One Pot Turkey Chili
Canned beans, tomato, and ground turkey in a single pot. Built for the first night out of the cooler.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 31
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 30 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Dairy free
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow onion | 1 large | chop at home so no cutting board comes along |
| Ground turkey | 2 lbs | frozen solid at packing time, it thaws in the cooler by dinner |
| Canned pinto beans | 1 can (15 oz) | drained |
| Canned red kidney beans | 1 can (15 oz) | drained |
| Canned tomato sauce | 1 can (15 oz) | |
| Canned diced tomatoes | 1 can (28 oz) | juice and all |
| Chili powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Cayenne pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Kosher salt and black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Heat the oil in a large pot over the fire or a burner. Get the onion going until it turns translucent, about five minutes.
- Add the turkey and break it apart as it cooks. Keep at it until no pink is left, roughly eight minutes.
- Dump in both cans of beans, the tomato sauce, and the diced tomatoes with their juice.
- Stir in the chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, and cayenne. Salt and pepper now, then again at the end.
- Bring it up to a simmer and pull it off direct flame or drop the burner low. Twenty minutes, stirring when you walk past.
- Taste before serving. Canned tomatoes vary and it usually wants more salt than you expect.
This is straight camp cooking, not backpacking food. Cans are heavy and the meat needs a cooler, so it belongs on night one at a drive-in site or in a boat. What it buys you is a real dinner with one pot and no cutting board.
The simmer is not optional. Twenty minutes is what moves the chili powder and oregano out of the spice pile and into the tomato, and it thickens the diced-tomato juice enough that the whole thing stops being soup. Over a fire, cook it off to the side rather than in the flames — direct heat scorches the tomato sauce on the bottom of the pot long before the top is done. No cheese or sour cream here, which is why the dairy-free tag stands; add them at the site if you brought a cooler that runs cold.
Packing
Chop the onion at home and bag it. Premix the four spices in a small jar so camp is four cans, one bag, one jar. Freeze the turkey flat in its package; it doubles as a cooler ice block on the drive in.
Variations
- Ground beef works the same way and adds fat, which helps over a fire.
- Corn chips or cornbread on the side turn one pot into a full plate.
- Vacuum-sealed shelf-stable ground turkey pouches skip the cooler entirely if you can find them.
https://www.pinchmeimeating.com/easy-turkey-chili