OH CHILI BEANIE! What can I even say? We ♡ this healthy, spicy, extremely basic and wonderful turkey chili loaded with everything sweet potato and yummy.
Fun fact: if I were still a teacher, I’d be going back to school today.
But instead, I’m sitting at Spyhouse Coffee in Northeast Minneapolis (anyone?) and trying to look like a person who fits in with this seriously hipster crowd while typing away on my little computer machine about how much I love turkey chili. Based on my mispronunciation of the name of the fancy drip coffee when ordering, my wandering around for five minutes to find an outlet, and my head-to-toe Target outfit, I’m doing just sooo great with the whole vibe. Way SMOOTH.
I am so happy and grateful and excited to be blogging for a lot of reasons. But on this reflective would-be first-day-back where I imagine what my life would be like if I hadn’t ever left my first job, I have to admit – I really owe a lot to teaching.
For example, we must acknowledge that it was my time as a teacher that taught me the importance (read: absolute necessity) of a really good, really easy, take-it-to-work lunch.
Which this Rockin’ 5 Ingredient Sweet Potato Turkey Chili most definitely is! Thank you, teaching.
HOW TO MAKE OUR SWEET POTATO CHILI (1 MIN):
Within the last few weeks, I’ve lost Bjork to a healthy eating kick that emphasizes more protein. Which means that I see him eating more protein and get Major Food FOMO – worrying that if he’s eating more protein, then maybe I should be eating more protein, too. So what started as his new thing has become the two of us being on a protein kick together. Romantic. ♡
One night last week (er, for every night for all our lives?), we found ourselves needing a protein-packed dinner and needing it fast.
I had very few ingredients and the grocery store was literally light years away. Lit-er-al-ly.
So I got to work with what I had, which was essentially five ingredients…
- sweet potatoes
- ground turkey
- onions and garlic
- water and broth
- canned beans
I didn’t even have tomatoes – can I call this chili still? Please just let me.
30 minutes later, THIS HAPPENED. Just a simple, creamy, spicy, sweet potato base with ground turkey and onions and garlic and black beans. Lotsa protein included. A filling, happy, super easy dinner that came out of minimal-grocery circumstances and went on to give us a few days’ worth of obsessively delicious take-to-work lunches.
You know those times when you look up and it’s past lunchtime and you forgot to eat? Yeah, me either. But for the times when you watch the clock JUST WAITING for lunch, this recipe is your best ever friend.
Make it on a weeknight and let it love you for lunch all week long.
Also one more thing: fall is coming. 🍁🍁🍁👻👻👻‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
Note: Technically this is more than five ingredients. But generally it is five things: sweet potatoes, turkey, black beans, onions/garlic, and water/broth. Please don’t be mad.
Rockin’ 5 Ingredient Sweet Potato Turkey Chili
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 5 1x
Description
Sweet Potato Turkey Chili – just five basic ingredients for this delicious real food chili recipe! Sweet potatoes, black beans, turkey, onions, and spices.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 3 sweet potatoes, chopped into small pieces (I left the peel on bc I’m lazy)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 cups water
- 2–3 cups broth (start with 2)
- 1 14-ounce can black beans
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne for spice (more to taste!)
Instructions
- Heat the oil over medium high heat in a heavy, deep pot. Add the onion, turkey, 1 tablespoon chili powder, and 1 tablespoon taco seasoning. Add water as needed to keep the turkey moist and moving around in the pan. When the turkey is browned and crumbled and the onions are soft, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add the sweet potatoes to the same pot with the remaining spices and stir to combine. When the sweet potatoes have browned just slightly, add the garlic, water, and broth. Bring to a low boil and simmer for 10 minutes or so, until the sweet potatoes are very soft. Using an immersion blender, puree the mixture until it reaches your desired consistency (you can also transfer to a regular blender and puree that way).
- Add the browned turkey, black beans, and cayenne – stir to combine.
Notes
The saltiness and flavor of the soup will depend on your taco seasoning. I added some salt and pepper and the end, which I recommend – just taste and adjust as you need to. At the risk of sounding crazy, I also added a spoonful or two of brown sugar and some red wine vinegar to give it some tang. I also added about a cup of cooked quinoa a few times to make it a little more hearty – that was good, too. You can top this with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, red onions, tortilla chips, avocado, or whatever else you like!
The third cup of broth can be added at the end if you feel like it needs to be thinned out at all.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: sweet potato turkey chili, turkey chili, easy chili recipe
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best healthy soups. Check it out!