What Happened To My Turkey Chili?

[Pebbagirl 131]

I made some turkey chili yesterday and it was NASTY! Admittedly, I'm a horrible cook, but this stuff was kind of slimy and kind of grainy looking. Someone bought the ground turkey for me and it was 3 pounds (!) of that stuff that is packaged in a tube, so probably not the highest quality. I used that, 2 cans of black Beans, 1 large can of diced tomatoes, 2 diced green bell peppers, a packet of low sodium McCormick's chili seasoning, 2 stalks of diced celery, some Water, and a bunch of spices (garlic, onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper, etc.) I threw it all in a crockpot and cooked it for about 6 hours. I added a bunch of paprika because it was so light in color. What can I do to make it tastier and not so slimy/grainy? I ended up throwing it out. What a waste!

[lucie159 89]

The tube turkey is nasty anyway.. you should try the other kind like.. Jenny-o. It will turn out much better, I promise. and maybe try browning the turkey meat first.

[Pebbagirl 131]

Thank you! That was my guess...on both accounts!

[Domika03 309]

I have a similar recipe but just slightly different. I cook my in the crock pot, and everyone actually loves it!

Instead of using black Beans, I've used Northern white Beans i the past. I now use Bush's maple cured bacon baked beans, with the diced tomatoes, can of Tomato sauce, onions, chili seasoning mix, and cheddar cheese. It cooks all day & is so yummy.

Granted I also used "tube" turkey sausage > Honeysuckle White brand. I cooked that up, with onions & spices before putting it in the crock pot with everything else & hours later, it was YUMMY!

[A New New Dawn 1,695]

You are supposed to brown and drain the meat before adding it to the crockpot. That is probably why it was grainy and slimy.

[A New New Dawn 1,695]

Also, I wouldn't add paprika that probably didn't help. If you need more flavor, I go with either chili powder, garlic, sometimes a little cumin but since you are saying you aren't a good cook, I would stick w/ the packets of mix or a recipe rather than winging it.

[DELETE THIS ACCOUNT! 12,703]

As a A New Dawn said, you're supposed to brown and drain it before putting it in the crock pot. Did you possibly miss this step?

Also, not all ground turkey is good for you, in fact if you're not careful about reading labels it can be much fattier than ground beef. You have to make sure the ground turkey is about 90% lean. I buy the 93% lean and it cooks up very nicely.

[Pebbagirl 131]

LOL! Thanks, y'all! No, I didn't brown it first. Yep, I missed that step! I thought you could just throw everything in the crockpot! And FWIW, I only added the paprika because I didn't have chili powder and was desperate to get the color right. Yeah, that probably didn't help anything! LOL. Thanks for the great input. I'll work on perfecting this recipe.

[CaGottaBand 498]

I would definitely suggest JennyO ground turkey next time and make sure you drain it.

[CHEZNOEL 4,061]

Good luck next time... Keep trying and buy chili powder! LOL.. Also... there is such a thing as white chicken and turkey chilis! Don't worry about the color!

[Domika03 309]

Talking about this made me decide to make Turkey Chilli for dinner tonight. YUMMY!

No doubt you'll do better next time around