Healthy Sweet Potato Turkey Chili

Just your average chili recipe with some roasty sweet potato cubes to jazz it up! This healthy sweet potato turkey chili recipe is perfect for an easy, high-protein meal for weekdays and weekends alike.

this recipe

Today's weather report is... chili today, but hot tamale!

Why yes, that was a dad joke straight from the source (my dad), but also my (charmingly?) awkward way of introducing you to a certain sweet potato turkey chili that is, hopefully, your next warm and cozy recipe.

The reasons to love chili are many. For one, it's nutritious and filling, with its high protein content and a number of veggies hiding out in there ('Sup, tomatoes and onions?). And then from a cooking standpoint, it's incredibly forgiving of fools like us messing around with ingredient ratios. You know, it's like a "little bit of this, little bit of that" situation, without measuring spoons and such (my favorite!). Don't worry, I've got you covered with a measured and tested recipe... just remember that playing is encouraged, and you won't mess it up!

Er -- probably. Maybe just go easy on the cayenne.

So, friends, if you're looking for a chili recipe that's:

• Healthy
• Spicy-sweet
• High in protein (okay, so they all are ;))
• Clean
• Made with whole foods
• Simple (at least, simpler than some chilis. Classic beef chili, I adore you, but I'm looking at you.)

Then you've come to the right place.

What You Need

For this turkey sweet potato chili recipe, you'll need mostly pantry staples (love that):

• Olive oil
• Yellow onion
• Ground turkey
• Sweet potatoes
• 1 can each of diced tomatoes (fire-roasted, if possible!) and tomato sauce
• Tomato paste
• Chicken or veggie broth
• Worcestershire
• Spices: cumin, chili powder, cayenne, salt, pepper

Got all that? Good.

The Methods

If you've made chili before, or even soup, these will be very familiar to you; however, I do have two different stovetop methods.

Stovetop Method #1

1. Brown the meat with the onions. Sauté onions in olive oil until fragrant and softened, then add ground turkey and sauté until browned.
2. Tomato paste & sweet potatoes. Stir in tomato paste and sweet potato cubes and sauté for another minute.
3. Add liquids and spices. Fire-roasted diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Worcestershire, broth, cumin, chili powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
4. Simmer. At least 30 minutes, but for sure until the potatoes are completely cooked through. As with all soups/stews, the longer the better.

Stovetop Method #2

Sometimes I like to roast the sweet potatoes in the oven while I get everything else simmering, and then add them at the end. In my experience with sweet potato or butternut squash chilis, this method has help prevent the flavor of these ingredients from getting lost in the rest of the chili. Here's how I do it:

1. Roast the sweet potatoes. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, peeling and cubing the sweet potatoes in the meantime. Toss the potatoes in olive oil, salt, and maybe some chili spices for extra flavor (cayenne, anyone?).
2. Start the chili. Similar to the first method above, sauté onions in olive oil until softened, then add turkey and sauté until browned. Stir in tomato paste and sauté for another minute or so, then add all the liquid ingredients and spices. Allow those to simmer while the sweet potatoes finish roasting.
3. Add the sweet potatoes. Once the sweet potatoes are roasted (they have crispy edges and soft middles, about 30-35 minutes), add them to the chili and stir. Simmer for another minute or two.

Slow Cooker Method

1. Brown the meat with the onions. Sauté onions in olive oil until fragrant and softened, then add ground turkey and sauté until browned.
2. Combine. Place everything in the slower cooker and cook on low for four hours, or high for eight.

After all the methods, top that chili off! Cheese, avocado, sour cream, cilantro, lime -- more on this critical step below...

Modifications & Tips

Remember how I said chili is forgiving? Well, here are some ways you can modify this sweet potato turkey chili and still have excellent results:

• Squash for potato. Sub in cubed butternut squash for sweet potato, following the same instructions.
• Spice it up. Add a little more cayenne, a drop or two of hot sauce, some diced green chiles or other spicy peppers -- whatever you'd like! Chili gets spicier as it simmers, so take it easy 😉 You can always add more later, but you can't take away the spice. In a dire situation (e.g. you made sweet potato turkey chili for a group of people who are hungrily waiting on it but you made it way too spicy...) you could make another half batch without spice and combine it.
• Make it soupier. This particular sweet potato turkey chili recipe is THICK. If you want to thin it out, just add more broth.
• Top it off. This probably goes without saying, but topping your chili is where the party's at, and I'm not saying I'll judge you if you don't... but I will. Think cilantro, lime, avocado, shredded cheese (such as cheddar, cotija, Jack), sliced green onion, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, etc.

And that, my friends, is the story of the healthy sweet potato turkey chili.

P.S. Put this classic beef chili in your pocket for later?

P.P.S. Growing up, my parents used to eat chili by scooping it onto Saltine crackers. Naturally, I did it too. Is this like... a thing that people do? Or is my family just weird?

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