Cozy up with a big bowl of this delicious turkey sweet potato chili. This easy chili features ground turkey, diced sweet potatoes, white beans, fresh veggies, and flavorful spices to create a hearty chili the whole family will enjoy! It is perfect for the cold months ahead!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This ground turkey chili with sweet potatoes is a fun spin on the classic chili. The sweet potato balances out the spice level perfectly and the combination of spices makes it flavorful and spicy (but not too spicy, we promise!). We may be biased, but we think it is one of the best turkey chili recipes out there. It is chili cook-off worthy in our opinion!
- This easy turkey chili recipe is a great recipe for busy weeknights when you need to have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes. It requires minimal cooking time!
- While we don't use a slow cooker, crock pot, or instant pot/pressure cooker, this easy recipe is a one-pot meal that makes for quick clean-up too. Not to mention, this sweet potato turkey chili recipe is also a great way to meal prep or make a freezer meal option as well. It tastes great the next day!
- A big pot of chili is the perfect comfort food for the fall season, winter months, or really, any time of the year!
- A whole batch of this delicious chili recipe will make 6 servings. If you want to make a big batch, you can easily make a double batch.
Ingredient Notes
- Olive oil or avocado oil - This recipe calls for a small amount of olive or avocado to help brown and cook the turkey. Either will work great!
- Lean ground turkey - Ground turkey is one of our favorite meats to cook with because it is so versatile and fits into a variety of flavor profiles. If you prefer ground beef or ground chicken, you could use that as well, but we really like the ground turkey in this recipe!
- Sweet potato - The diced sweet potato is one of the best parts of this recipe! The sweet potato gives this turkey chili a unique flavor and the spice of the chili contrasts well with the sweetness of the sweet potato. Sweet potato ground turkey chili is the best combo!
- Yellow onion, red bell pepper, jalapeño - we love the addition of these fresh veggies in this delicious turkey chili. You will need to chop the onion, red bell peppers, and jalapeño. We also recommend removing the seeds from the jalapeño so that the heat is not too overpowering. If you are a fan of spicy chili, however, feel free to leave them in!
- Paprika, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt - these are the spices you will need to create the authentic flavors that we so often find in chili. You could also add a little black pepper or cayenne pepper.
- Crushed tomatoes - we prefer crushed tomatoes to diced tomatoes in this recipe because it blends well into the broth without leaving big chunks behind, but also provides more texture than tomato sauce or tomato paste. We also love the additional flavor that fire roasted crushed tomatoes provide, so recommend that if you can find it easily! You will need one 28 oz can for this recipe.
- Great northern beans - you will need one can of beans for this recipe. If you have a hard time finding great northern beans at the grocery store, you could substitute it with another type of bean such as black beans, kidney beans, or pinto beans. Chickpeas would also be a great option!
- Chicken broth - we prefer to used reduced sodium chicken broth, but really any chicken, bone, or vegetable broth would work well.
- Lime juice - the lime juice is the bright finish to this recipe! The acid works really well to tie all the flavors together.
- Toppings of choice - tortilla chips, fresh cilantro, chopped green onions, diced avocado, shredded cheese, sour cream or Greek yogurt.
See the recipe card below for a complete list of ingredients and measurements.
Equipment You’ll Need
- A large soup pot
- A medium bowl
- A rubber spatula or wooden spoon
- Knife and cutting board
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Ladle or large spoon for serving
Step by Step Directions
For the full recipe instructions for this turkey and sweet potato chili, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Start by chopping the onion, bell pepper, and sweet potato into small pieces and dicing the jalapeño.
Heat the oil in a large pot on the stove top over medium heat. Add the ground turkey. Stir occasionally until the ground turkey is no longer pink and is cooked through completely. Break the turkey up into small pieces with a spatula or wooden spoon as it cooks.
Next, add the bell pepper, onion, sweet potato, jalapeño, and all of the spices to the pot. Stir until the vegetables and turkey are evenly coated with the spices and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Next, add the crushed tomatoes, beans, and chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are easily pierced by a fork.
Add the lime juice to the pot. Stir well to combine.
Top with your favorite chili toppings! Some ideas include cilantro, green onion, avocado, cheese, sour cream, and corn chips.
Tips & Variations
- If you can't easily find a can of great northern beans you can swap them for another type of bean. For example, instead of a white bean ground turkey sweet potato chili, you could make a black bean chili. Chickpeas would also be a good option!
- If you want to make vegetarian chilis, simply replace the ground meat with another can of beans and the chicken broth with vegetable broth.
- This recipe is also delicious to serve with cornbread. We like the Kodiak Cakes cornbread and the Krusteaz honey cornbread mixes for a great, quick option.
FAQ
We recommend letting the soup cool to room temperature, transferring it to an airtight container, and storing it in the fridge. This recipe will stay good in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Yes! As mentioned, above, this ground turkey and sweet potato chili lasts in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can store the soup as individual portions so that all you need to do is warm it up in the microwave. One of our favorite things is that you can also freeze the leftovers (or make a double batch and freeze half) so that you can have a meal on hand in a pinch!
If it's your first time making a freezer meal here are a few tips! Let the soup cool to room temperature. Put the soup you are going to freeze into an airtight container or Ziploc bag and store in the freezer. Make sure you use a freezer-safe container! The best thing is that it can last for 4-6 months in the freezer! Then, the next time you're looking for a quick meal or craving chili, you can warm it up quickly. You can remove it from the freezer the night before and place it in the fridge to thaw or run it under cold water until it is soft enough to remove from the container or bag. Then place it in a large soup pot or large skillet over medium-high heat until it is completely heated through.
Sure! We would recommend cooking the ground turkey first, then adding it to a crock pot with the remaining ingredients. Cook for 3-4 hours or until the sweet potatoes are soft.
This soup is gluten-free and dairy-free depending on the toppings you choose.
If you want to make this soup vegan or vegetarian, simply swap the ground turkey with another can of beans and swap the chicken broth with vegetable broth. Select vegan and/or vegetarian toppings.
If you like this recipe, check out…
- 30-minute Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Buffalo Chicken Sweet Potatoes
- Easy Skillet Lasagna with Ground Turkey
If you make this sweet potato turkey chili recipe, please let us know how it turns out in the comments below and/or rate the recipe! We hope it becomes one of your favorite chili recipes. Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram to show us your finished product—it makes our day every time we see you trying the recipes we love!
Turkey Sweet Potato Chili
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive or avocado oil
- 1 lb lean ground turkey
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 medium sweet potato, chopped
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes (we prefer fire-roasted)
- 1 can Great Northern beans, drained
- 3 cups chicken broth
- Juice from 1 lime
- Optional toppings: tortilla chips, fresh cilantro, chopped green onions, diced avocado, shredded cheese, sour cream or Greek yogurt.
Instructions
- Start by chopping the onion, bell pepper, and sweet potato into small pieces and dicing the jalapeño.
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the ground turkey. Stir occasionally until the ground turkey is no longer pink and is cooked through completely. Break the turkey up into small pieces with a spatula or wooden spoon as it cooks.
- Next, add the bell pepper, onion, sweet potato, jalapeño, and all of the spices to the pot. Stir until the vegetables and turkey are evenly coated with the spices and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Next, add the crushed tomatoes, beans, and chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are easily pierced by a fork.
- Add the lime juice to the pot. Stir well to combine.
- Top with your favorite chili toppings! Some ideas include cilantro, green onion, avocado, cheese, sour cream, and corn chips.
Notes
- This soup is gluten-free and dairy-free depending on the toppings you choose.
- If you want to make this soup vegan or vegetarian, simply swap the ground turkey with another can of beans and swap the chicken broth with vegetable broth. Select vegan and/or vegetarian toppings.
- We recommend letting the soup cool to room temperature, transferring it to an airtight container, and storing it in the fridge. This recipe will stay good in the fridge for up to 4 days.
The recipe can be found on My Fitness Pal by searching "BWB Turkey Sweet Potato Chili."
The nutrition content provided for each recipe is an estimate created through the My Fitness Pal database. Please be aware that the nutritional content of each recipe may vary based on the products you use, the precision of your measurements, and the source you use to obtain nutrition data. While we try to provide accurate information, we give no guarantee regarding the accuracy of the nutritional information provided.
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Emily B
I am not a big chili fan but this is delicious. Definitely repeating this one!
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Agreed! Sweet potatoes make anything better!
Tricia
This has been an amazing chili! I do not care for sweet potatoes but they taste amazing in this chili.
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So glad to hear you like it! Thanks for trying the recipe and letting us know:)