Turkey & Quinoa Chili | Healthy Slow Cooker Meals

Chili is a relatively new favorite food of mine – mostly because it’s super simple to make in a crock pot. I didn’t know how much I enjoyed chili until recently when I was able to experiment with my own recipes, including using bison meat instead of beef. But I’ve made bison chili plenty of times; this round, I went for turkey.

The greatest part about this recipe is there is very little prep time other than opening a few cans and roughly chopping onions, peppers, and mushrooms. I also added some frozen corn, not pictured above (oops, this recipe was on-the-fly!) to add some sweetness and quinoa, instead of beans, for texture.

This recipe is pretty healthy for you too, made with lean meat and packed with veggies – and what’s better, it’s totally a “set it and forget” meal.

Seriously, I didn’t even brown the turkey. I tossed everything in my crock pot in the morning when I woke up, snapped a few quick pics, then set the temperature to low and left it all day.

I stirred every couple hours, then cranked the heat to high for the last hour. I believe my total cooking time was six and a half hours. By the end of the day, the whole apartment complex smelled so delicious, bringing my puppy Theo back inside from a potty break made my stomach growl with hunger.

The quinoa worked perfectly in this recipe because it gave the turkey meat a much needed texture. As someone who doesn’t prefer beans in my chili, the quinoa made for a great replacement. An added bonus: there’s enough here to feed Nick and myself for the entire week – hooray!