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I made this chili tonight and it was fantastic. It’s the perfect blend of easy to make and nutritious! Thanks for sharing.
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:
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
- 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!
Yum! This looks so tasty 🙂 My kids have been begging me to make chili after they had some canned Nalley’s Turkey Chili when we were camping and this recipe looks perfect-o. Thanks again Lindsay!
Hahaha awesome! Thanks Sommer!
It looks (from the pictures) that you have quinoa in there too!? I have been putting it in my chili lately, especially when I did a crockpot chili over this weekend actually- great minds think alike!- but the quinoa adds some nice extra filling!
Yes! I did put quinoa in the batch pictured (the first batch I made without). Good both ways!
It looks (from the pictures) that you have quinoa in there too!? I have been putting it in my chili lately, especially when I did a crockpot chili over this weekend actually- great minds think alike!- but the quinoa adds some nice extra filling!
This is perfect for my just-moved, have-no-food-in-the-new-apartment, where-are-all-my-pots-and-pans life right now. Seriously though, where did all my cooking stuff go? I have one big pot, and one little pot. Enter, one-pot chili 😉 And I love that it uses sweet potatoes! A nice change from the usual.
Ahh yes perfect timing! Good luck with the move Michelle!
This chili is definitely rockin’ my Monday! Loving everything about this… sweet potatoes and black beans were made for each other. <3
Right? So perfect.
I see quinoa, I see quinoa! Which would be an even YUMMIER chili.
Yep! Gang’s all there!
This looks incredible!! And YES I love Spyhouse… I am from Plymouth and live in Chicago now, but whenever I am home I catch up with friends at Spyhouse. And I definitely don’t fit the hipster vibe either, but the coffee just can’t be beat!
I also made your sweet potato noodles with cashew cream sauce last night and am in love 🙂 Thank you so much for the continued kitchen inspiration.
xo, Ellie
with love from ellie
Yay a Spyhouse lover! 🙂 It’s such a cool place.
Love all of your recipes, this is no exception! I’ll be making it soon. But what moved me to comment this time was your story about your hipster coffeehouse/Target-clad experience. I started blogging about a year ago and have had that EXACT experience – whole thing, every detail!!! You made me LOL and feel like I know you a little bit more personally 🙂 Thanks for sharing so I know I’m not alone!
Hahah oh yes. I feel like I stand out like a sore thumb amongst the cools in there.
I LOVE this recipe!! Now that I’m doing WW I’m trying to calculate points per serving and I see it serves 5, is the serving size a cup? I’m sorry if this is a dumb question but I didn’t see it listed!
I know I’m supposed to love summer, but extreme heat and humidity is my least favorite thing ever. Fall is very welcome in my book. Along with sweet potatoes and unconventional “chili” recipes.
We’ve got some sweet potatoes in the garden; not sure when we’re supposed to harvest them, but when we do, we’re making this chili.
This was another “print recipe” click for me!
Awesome! hope you like it Cath!
This looks amazing! Do you think it would work in the crockpot?
Yes, but I would still brown the meat in a skillet separately – ground meat can be a little weird in the crockpot.
Is there anything else that should be switched up to make this in a crockpot?! Thanks!
This looks delicious. I love your on-the-fly protein emergency, it’s so relatable, and this chili looks like the perfect fix! Can’t wait to try this hearty bowl!
Thanks Sydney! Hope you like it as much as we did!
Mmmm Chili. So Comforting and so warming, perfect for fall! Sweet potatoes, black beans, and quinoa sound like such a great combo! I will be making a batch of this soon! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! Hope you like it Emily!
If you are in the neighborhood, head over to Maeve’s. I love their baked goods. Their pineapple zucchini bread should make for great inspiration.
Never even heard of it! I’m on it.
If you are in the neighborhood, head over to Maeve’s. I love their baked goods. Their pineapple zucchini bread should make for great inspiration.
Spyhouse! I’m currently drinking my morning brew out of one of their sweet cups with the tiniest little Minnesota state outline on one side!
Yay! So cute.
I can totally relate to the all-Target outfit in the hipster cafe… I usually just hope that I’ve got enough battery that I don’t have to do the wandering around!
I love the combo of sweet potatoes, black beans, and chili. Have you ever served black bean chili over a baked sweet potato? Pretty much the best thing ever!
Texans would tell you that this is absolutely not chili, but this Midwestern girl is with you: any soup/stew style meal with chili powder is chili in my book!
Hahaha – yep, it’s chili enough for me. 🙂
The hubster and I try to stick with high protein meals. . .so this is perfect for the weekdays when we are looking to eat something relatively quick and comforting.
Exactly! Hope you like it Lynn!
That’s right! You all up in my Monday rockin this MUST have for dinner chili!!! Oh, crockpot, this one is for you!!!
Thanks Tonya! 🙂 Enjoy!
Oh my GOODNESS this looks delicious! I think we’ll be getting together the ingredients to make this one this week… 🙂
And can I just say – your food blog has been such an inspiration to us. It always puts a smile on our faces. Keep up the awesome work!
Thank you Heather! I appreciate that so much! 😀
This sounds so yummy. Is there another spice besides taco that I can use. Not a fan of taco seasoning.
Sure! Do you like cumin? I just happened to have a “Mexican spice blend” type situation that I tossed in there for quick and easy, but throw in any and all spices you like!
Looks so yummy! Does yours have quinoa in it, or do my eyes deceive me?
It does! I put a note about that in the recipe -it’s optional and super flexible – I just threw in an unmeasured amount of leftover cooked quinoa to bolster it up a bit. 🙂
I wasn’t sure if I saw quinoa in there or not but I immediately thought it would be a great addition! We have a standard chili recipe we love but I’ve been wanting a chili recipe that had meat and sweet potatoes. I can’t wait to try this one!!
Yes you did! Good eye 😉
That black bean picture should be framed, and sold in an overpriced kitchen store. So pretty! I adore quick and easy chili, it’s one of my favorite things to do all fall, especially when you can start it at like 3 and let it slow simmer and make the house smell divine. I also might have to call you out on the quinoa in the chili pictures, although it’s great inspiration for my next batch.
xoxo
Katie
You’re so sweet! Thanks Katie! The perfectionist in me came *this close* to reshooting it last night. I opted for TV and snacks instead. 🙂
Spyhouse NE is my favorite Minneapolis coffee shop! I spent many o’ hours there, but never ever felt cool enough to be there. Haha. I totally feel you.
On another note, I will totally be making this chili once the temp dips a little bit!
Woohoo for Spyhouse fans! I wonder what the people who DO feel cool enough to be there are really like. 😉
Lindsay, I am absolutely loving this chili! What a change up with the sweet potatoes and ground turkey! This will be a fall favorite, I can tell!!
Awesome! Thanks Mary Ann!
Hello! This looks great!
When do you add the second TBSP of chili powder and the second TBSP of taco seasoning? Looks like the ingredients call for 2 TBSP of each but only seeing a step to add 1 of each. Thank you!
Hi Tracy! Add them in Step 2 along with the sweet potatoes. Enjoy!
I absolutely LOVE this meal. This is the second year I’ve come back to this recipe. I bought an immersion blender specifically for this recipe too! I even made about 10 servings for volunteering meals for foster families, and I also made a huge batch and froze it for lunch and dinner at home. I eat this with Greek yogurt, a little cheese and green onions on top, sometimes with oyster crackers. This is a staple warm meal for me!