Chipotle Turkey Chili Recipe - Tasting Table

Olive oil, ground turkey, vegetables, crushed tomatoes, and drained black and pinto beans form the base of a Southwest-inspired chili. Chipotle peppers in adobo and additional adobo sauce provide smoky heat, while jalapeños and Cajun seasoning add further spice. Unsulfured molasses contributes dark, bitter sweetness that balances the peppers, adobo, and seasonings. Unsweetened cocoa powder adds color and earthiness, helping the flavors blend into a unified chili rather than separate components. Lager or pilsner beer adds a sour note and malted background. The chili simmers for about an hour, yet tastes like it cooked longer due to the layered flavor technique.

"This unconventional, Southwest cuisine-inspired turkey chili has plenty of nuanced flavors, courtesy of its unusual ingredients, but the end results feels like a hug from a worn vintage cookbook."

"Turkey chili often gets an unfair reputation for being bland, but this recipe proves that the right combination of heat and spices fixes that potential issue entirely. In this recipe, we borrow a flavoring technique of Mexican mole: layer enough contrasting flavors and add enough cocoa, and the resulting dish stops tasting like individual components and starts tasting cohesive and unified."

"This recipe turns to unsulfured molasses and cocoa powder for color, depth, and richness. Molasses adds a dark, bitter sweetness that helps keep the chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, jalapeños, and Cajun seasoning in check. Cocoa adds color and earthiness, while the beer adds a sour note and a malted background."

"For the chili itself, you'll need olive oil, ground turkey, diced yellow onions, celery stalks, carrots, pumpkin (you can use fresh, or frozen and thawed), red and green bell peppers, minced garlic cloves, crushed tomatoes, drained and rinsed black and pinto beans, and chipotle peppers in adobo, plus more of the adobo sauce. For the flavorings, you'll need ground cumin, paprika, lager or pilsner beer, unsulfured molasses, unsweetened cocoa powder, Cajun seasoning, salt, and black pepper."

Read at Tasting Table