Jessica! So easy and healthy, right? This is one of my favorites. Actually...need to make a batch to tuck away in the freezer before our baby girl comes - thanks for the reminder!
Andrea
Was looking for something different than some of the same old bland turkey chili recipes out there. This looked so flavorful and healthy that I had to try it. So glad we did - we absolutely love it. I made this in my instant pot in less than 1 hour for prep and cook. As a mom of a Type 1 diabetic, I especially love the added nutritional information and carb counts with your recipe. THANK YOU!!
Janet
Delicious! I made it exactly as written and it didn't need anything more. I'm so glad to find a recipe that used all the ingredients I had on hand. Simple and very filling too. I'll absolutely make this again!
Jess
I'm so glad you liked it, Janet! This is one of our favorites, and so satisfying when the weather starts getting cold!
we're caught in a trap and i can't walk out
This looks and sounds delicious, and its crocking away as I type this. And at 380 calories per serving? I am on board!
Except 3/4 cup is hardly what I'd call a dinner-sized serving, much less a super-satisfying serving, and the bowl depicted in the picture is definitely larger than 3/4 cup. Looking at the crock, the whole batch it also looks to be more than 4 1/2 cups total (6 -3/4 cup servings). Was that a typo? Miscalculation? I'm asking because I saw the bowl in the picture, and I saw the 380 cals in the description and was sold. But if your bowl is actually a normal person's sized bowl of soup, its probably at least 1.5 cups if not 2, and therefore approx. 570-760 calories. Which isn't terrible by any means. If this wasn't a typo or miscalculation, this is pretty misleading.
Jess
Hi there! Thanks for your careful read of the recipe and note about the error. We use My Fitness Pal to calculate the nutrition information for all of our recipes and find that the result is usually very accurate. In this case, the error you caught is just in the serving size. This recipe makes 6 servings at 380 calories per serving. The serving size estimate was inaccurate and has been updated - each serving will, in fact be closer to 1 3/4 cups. Thanks again!
Were caught in a trap and i cant walk out
Phew! Because it's so delicious and I ate a true 1.5-ish cup serving of it.
Thanks for responding! I've been sharing this recipe with friends. It's so good.
Jess
Great! I'm so glad! Sorry for the confusion, but thanks again for flagging it.
Kris Rosenfeld
Enjoyed this recipe very much- even teenager and husband approved. I added two chopped poblano peppers and one chopped red pepper.
Megan
Super easy and delish.
Jess
Thanks Megan! So glad you liked it!
PennyK
Delicious. I added a 4oz can of chilies and some extra chili powder and cinnamon for extra kick. Very tasty and easy.
Jess
Yum - great ideas for additions!
Shelley
Hi, can you convert the portion size to Grammes please or explain the weight of cups in measurements please
Jess
Hi Shelley - it is our hope to add conversions to all of our recipes in the future, so it's on the list. For now, Google can provide very easy and quick conversions for any measurements given on the site.
Pamela Corson
I added the recipe ingredients up using the exact recommended ingredients, and came out with about 70 more calories per serving. Fat, carbohydrate and protein were not off by too much to matter, but I think the calorie count is a more considerable error.
Jess
Hi Pamela - thanks so much for your note. We use a tool within the site to calculate the nutritional information on each recipe, so we do sometimes come up with slightly different values than users who use another tool. We'll definitely double check this one just to be sure it's correct.
Jerry
Old bachelor here! - This recipe sounds delicious! Was wondering if it's possible to estimate what size slow cooker (in quarts) would be needed for this recipe using the recommended ingredient amounts? Also - could ground chicken be substituted for the ground turkey?
Jess Smith
Hi Jerry! I'd recommend a 6-quart slow cooker for this one, though I bet it could work in a 4-quart (though with very little room to spare). Yes! I've made it with ground chicken, and it's a great sub. Enjoy!
Jerry
So glad I came across your recipe! I ended up making it with ground chicken (it's what I had on hand) and it was absolutely delicious!! The only other thing I changed was using frozen cubed sweet potatoes instead of cutting and dicing. Will definitely be making again over the winter months. Thanks for your hints on slow cooker size, I split the difference and used a 5 QT slow cooker which turned out to be a perfect.
Jess Smith
So glad to hear the 5 quart worked and that you enjoyed the chili. Thanks so much for your note!
Clara
Okay I don't normally rate recipes, or comment on them. But this is just so delicious. I used to make a double batch and freeze it so I would have something to take to my mom's house after work. She was still safe at home but unable to really cook anything with multiple steps.
Fast forward she's now unable to live alone and doesn't eat a lot of variety anymore. So now I'm gearing up to do single batches for myself and freeze them off she's eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich French toast or something. I'll always give her some to try and the possibility that she might willingly eat it but things that are have too many ingredients in them seem to create anxiety.
But this is delicious and thank you so much! Good amount of seasoning and flavor to it. I often find recipes a bit bland for my preference.
Jess Smith
Clara - thank you for this wonderful note. I'm so glad that you enjoyed this recipe and were able to share it with your mom. I hope she's doing okay, and glad that you are able to make this recipe work in the freezer for yourself now that she prefers simpler foods. I actually just defrosted some of this chili we had in the freezer for dinner last night! Thank you again for taking the time to comment and rate the recipe.