White Turkey Chili

Don’t have time to make dinner?  This takes about 20 minutes, give or take.  No more excuses!  I mentioned this chili in a previous post, when I said one of my favorite pairings is my Jiffy corn muffin hack with white turkey chili.  Since I’ve had a lot of requests for recipes that are easy and can be done in a crock pot, this was a natural next choice.  Also, many of my friends have enjoyed this chili over the last several years, and they’ve all been yelling at me to blog about it. 🙂  One thing, though.  I’m not just giving your the recipe, I’m giving you 3 recipes in 1.  You get the original version, with 2 other variations on the same thing.  Have fun experimenting!

This is not your mama’s chili, but as soon as you make it, your mama will want to too.  In fact, this is not my mama’s chili either– it’s my aunt’s.  She used to make this all the time when we all would come for family gatherings, and then finally I just bummed the recipe off of her.  I made it in college for my friends, and they were always insanely impressed.  What I didn’t tell them is how stupid easy this recipe is.  Now that Liz and I are married, her coworkers can’t wait until it’s her turn for soup day, because they know that means I’ll be making this to send in with her (even though I’m the cook around here, even she knows how to make this, it’s so simple).  It’s quick, easy, delicious, and filling.  Also, it’s easily adaptable and you can do about 8,000,000 different things with it.

Like the other chili I posted, this is not a traditional kind of chili where you have to use a hodgepodge of ingredients to get a great flavor.  You can adapt and add things though, if you like certain things that aren’t in there, or to get the level of spiciness you want.  My White Turkey Chili literally only has 4 ingredients. I’ll list those first, because I can tell you, this chili is outstanding with just these 4 things.

THE ORIGINAL

• 1-2 lbs. ground turkey
• 1 – 48 oz. jar (glass jar) Randall great northern beans
• 1 – 16 oz. jar salsa of your choice (I use Pace mild, you can use whatever you want)
• 1 – 8 oz. block of monterrey jack cheese, cut into small chunks

All you need to do to make a pot of the good stuff is to first brown the turkey in a large pot.  After that, you could then transfer the turkey to a crock pot, or you can continue in a regular pot.  If you’re going to have people over, you might want to go the crock pot route.  Next, throw everything else in and heat it until the cheese has melted.  You’ll need to stir a lot to get the cheese incorporated– everything should become thoroughly mixed, and the cheese will lighten the color of the soup.  Serve it hot, obviously, and with tortilla chips.

Now.  Now that I have told you how to make it with the basic 4 ingredients, let me give you 2 ways you can adapt it.  First off, If you’re making this for a crowd, you might want to think about making a little extra.  Also, when I went to the store this last time, they didn’t have the big glass jar of beans, so I had to improvise.  Here’s an extra large recipe, with a little something-something extra.

FOR A CROWD… AND WITH A TWIST

• 3 lbs. ground turkey (I found a 3 lb. package at the store)
• 4 – 15 oz. cans of great northern beans
• 1 – 16 oz. block of PEPPER JACK cheese (see what I did there?) 😉
• 1 – 24 oz. can of salsa of your choice
• 2 cans of Rotel tomatoes and green chillies
• 2 Tbs. ground cumin

The process is the same for this, just make sure you’re using a really big pot.  After you brown the turkey, season it with the cumin.  Then go about the rest, and just dump in everything and heat it until you can incorporate the chunks of cheese fully.  If you don’t want to make this much, just use the measurements for the original version, but add a little cumin and sub in the pepper jack.  Next up is the way my mother-in-law makes it.  It’s more like a chicken enchilada soup this way, but it’s just as easy and just as good!

MAMA ROSE’S CHICKEN ENCHILADA WHITE CHILI

• 3 cans of chunk chicken in water
• 1 – 16 oz. jar salsa of your choice
• 1 – 8 oz. block of pepper jack cheese, cut into small chunks
• 1 – 48 oz. jar Randall great northern beans
• 1 – 15 oz. jar of corn
• 2 C. chicken broth

The process is now even simpler, because you don’t have to brown any meat.  You just throw everything together and heat it until the cheese melts.  Enjoy!

Jiffy Cornbread Hack

Ok Folks.  So here’s a new one– it’s almost never failed me (except the time I put too much garlic in… or the time I didn’t bake them long enough).  These are delicious–in fact, maybe restaurant-good–and I can tell you, you’ll never follow the directions on the package again.  In fact, that’s the first step in my directions (see below).  These go really well with any kind of soup– last night, we had them with potato corn chowder.  My favorite pairing is with white turkey chili.  Here’s what you need:

• 1 package Jiffy Cornbread mix (1 package yields 6 largish muffins)
• Butter-flavored cooking spray
• 1 egg
• 1/3 C milk
• 1 tbs. butter, melted
• 1 C shredded sharp cheddar or colby jack
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tbs. chopped chives (or green onions)
• seasoned salt (Lowry’s is best)

Alright.  So first, note that the first couple ingredients are the same as on the package.  That’s about as far as we go with the directions on there, and here’s why.  I think when you bake corn muffins, usually they are dry, gritty, crumbly messes that are nearly impossible to swallow without a big gulp of milk to break it up on the way down.  The reasons for that are these: the package indicates that you need to bake them at 400 some degrees.  Untrue.  Most baked goods are 350, in fact, and they usually turn out fine, barring some disastrous mistake by the baker that ruins the whole thing.  That aside, 400 some degrees is TOO HOT and dries the corn muffins out and makes it impossible to get them out of the muffin tin.  Plus, the box asks you to bake them for like 12-15 minutes, which is too long.  Also, apart from whatever fat is in the egg and milk, there’s not enough oil content in a corn muffin to keep it moist typically.  Hence the addition of delicious melted butter and some cheese. *devious grin*

DIRECTIONS

1. Ignore all the baking directions on the box, preheating your oven instead to 375.
2. Spray a regular-size muffin pan with butter-flavored cooking spray, making sure all the sides are coated.  We’re not using paper cups for these bad boys.
3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine corn bread mix, egg, milk, and melted butter with a fork until it’s moist throughout and there aren’t any huge chunks.  Don’t over-mix it though.  Leave that to sit out for a second while you chop up the chives.
4. Add the chives and garlic powder.  Stir to combine.  Sprinkle enough seasoned salt over the top of the mixture to just barely cover it and stir it in.
5. Add in about 2/3 C of the shredded cheese and save the rest for after the baking is done.  Mix it in gently.
6. Divide the mixture evenly among the cups in the muffin pan, filling them about 2/3 of the way with muffin batter.  Bake these for 11-13 minutes, until the edges of the muffins are starting to turn brown and the tops are puffy.  If they collapse after you pull them out of the oven, they didn’t get done.  Oops!
7. Sprinkle with shredded cheese right out of the oven and let it melt on top.  Now let these puppies cool (they’ll be easier to remove from the pan when they’re cooled a bit).