A little planning ahead is all that is needed to make a home-cooked meal even when you won’t be home all day! (And planning ahead is super easy if you create a weekly meal plan.) This is a favorite go-to recipe when I know I won’t have the time or energy to cook dinner and the great thing is my whole family loves it!
Time-Saving Tip: I like to precook a couple of pounds of ground meat and keep it in my freezer in individual one-cup serving sizes. This saves a lot of time for recipes using ground meat, as you’ll already have it on hand. For this recipe, I also like to precut the veggies the day before to make it even easier to just throw it all in the slow cooker the next morning and go about my day! It’s so wonderful to come home to the smell of delicious homemade chili, especially on a crisp cool evening.
Ingredients
- 4 cups of cooked soaked beans; I use a mix of black, white & pinto beans
- (or substitute with three 15oz cans of beans, drained)
- 28oz organic crushed tomatoes (include liquid)
- 15oz organic diced tomatoes (include liquid)
- 8oz organic tomato sauce
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 medium yellow or red bell pepper, diced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2-3 tbsp chili powder (depending on how spicy you like it)
- 1 tbsp of all-purpose herb seasoning (I like Simply Organic brand)
- 1/2 tbsp sea salt
- 2 cups precooked organic ground turkey (or grass-fed ground beef)
- Optional (omit if DF): 1 cup shredded grassfed havarti (or monterey jack)
Instructions
- In a 6-quart slow cooker, add all of the above ingredients, except for the meat and cheese. Mix thoroughly, until well combined.
- Cook on low 8-9 hours.
- Add the precooked ground meat during the last 30 minutes of cook time.
- Top with shredded cheese, if desired.
- Re-season with chili powder, herb seasoning and salt to taste.
- Serve over basmati or brown rice with a side of homemade organic cornbread. Enjoy!
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I made this last night for my family…. I was worried the veggies would make them frown. But to my amazement everyone LOVED this! I sent the link to my friend Aggie {http://aggieskitchen.com/} who also made it and suggested we use leftovers to pour over pasta for the kids {using whole grain macaroni, etc.}. Another great recipe! LOVE your site. Such a helpful resource as we begin Clean Eating….
Thanks, Kim, for taking the time to leave a note – so glad you enjoyed this recipe so much you shared it with your friend! That’s a great idea to use leftovers with pasta. We like to use the leftovers to top a good nitrate-free organic hot dog for a healthier chili dog! 🙂
Love this simple chili recipe! thanks!
Awesome! So glad you enjoy it too. We just had it last night. We’ve been having cooler weather, so it was terrific to come home to a hot bowl of chili! 🙂
This recipe is cooking in my crockpot right now and it smells soo good! I have tried numerous recipes from your website and every single one has tasted delicious. My dad (who dislikes turkey burgers) even loved your recipe–and went for seconds!
I am wondering if you could offer advice on how to cook the ground turkey for the chili? Should I just cook it in olive oil and add a little salt?
Thanks for all you do!
Hi, Elizabeth! Thanks so much for your kind words! I’m so glad you and your family are enjoying these recipes. As far as cooking ground turkey. I do exactly what you suggested, just sauté it in some olive oil and sprinkle generously with sea salt. You can then add it to your chili and freeze the rest (if you’re browning extra) for a future meal. The secret to making this chili great is adding havarti or monterey jack cheese as recommended. It really balances the flavor and makes it super yummy! Hope you enjoy it! It’s the perfect weather for chili! Blessings, Kelly 🙂
After you soak the beans, how do you cook them in preparation for this recipe? I added 3 lbs of ground beef to serve 9, and it was delicious! Served with brown rice, sour cream, and cheese. Oh, and the husband had to buy Fritos for it, too. There were no leftovers :((
Thank you.
Wow, you all can put down some chili. LOL! You can cook the beans in the crockpot in some water, if you’re just going to use them plain in recipes. Or go into the “Sides” section of my site and you can see two ways I cook beans as a side – Crockpot Black Beans and Crockpot Pinto Beans. Lots of blessings, Kelly 🙂
Can not tell you how excited I am to have found you – clicked over from the Better Mom & I’m making this tonight along w/downloading several other fabulous ideas (and thanks for the cool print feature!)
You are so welcome, Gindi! I am glad you found me too and appreciate you taking the time to leave a kind note! Keep in touch! Blessings, Kelly 🙂
One of my favorites, this chili!!! Been using it now for a couple years. Has been great to freeze for camping trips as well. Thanks for the recipe!!!
Thank you for your kind words, Jacci! I’m so glad you and your family enjoy this! Many blessings, Kelly 🙂
We aren’t big tomato eaters. Do you have any suggestions for what we could use instead of crushed and diced tomatos. We don’t do chunks of tomatos in our recipes…maybe just a tomato sauce or a blenderized version of those?
Hi, Kristina. You could certainly puree the tomato ingredients in a blender (or via an immersion blender) first and then place in the crockpot along with the other ingredients, as described in the recipe. The flavor should still be outstanding, without the chunky tomato bits. Lots of blessings, Kelly 🙂
This was delicious, but I found it to be super salty. It says 1/2 TBS. Is that correct?
Hi, Jennifer. Glad you enjoyed this! Yes, I do use 1/2 tbsp sea salt. Maybe some of the other ingredients you used had a little salt? I use unsalted diced tomatoes, etc. Or you are great about not needing as much salt and could reduce this to one teaspoon instead. Blessings, Kelly
I was wonder WHY you precook the ground turkey? Why not just add it raw?
You can add it at the start of the recipe, but I find that it gets really chewy and tough. So I prefer to use precooked beef or turkey. I precook several pounds and freeze for use in tacos, meat sauces and also for this recipe and add it near the end of the cook time. But again, you can certainly add it raw. Just be sure to stir it and break up the pieces after a few hours of cooking. Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Will the beans not cook thoroughly if you don’t cook them before putting them in for the 8 hours?
Hi, Kristen. I haven’t tried using dried beans in this, but if you soak the beans well beforehand, it just might work in this recipe since there is a lot of liquid. And if you did have to extend the cook time, it shouldn’t drastically impact the outcome, since I advise to wait to add the meat and cheese until the end of the cook time. If you opt to experiment, by using soaked beans rather than cooked, please do let me know. Thank you! Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Thank you for all of your recipes. I usually make atleast one a week from your website. Last week we tried the sweet & spicy chicken and enjoyed it. Tonight we are having the turkey chili. One question, where do you get grassfed dairy products such as cheese. Health food stores? Farmers? We live in Arizona so I am not sure where a farm is that I could get healthier products like that. THanks! Naomi (I Samuel 12:24)
Hi, Naomi. So glad to hear you’re enjoying the recipes here. Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind note. Yes, you can find grassfed cheeses at many health food stores. I always encourage people to simply do the best they can. If you only have access to organic cheese, that is certainly better than conventional cheese, and if you can locate grassfed cheese, that’s an even better choice. But again, it’s about doing what we can within reason and our budgets to eat healthier without making it a major stressor. Hopefully, I am making sense. 🙂
After this is made, will it freeze well? What about your other soups? I love soup, even in 100* weather!!! Love my hot foods. I want to make up a bunch of soups and broths to freeze, along with other meals you have. I need easy, simple. I don’t want to be spending all my time after work preparing my meals. Things are changing around here 🙂
Thank you!
Hi, Barbara. I’m with you. I love soups anytime of year. 🙂 To answer your question, yes, this chili and freezes and reheats beautifully. As far as other soups go, most freeze well, the only caveat is soups that contain veggies or other ingredients that can get mushy when frozen and then thawed. For example, pieces of potato, zucchini and other soft veggies can get very mushy. I hope this helps! And congratulations on your healthy dietary changes and being so smart to see the value of prepping ahead to save time and to stick to your healthy eating goals! 🙂