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!
The Un-Snooty Foodie 