Turkey White Chili

Usually after Thanksgiving we have plenty of leftover turkey and enough turkey stock for several days of dishes.

Today I whipped up some turkey white chili, based on our chicken white chili recipe, but made it with cooked turkey meat instead of chicken, and with the beans cooked in homemade turkey stock.

I bumped up the heat a bit from the other recipe, feel free to dial it down if you don’t like your foods spicy.

Have you ever had white chili? It’s called white chili because instead of what you find in the usual chile con carne, it uses white beans, white meat, and mild green chiles. It’s absolutely delicious with tortilla chips.

Turkey White Chili Recipe

If you are starting out with dry beans (recommended), to speed up the process you can put beans into a bowl and pour boiling water over them by 2 inches and let them sit for an hour instead of soaking them overnight (then drain). You can also use a pressure cooker to cook the beans more quickly than on the stovetop. The beans I made for this dish cooked up in 20 minutes in our pressure cooker.

You can also use canned white beans. If you use canned beans, drain them from their juices and combine them with the turkey stock in step one.  Only heat the beans and turkey stock enough to bring the stock to a simmer. You don't need to cook the canned beans because they are already cooked.

This recipe can easily be doubled.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb white beans, soaked overnight in water, drained OR 2 15-ounce cans white beans, drained
• 3 cups turkey stock
• 1 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium onions, chopped (divided)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, stem and most seeds removed, chopped (optional)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies
• 2 cups diced cooked turkey
• Salt to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon)

Garnishes and extras

• 1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/3 cup (loose) chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1 avocado, pitted, peeled, and chopped (or guacamole)
• Chopped tomatoes or salsa
• Corn tortilla chips and/or fresh warmed flour tortillas

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