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one ordinary bowl of thick dark red tomato turkey chili with intact bite-size roast turkey chunks and large pale butter beans, with no ground meat, kidney beans, cheese, chips or garnish
Andre Lewis

Leftover Turkey Chili

Roast turkey makes a good red chili when it goes into a finished sauce instead of standing in for raw ground meat at the browning stage. Char fresh tomatoes and onion first, then blend them into a smoky base with a little chipotle. Large butter beans stay visible beside the turkey pieces, with a small amount of masa giving the liquid body without a pot full of grated cheese. Keep the turkey in bite-size chunks and fold gently so the chili doesn't become a tangle of dry shreds. This should be thick enough to eat with a spoon but still loose enough for the beans and meat to move when you ladle it.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 6
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs ripe Roma tomatoes halved
  • 1 medium yellow onion cut into thick wedges
  • 3 garlic cloves peeled
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 3 cups low-sodium turkey broth divided
  • 1 tsp minced chipotle pepper in adobo
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp fine salt
  • 2 cans 15 oz each butter beans, drained and rinsed
  • 4 cups cooked roast turkey skin removed and cut into bite-size chunks
  • 2 tbsp masa harina
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tbsp fresh lime juice

Method
 

  1. Heat the broiler and set a rack about 6 inches below it. Toss tomatoes, onion and garlic with oil on a rimmed broiler-safe sheet and broil for 10 to 14 minutes, turning onion once, until tomatoes soften and develop dark patches; remove garlic early if it browns first.
  2. Blend roasted vegetables with 1 cup broth and chipotle until mostly smooth, following blender instructions for hot ingredients. Pour into a 6-quart pot and add remaining broth, cumin, paprika, cocoa and salt.
  3. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add butter beans and simmer for 5 minutes.
  4. Whisk masa with water until smooth and stir into the chili. Add turkey and simmer gently for 5 to 8 minutes until the sauce lightly thickens and turkey reaches 165°F.
  5. Stir in lime juice, rest for 3 minutes and serve without shredding the turkey chunks.