Slow Cooker Turkey and White Bean Chili
Ground turkey, white beans and roasted poblano slow cooked with cumin and lime into a thick, pale chili that thickens as it stands.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
White chili is the one I make when I want chili without the heaviness of the red kind. It goes in the pot in twenty minutes, most of which is dicing peppers, and it comes out pale gold and thick with a green, grassy heat running underneath it that red chili never has. Six hours is the whole commitment, so it can go in after lunch and be waiting at dinner, which is a good deal for something that tastes like it took all day.
The poblanos are the reason to make this rather than any other chili. They are mild enough to use two of them, and over six hours they go soft and sweet and give the whole pot that distinctive flavor you cannot get from a jar of green chiles. The cannellini beans do the thickening on their own, because as they sit in the broth some of them break down and turn the liquid creamy without a drop of cream going in.
It gets better every hour it stands. I usually mash a cup of the beans against the side of the pot at the end, which takes about ten seconds and turns a soupy chili into a spoon-standing one, since the starch they let go of is what thickens it. Lime at the very end is not optional in my kitchen, and neither is a lot of cilantro on top.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb ground turkey
- 2 cans (15 oz each) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 poblano peppers, seeded and diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
- 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for serving
Instructions
- Brown the turkey: Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high and cook the ground turkey, breaking it up as you go, until it is no longer pink, about 6 minutes. This is the only stovetop step and it is worth the pan, because turkey added raw to a slow cooker steams into small gray pellets.
- Prep the peppers: Seed and dice the poblanos, red bell pepper and jalapeno, and dice the onion. If you want less heat, leave the jalapeno out entirely. If you want more, leave some of its seeds in.
- Load the cooker: Put the browned turkey, beans, poblanos, bell pepper, onion, garlic and jalapeno into a 6-quart slow cooker. Sprinkle the cumin, coriander, oregano, chili powder, salt and black pepper over the top and stir until everything is evenly coated.
- Add the broth: Pour the chicken broth over the top and stir once, just enough to settle everything. The pot will look thin at this stage and that is expected, since the beans have not started giving up their starch yet.
- Cook it low: Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. The chili is ready when the poblanos are completely soft and the broth has gone slightly cloudy, which is the beans doing their work.
- Mash, brighten and serve: Press about a cup of the beans against the side of the pot with the back of a spoon and stir them back in. Stir in the lime juice, taste and adjust the salt, then scatter the cilantro over the top and serve.
Variations
- Instant Pot: Brown the turkey on saute, then cook everything on high pressure for 15 minutes with a natural release of 10. Mash and finish exactly as written.
- With corn: Stir 1 1/2 cups of frozen corn in during the last 30 minutes. It adds sweetness and color and keeps its bite.
- Greener: Add 4 cups of chopped spinach or a bunch of chopped Swiss chard in the last 20 minutes. Both wilt into the pot and neither changes the flavor much.
- Hotter: Use two jalapenos with their seeds, or add a quarter teaspoon of cayenne with the other spices. Adding heat at the start builds it into the pot rather than laying it on top.
- Chicken thighs: Replace the ground turkey with 1 1/2 pounds of boneless chicken thighs added whole, then shred them in the pot at the end. No browning needed for this version.
Storage & Leftovers
Cooled leftovers keep in the refrigerator for 4 days in a covered container. It thickens considerably overnight as the beans keep absorbing liquid, so loosen it with a splash of broth or water when you reheat it in a covered pan over medium-low.
It freezes for up to 3 months. Portion it into flat freezer bags, press out the air and lay them flat. Beans freeze and thaw better than almost anything else, and this comes out of the freezer tasting the way it went in.
The leftovers are worth planning for. Spooned over a baked sweet potato, folded into an omelet, or thinned with an extra cup of broth into a soup, this is one of the more useful things to have a container of in the refrigerator.
Notes & Tips
- Brown, do not just warm: Let the turkey sit undisturbed for the first two minutes in the pan so it takes on real color. That browning is most of the savory flavor in the finished pot.
- Two poblanos, not one: One poblano gets lost across six hours and two and a half cups of broth. Two is what makes this taste like a green chili rather than a bean soup.
- Rinse the beans: The canning liquid carries a lot of sodium and a starchy taste. Rinse until the water running off them is clear.
- Mash for thickness: Mashing beans is the oldest and best way to thicken a chili, and it costs nothing. Start with a cup and add more if you want it stiffer.
- Lime at the end only: Acid added early flattens out over a long cook. The last two tablespoons stirred in off the heat are what make the pot taste finished.
- Taste before you salt: Between the broth, the beans and the browned turkey there is already salt in the pot. Taste after the lime goes in, since acid makes food read as saltier than it is.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- The turkey, the beans and the peppers are each carrying part of the load. The turkey gives the chili its savoriness, the beans give it body and thickness, and the poblanos give it the green flavor that makes people ask what kind of chili this is.
- Cannellini beans are what make a bowl of this filling rather than merely warm. They bring both plant protein and a lot of fiber, and the starch that leaches out of them over six hours is what turns the broth creamy without any cream.
- Ground turkey brings a substantial amount of protein per serving along with selenium and B vitamins, and browning it first is what gives the whole pot its savory backbone.
- Poblanos, red bell pepper and jalapeno are all loaded with vitamin C, and the red pepper in particular brings the sweetness that keeps a pot this savory from tasting flat.
- Between the protein in the turkey and the fiber in the beans, a bowl of this settles in and stays. That combination is the reason chili has always been a dish people eat before a long afternoon.
- As you eat, notice how the lime sharpens everything for a moment before the chili settles back into warmth, and let the bowl be something you sit down with rather than something you finish standing at the stove.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really have to brown the turkey first?
Yes, if you want texture. Ground meat that goes into a slow cooker raw clumps into small hard pellets because it never gets hot enough to brown. Six minutes in a skillet is the difference between chili and something else.
Can I use ground chicken instead?
Ground chicken works on identical timing and tastes very similar here. Ground pork also works and gives a richer pot. Whatever you use, brown it first for the same reason.
My chili is too thin. What do I do?
Mash more of the beans. A full cup and a half pressed against the side of the pot will thicken it noticeably. You can also leave the lid ajar on high for the last 30 minutes and let some liquid go.
Can I use dried beans?
Yes. Use 1 1/2 cups of dried cannellini soaked overnight, add an extra cup of broth and cook on low for 8 hours. Do not skip the soak, because unsoaked beans and a six hour low cook do not reliably get along.