Hurray for chili! When the weather gets cold, nothing’s better than a big bowl of hot chili to warm you up! Absolutely brimming with traditional chili flavor, this low sodium turkey chili can go toe to toe with any salty beefy version out there. No lack of flavor here! Plus it’s easy to make and you’ll fall in love with the aromas filling your kitchen as it simmers stovetop. Just make sure you have a really big spoon!
Okay, I realize that so many places are way colder than it is here right now, but as a lifelong Southern girl, I’ve got what we call “thin blood.” For the rest of the world, that translates into I am way better soaking up the summer heat than shivering in the cold. And by the way, in the Deep South, “cold weather” is anything under 50° F. When the morning frost starts to hit I just want to come home in the evening, curl up on the coach with a big fluffy blanket, and watch a good movie or read a good book. And eat something that’s going to warm me up from the inside out and hug me with it’s hearty comfort.
Top of my list? It’s gotta be chili. Nothing beats chili when I want to feel cozy.
But after I had to start a low sodium diet, I wasn’t sure I could ever really enjoy chili again. Honestly, I’d rather give it up altogether than settle for anything less that the flavor and feelings that chili had always brought me. But I already had my own chili recipe, so I just needed to rework it to make it a low salt chili recipe. It took some misfires, but I finally nailed it and I’m thrilled to share the results with you!
Even if you’re not following a low sodium diet, but just cutting down on red meat for other reasons, you’ll love this low sodium turkey chili. It’s not fast, the slow simmering is what makes any chili a winner. (Quick versions can be good, but just don’t have the deep flavor of a chili that has happily bubbled for awhile on your stove.) It is quick and easy to get everything into the pot, then you can sit back and enjoy your movie or book while the stove does the work. Trust me, by the end of simmering time, you’ll be standing over that pot with a big spoon! And the wait will have been worth it.
How to make homemade low sodium chili
1. Gather all the ingredients. Chop the vegetables, mix up the spice blend, and sit everything out ready to cook. I like to position the ingredients is the order they’ll be used, just to make the actual cooking time more efficient and relaxing. If you want to sound fancy, you can tell your friends and family this is Mise en place (MEEZ ahn plahs). That is French for “gather” or “putting in place” and used in professional kitchens as the term for ingredient prep and set up. Fancy term or not, it’s a very good way to get ready to cook, so that it cuts down on having to run around the kitchen grabbing ingredients and helps prevent something from being forgotten and left out. (I realize the ground turkey is not pictured. I’d already started browning it when I snapped this picture!)
2. Brown the ground turkey. I love this flat, fairly wide wooden utensil and use it all the time. It works perfectly for breaking up ground meat while it cooks, getting a great consistent texture. I have another without slats but rarely use it. This can do the full cook, and is great for stirring the food as it cooks. These things are cheap y’all, so if you don’t have one go grab one asap!
I’m using my 5 qt Lodge dutch oven. You’ll see my cast iron frequently on this site. I absolutely love using cast iron. Honest, cross my heart, the food does taste better. They are really quite inexpensive also, considering just a few pieces will be able to replace a lot of your other cookware. Considering that with minimal care these things will last forever and maintain their high quality. They are the only cookware I know of that actually improves with time! Don’t let cast iron spook you, it is seriously easy to use, clean and maintain if you buy a quality brand. They even come preseason now from Lodge, so get it home, take it out of the box and rinse it and start cooking!
3. Dump the vegetables in and sprinkle part of the spice blend on top. Stir it up well to coat everything with the seasoning and then let it cook for a few minutes until the veggies soften. Give it a quick stir every couple of minutes for even cooking. If there’s any fat or liquid left, drain it off.
4. Add the other ingredients and stir it to mix well. Pop the lid on and go grab a good book!
EXTRA TIP: If you want a “meaty” taste like you’d get with ground beef, here’s how to do it
I get you, eating healthy is so much better for you, and necessary if you’re dealing with health issues. But sometimes you just miss that meaty taste that you get from beef. Turkey is very mild, ground turkey is almost a blank slate, which is good in many ways, as it will take on the flavors of what it’s cooked in. But let’s be honest, it does not taste the same as ground beef.
If you’re missing the beefy flavor, I’ve developed a “hack” for recreating it. The exact ingredients and ratios depend on what I’m cooking, and this is my hack for homemade turkey chili.
The additional ingredients you’ll need: 1 pack of no sodium beef bouillon, 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 tsp black pepper.
Add these to the raw ground turkey when you first put it into the pot or dutch oven. As the turkey starts to cook and you’re breaking it up, make sure to work these into the meat evenly. Adding it before browning allows the meat to more completely take on the flavors, and once you have your finished dish, it will have a much beefier taste.
This hack will add approximately 28 mg of sodium to the entire recipe, which breaks down to only 4.6 mg per serving. (The brand of Worcestershire you use will effect the mg per 1/2 tsp.) As you can see, this is not a very significant addition of sodium, so if your taste buds want some beefy low sodium turkey chili it’s probably okay to go for it!
Is homemade chili high in sodium?
Because it is homemade, the cook has full control over how much sodium is in their chili. But, yes, typically it is high in sodium. Most home cooks use purchased chili spice blends that contain a lot of salt, and then add more salt as an individual ingredient. Most homemade chilis use canned goods such as tomatoes and beans and those are all loaded with sodium. Some of the most popular, highly rated homemade chili recipes on Google currently have 1249 mg, 1193 mg, 1271 mg, and 1181 mg of sodium per serving!
This recipe has just 126.6 mg per 1 1/2 cup serving. So pig out, have two servings. Or add a bit of cheese or a few lightly salted tortilla chips to garnish, or both. No worries! It’s so low in sodium that you have room for little extras if you want. (One serving of this chili with a sprinkle of grated cheddar and four big chips snapped into scooping size is still just 217 mg.!!)
Is turkey chili with beans good for you?
Yes! If you cut out the salt and preservatives, it’s very good for you. Turkey is one of the healthiest meats you can eat, especially if you choose a ground turkey with a low fat percentage like 93% or 99% lean. This chili prevents even the leanest ground turkey from being dry, a common problem with using it to replace ground beef.
Beans are very healthy, as they are an excellent source of dietary fiber, protein, B vitamins, iron, phytonutrients and many other vitamins and minerals. They deliver all of this nutrition while being very low in fat and sugar.
Who thought chili was a health food? Cooked low fat and low sodium, this chili keeps all the traditional taste you crave while nourishing your body with healthy ingredients!
Is this recipe heart healthy turkey chili?
Absolutely! The omission of salt and red meat transforms a potentially unhealthy meal into a nutrition powerhouse that is easy on your heart.
And shouldn’t it be, really? Shouldn’t comfort food also comfort and nourish your heart? This low sodium turkey chili does just that.
Can this low sodium turkey chili be made in a crockpot?
Sure! Simply follow the recipe instructions but instead of simmering stovetop, put the browned meat and softened vegetables in your slow cooker and then continue adding the other ingredients. You can then let this slow cook on low for four to six hours. If you plan to use the crockpot, I recommend you reduce the tomato sauce to one 8 ounce can and the broth to 1/2 cup, and remove the slow cooker lid for the last hour or so to steam off some liquid. If you check it at that point and it’s too thick for your liking you can add a bit more broth (or water). There will be some liquid and it should cook off in the last hour, but it you think it’s too soupy, you can make a slurry and stir it into the chili to thicken it. (Slurry: 2 tbsp flour mixed with 2 tbsp water or broth until smooth.)
Low Sodium Turkey Chili
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 tbsp olive oil or canola oil
- 2 large yellow onions roughly chopped
- 1 large green bell pepper roughly chopped
- 1 large red or yellow bell pepper optional
- 1 tbsp jalapeño finely chopped (optional, or more or less to taste)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne use more or less, or leave out, according to your heat preference
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika you can use regular paprika, but smoked add deeper flavor
- 1 tsp cocoa powder the real secret to creating a remarkable chili
- 1/2 tsp salt substitute optional – not seasoned or flavored* – NoSalt, My Salt, etc.
- 1 can Rotel no salt added version
- 2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce no salt added
- 1 can kidney beans no salt added, drained and rinsed
- 1 can black beans no no salt added, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup beef broth homemade or a no added salt version
Instructions
- Prep ingredients: Chop and dice veggies, put all the spices into a small bowl and mix with a fork until well combined.
- Heat a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. (Cast iron is great!) When hot, add oil and ground meat. Brown the ground meat, breaking it up into pieces.
- Add the onions, bell pepper, garlic and jalapeno and 2 tbsp of the spice mixture. Stir to combine well, coating the vegetables and meat with the spice blend. Cook until the veggies are softened. Drain any excess grease/liquid.
- Add the Rotel, tomato sauce, broth and remainder or spice mix. Stir well to combine. Add the kidney and black beans, stirring well again. Bring the chili to a simmer then reduce heat to low.
- Cover with a lid and cook for 1-2 hours. Longer cooking time will make the chili more flavorful. (If you don’t have a lid that fits, you can use a baking sheet laid on top to cover the chili while it cooks.) Stir occasionally during cooking. If halfway through the cooking time you notice that the chili looks to thin (soupy), stir then replace the lid so that it is open a bit to allow steam to release and the liquid to cook off. If you get toward the end of the cooking time and still want a thicker chili, remove lid completely and turn the heat up to just under medium. (You’d want to see a hard simmer, but not a full boil.)
- Remove from heat and allow to sit for 5- 10 minutes, then serve while still hot. Garnish with anything you like such as thinly sliced green onion or scallions, sour cream, tortilla crisps, chopped tomato, etc.
Notes
- See the notes above the recipe if you want a “beefy” flavor in your turkey chili!
- *Salt “substitutes that use herbs and spices will throw off the flavor balance in this turkey chili recipe, so if you can’t use a salt substitute that only has a salty taste, omit this. The chili will still taste great.
- Rough chopping is quick and sloppy, a bit chunky chops. The chili simmer for a long time and we don’t want to use really small pieces. The bigger rough chop is not only faster, it holds up better in texture for the long simmer.
- I enjoy the color and flavor of adding a red or yellow pepper, but it’s purely optional. Your turkey chili will taste awesome either way.
- If you want some real heat, you can use a whole jalapeño or even a Serrano or habanero pepper. On the other hand, if you don’t want much heat, you can just leave this out completely.