Turkey Chili
Pierre Franey
16714 ratings with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars
16,714
1 hour
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In a large heavy skillet, heat the dried ancho and chipotle chiles on medium-high heat about a minute on each side. Turn off the heat, cover the chiles with water and soak them until rehydrated, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven or other large pot over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or bacon fat. Add the onions and sauté until they start to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 more seconds. Transfer to a blender.
Form the ground beef into balls the size of marbles. Return the Dutch oven to medium heat, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or bacon fat and, when it is hot, add the meatballs. Stir occasionally until lightly browned, about 10 minutes, then remove from the heat.
Drain the chiles well, and remove and discard stems and seeds. Add the chiles to the blender. Add the canned chipotles, if using, pequin chiles or cayenne, cumin, oregano, cloves, cinnamon and 1 cup water. Blend until smooth. Add to the Dutch oven with the browned meatballs along with 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Adjust salt and pepper to taste. If the chili looks too thin, slowly stir in the masa harina. Add the lime juice, and simmer for 15 minutes more. Serve topped with grated cheese, diced onions, pickled jalapeños and sour cream. Or serve as Frito pie: For each serving, mound 1 cup Fritos in a bowl and top with 1 cup chili, ¼ cup grated cheese, 1 tablespoon diced onions, sliced jalapeños and sour cream.
Note: no tomatoes. This recipe is closer to real Texas chile than any of the others in the NYT collection. My preference for the beef is to use very small diced meat pieces instead of the coarsely ground beef, and add hot chiles to your taste.
Serve with pinto peans cooked with a chunk of smoked pork fatback.
This was terrific! - tho it was a bit more work than the title suggests. I accidentally upped the cayenne to 1/2 tsp, which only added rather mild heat. In the pot it seemed a little bland, like it needed a LOT of salt. I stopped at 2 - 1/2 tsp when I realized (correctly) the Fritos would also provide seasoning. I'd definitely make again and I suspect leftovers for lunch at work will be even better the next day.
This recipe rocks - just don’t do the dried chili soaking step. Not necessary for flavor when you add a can of tomato sauce to the blender and substitute water for chicken stock!
A better title for this recipe is slightly spicy beef. As others have noted this recipe lacks flavor. Rehydrated chiles and a tablespoon of cumin aren't enough for 2lbs of beef
This is delicious! I used the water that the chiles rehydrated in. I used ground beef and broke it up into a very rough crumble instead of forming it into meatballs -- much less time consuming.
I used a few different types of chilis, coriander, half the beef, and 3 cans of tomatoes
Too spicy! I used a 7 oz can of "La Morena" brand chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. If you are spice sensitive, use half the chipotle and don't add cayenne. If you have ancho pepper powder, 17 g is about 1 ancho pepper. You don't need to soak the peppers for more than 10-12 minutes before blending and can simplify things by only adding 1 cup of water, heating it up in the pan and covering the pan.
I added a tablespoon of honey at the end to counteract some bitterness. The Fritos, cheese, sour cream, and onions help as well. But ultimately it’s just meatballs with a sauce. Like an underdeveloped mole. Since it took about 2.5 hours to make, I probably won’t do it again. If you do try it, I’d also recommend salting the meat.
This chili was not good — it didn’t have a lot of flavor so I needed to add salt and more limes. Sort of gross, felt like I was just eating pure meat with spices (which is what this recipe consists of)
Not sure what happened, but mine turned out extremely bitter :/
Made in Instant Pot using ground turkey. 10 min., quick release after cooking meatballs and deglazing pot.
Add pinto beans. Doesn’t have to be meatballs, just browned ground beef would be good and much easier.
I vegetarianized this recipe (defenders of "real" Texas chili be damned) by subbing a pound of ground Impossible 'beef' and a pound of beans. But I did follow the recipe's chile and spice blend to a T. It was great in Frito pie and tasted even better the next day. So I would say, customize the protein to your liking, don't worry about it being "authentic," but respect the chile & spice blend because that is really the key to this recipe.
Simple and pretty good recipe. I let it simmer for a while to get the flavors to meld. I had a few leftovers in the fridge of Brussels sprouts and potatoes so I threw those in there as well. It was good without that as well. For serving, make it a frito pie! Chopped onions, scallions, thinly sliced jalapeños and sour cream made it extra bright and indulgent!
I love times recipes and use them often. Simply put this recipe is ridiculous
Congrats on knowing the difference between chile and chili.
This was terrific! - tho it was a bit more work than the title suggests. I accidentally upped the cayenne to 1/2 tsp, which only added rather mild heat. In the pot it seemed a little bland, like it needed a LOT of salt. I stopped at 2 - 1/2 tsp when I realized (correctly) the Fritos would also provide seasoning. I'd definitely make again and I suspect leftovers for lunch at work will be even better the next day.
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