The other day The Kid and I went to the mall to kill some time. We wandered into Williams Sonoma which (surprise!) is one of my favorite stores. I rarely buy anything in there, but I do like to take advantage of their Nespresso demonstrations and gladly sit through a sales pitch to get my free fancy coffee. 😉
Because it was prime shopping time, they were pulling out all the stops to make a sale and had burners going and were handing out samples of all kinds of frou frou foods. The Kid was drawn in by the white chicken chili and I have to admit it tasted pretty good. It was a jar of sauce that you added to browned ground chicken or turkey and simmered until warm.
Feeling festive, I actually considered buying a jar until I saw the price tag on it and laughed. I did a quick glance at the ingredient label and decided to come home and use what I had to make a batch without needing to mortgage the house for a jar of sauce. Funny enough, the stuff I had in the fridge leftover from other meals fit the concept perfectly.
I had ground turkey, jalapenos, and broth left from the turkey noodle soup. I always have garlic and onions on hand since I cook with them a lot. I happened to have a can of beans left from the tropical red beans and rice, and I have the world’s largest stockpile of spices. Boom, white turkey chili.
White Turkey Chili 
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1 cup (100g) chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 16 oz lean ground turkey (93/7)
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 – 15 oz cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 1/2 cup chicken broth
Remove the seeds from the jalapeno pepper, if desired, and slice into rounds. Add the turkey, jalapeno rings, onion and garlic to a large pot and brown the turkey until no pink parts remain. Break the turkey up into chunks as it cooks and stir every now and then to keep the onion and garlic from burning.
Take 1/3 or so of the beans and mash them with a fork to puree them. I just dumped them out onto my cutting board and smashed them flat with the side of my knife. The bean mush will help thicken the broth as it cooks. Add the spices, broth, and the whole and smashed beans to the pot and bring to a boil.
Simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and garnish with cilantro, tortilla strips or other chili toppings.
Makes 4 servings at approximately 376 calories – 36g protein, 40g carbs, and 8g fat.
You can use different beans if you’d prefer for this recipe. I had a choice in the pantry of black beans, kidney beans, and garbanzo. I opted for kidney beans but you could also use cannellini beans for a more traditional white chili. Black beans might have been cool looking too, but I felt like red beans at the moment.
Can’t beat chili that comes together in 15 minutes or so. Even Williams Sonoma couldn’t do that. 😉
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