Turkey Chili

This past weekend, I went to a chili cook-off hosted by a true Texan chili maker. She put 20 pounds of beef (in 5 different cuts) into the chili and with the addition of smoked paprika, it was a smoky, meaty bowl of goodness. Between all the awesome food and party favors, this was a party that Willie Nelson would be impressed with. Whoa Nelly!

I digress. This post is not about the super-secret Texas award-winning chili recipe. This is about a chili I made the week before. Its a fairly basic chili recipe that can use any type of ground beef. I made it with ground turkey. And it included some beer. But I'm told not nearly as much beer as my friend's awesome chili. Or perhaps there was another secret ingredient. But Willie ain't talkin'.

Without further adieu, here is a basic turkey chili recipe.

 

Turkey Chili (serves 8)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup olive oil
• 2 lbs ground turkey 
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper 
• Pinch of all-purpose flour
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 TB chili powder 
• 1 TB ground cumin 
• 1 bottle dark beer
• 2 cups water 
• 1 (28-ounce) can stewed, crushed tomatoes
• 4 chipotle peppers, diced
• 1 TB honey  
• 2 cups cooked black beans   
• 1 lime, juice only  
• 1 TB cumin 

Directions:

Heat up oil over high heat in a large pan with a lid. Lightly dust meat with flour. Once your oil is hot, brown the meat for a few minutes. The goal here isn’t to cook the meat, it’s just to brown it a bit and get some flavors going in the pan.

After a few minutes, remove all meat and set it aside.

Add 4 Tablespoons of oil to the pan. Add red onions and start to cook them down. After a few minutes add garlic. After another minute or so add all chili powder, salt, pepper and cumin. Then add the beer.

Stirring pretty steadily, let the beer cook down in your onions and chili for about 10 minutes. It should reduce by about half.

Add your meat back to the mix and then add all your other ingredients except the beans. Give it a good stir and bring it to a simmer.

Let this cook down on low heat, covered, for about 45 minutes. Give it a stir every 15 minutes or so.

Once chili has cooked for about 45 minutes, uncover it and add beans and continue to cook it for another 15 minutes or so until it is nice and thick.

Serve with your favorite toppings, I kept it simple with green onions and cheese, but I'm sure sour cream and guacamole would have been equally as tasty.