The Big Game Recipe: Easy Gluten Free Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

I thought that my previous stove top chili recipe was easy. However, this gluten free slow cooker turkey chili recipe makes that one seems labor intensive 🙂 ! Really, all that you have to do is brown the meat, chop up your desired vegetables and throw it all in the slow cooker along with your favorite chili seasonings. Several hours later, you will have some great chili. We’re hosting our annual potluck “Big Game” party this Sunday. Chili is one of the things that I usually prepare. Someone else is bringing it this year, but it still doesn’t mean that you can’t make this easy, delicious dish…

Kim’s Easy Slow Cooker Turkey Chili
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:
-1 pound ground turkey meat
-1 cup chopped onion
-1 cup chopped green pepper
-1 cup chopped red pepper
-2 tbsp chili powder
-Seasonings to taste (I use Garlic Powder, Seasoned Salt, Pepper, Packet of Onion Soup Mix, & Oregano)
-2 cups of kidney (or chili) beans, drained
-2 cups diced tomatoes
-1 cup tomato sauce

Directions:
1. Cook the turkey meat in a large fry pan on medium-high heat until the meat is thoroughly cooked. Drain any excess liquid from the meat.

2. Place the turkey meat, chopped vegetables, seasonings, beans, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce to the slow cooker and cover everything with the lid. Set the temperature to low and the timer to six hours. Press “Start”.

3. That’s it! After the six hours are up, you can sample your chili to make sure that the seasonings are to your taste. If not, you can add more seasoning and stir everything together.

Recipe Notes
-This is a really fun recipe because you can mix it up every time that you make it. My unofficial name for this recipe is “my everything but the kitchen sink” chili recipe because I also throw whatever leftover vegetables that I have from the week into the pot. Spinach (as seen in the chili at the top of this post) is especially tasty in it! The other good thing about this recipe is that you can use all fresh ingredients or a combination of fresh and canned depending on your time constraints. (I.e. I now usually make my black beans in the slow cooker. Just follow the instructions on the back of the bag of beans.)

-On a family meal night, you can just serve the chili with rice and a salad for a full meal. For the Big Game, I suggest that you serve the chili with shredded cheese, sour cream and chopped onions. Your family and/or guests will probably like those toppings.

-One last tip: chili is more flavorful if you serve it the day after you cook it.

On a related note…As you know, I have been working as a (compensated) community leader as a part of the Udi’s Gluten Free Community for the last few months. Although I’m not a celiac and don’t have gluten intolerances, it has been wonderful learning how to be supportive of family and friends who do have those challenges. Another great thing about this particular chili recipe is that it is gluten free (just be careful to check the seasonings that you use), so even your gluten free friends and family can enjoy it! (If you are anticipating having gluten free family and friends at your Big Game party, definitely check out the “Super Bowl GF Tips and Recipes” discussion* over at the Udi’s Gluten Free Living Community.)

In any event, I hope that your team (cough…New York Giants) wins on game day!