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Instant Pot Turkey Chili is a protein packed chili recipe. This cooks quickly in the pressure cooker and is great for game day and family meals. It also freezes nicely for later. Garnish with your favorite chili toppings!
During the winter months we eat a lot of chili in my house. It really is the best comfort food filled with protein, warm spices and just makes you feel satisfied on those cold days. Today’s Instant Pot Turkey Chili recipe is a turkey chili recipe that I make a lot. You can also make this Slow Cooker Turkey Chili if you prefer that version.
It is such an easy thing to throw together for the perfect meal during the week or game day and also makes great leftovers. It is a meal I often make on the weekends for meal prep. I also really like that chili is loaded with a good dose of protein from the meat and beans and leaves you feeling full. Today’s ground turkey chili takes your favorite stove top or slow cooker chili and makes it in the pressure cooker. One thing I love about the pressure cooker is that it keeps everything in one pot and you can have a meal on the table in no time.
If you like instant pot recipes try this Instant Pot Turkey Taco Pasta, Instant Pot Pork Chili, Instant Pot Taco Soup, Instant Pot White Chicken Chili or this Instant Pot Cauliflower Soup.
Recipe Ingredients
For exact ingredient amounts and instructions, see the full recipe card below.
- Turkey: I used lean ground turkey in this recipe but you can easily swap out ground beef, ground chicken or ground pork.
- Red Bell Pepper: When I make chili I love using red bell pepper because of the sweetness it adds. You can use green bell pepper or any color you have on hand. Poblanos would also be a great option.
- Jalapeño: Jalapeño isn’t necessary but it adds a spicy kick to the chili. You can leave it out if you want.
- Spices: Chili Powder, Cumin, Paprika, Oregano, Cayenne Red Pepper: This spice mixture is my favorite in chili. You can use more or less to your liking. If you don’t like spice leave out the cayenne red pepper.
- Beans: Black Beans, Kidney Beans: The beans I used are black beans and red kidney beans. You can swap those out for other beans like white beans, red beans, chickpeas or pinto beans.
- Tomato Paste and Diced Tomatoes: The tomato paste and diced tomatoes help bulk up the chili and add that tomato flavor to the chili.
- Corn: I added canned corn to the chili which you can leave out. You also could swap for hominy or leftover cooked sweet corn.
How Do You Make Chili in the Instant Pot?
A couple of months ago I shared a recipe for Easy Instant Pot Beef Chili, which my family loved. I feel like I perfected that chili recipe in the pressure cooker which made this recipe easy to make following those instructions. You will start by using the sauté mode on your pressure cooker. Turn it to the high setting and let it heat up. Once it is heated add the olive oil.
Step 1. Cook Turkey: Once the pressure cooker heats the oil add turkey to the bottom of the pot and let it sit for a few minutes and brown on the bottom.
From there you will break the meat apart and continue to sauté until the meat is browned. Drain the meat of any fat and discard and set the meat aside.
Step 2. Saute the Vegetables: Put 1 additional Tablespoon of olive oil in the pressure cooker and add the garlic and onion and cook for 1 minute. Add the bell pepper and jalapeño and all of the spices and continue to sauté until the bell pepper is tender. Put the ground turkey back in and 1/2 a cup of the broth.
Step 3. Deglaze the Pot: Use your spoon to deglaze the Instant Pot, making sure to scrape away all of the browned bits of food. This helps to ensure that your food doesn’t burn during the pressure cooking phase.
Step 4. Add Remaining Ingredients: Add the broth, beans, the tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn and seal the lid. Make sure not to stir as you want the tomatoes and beans on the top.
Step 5. Pressure Cook: Close lid and pressure cook on Manual at High Pressure for 15 minutes, followed by quick release when time is up. Carefully open the lid and give it a stir. If you want to release more flavor you can natural release for 5 minutes and then quick release.
Step 6. Serve Soup: Serve with tortilla chips and your favorite toppings like cheddar cheese.
How to Thicken the Chili: If you want it to thicken the chili up more you can put the lid back on and let it sit for a couple of minutes. You can also use 1 Tablespoon cornstarch and 1 Tablespoon water and mix those two together and then add it to the chili to thicken or add additional tomato paste to the chili and stir.
Ways to Modify this Recipe
- Beans: Add a variety of beans. Some of my favorites in chili are white beans, pinto beans, chickpeas or navy beans.
- Hominy: If you have a can of hominy in the pantry throw that in. We love the texture it adds to chili.
- Spicy: For the spicy chili lovers, chop up a jalapeño and throw that in. You can also add hot sauce and extra cayenne pepper. If you have a chili seasoning that often will add extra heat.
- Poblanos: If you love the flavor of poblanos you can easily add a chopped poblano when you are cooking your bell pepper and onion.
- Garnishes: When it comes to toppings I love setting out a variety for people to pick from. Some ideas are green onions, red onion, cilantro, sour cream, cheese, diced tomatoes, jalapeños, salsa, hot sauce, pickled onions, pickled vegetables, guacamole and salsa verde.
Storage Tips
Store the leftover chili in an airtight container for up to 4 days. To reheat you can heat up on the stove or you can microwave.
You also can freeze this chili. Let it cool completely and then freeze in an airtight container, freezer safe container for up to 3 months.
More Chili Recipes
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Instant Pot Turkey Chili
Video
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup diced sweet onion
- 1 large red pepper bell pepper, seeds removed, chopped
- 1 jalapeño, seeds removed, chopped {optional for spice}
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne red pepper {optional for spice}
- 1- 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 – 15 ounce cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 – 15 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 – 6 ounce tomato paste
- 1 cup chicken broth {divided-you will use 1/2 cup of the broth to deglaze the pot then you will add the 1/2 cup later in the recipe}
- 1 – 15 ounce can of corn, drained and rinsed
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Set a pressure cooker or Instant Pot to the normal sauté setting. Let it heat before adding the olive oil. Once heated add 2 Tablespoons olive oil and let the oil heat for about 20 seconds making sure the oil is covering the whole bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Add the ground turkey to the Instant Pot along with a dash of salt and pepper and cook for about 2 minutes not stirring it {you want to create a layer of browning on the meat}.
- Use a large wooden spoon to break apart the turkey and continue to sauté until the turkey is browned, about 4-5 minutes.
- Remove the turkey from the pot and drain the fat from the ground turkey and set aside in a bowl to discard {there won't be much fat with the turkey since it is pretty lean}.
- Add the remaining 1 Tablespoons olive oil to the InstaPot on the sauté mode still. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the bell pepper, jalapeño, chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, cayenne pepper and continue to sauté until the bell pepper is tender, about 2 to 3 minutes and the spices start to release their fragrance.
- Add 1/2 of a cup of the chicken broth to help deglze your pot and allow all the food to release from the bottom of the pot.
- Use your spoon to deglaze the pan by scraping away all of the browned bits of food {THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT}.
- Add the ground turkey, beans, remaining 1/2 cup of the chicken broth, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and corn in that order {DO NOT MIX} and seal the pot. Cancel the sauté function.
- Close lid and pressure cook on Manual at High Pressure for 15 minutes, followed by quick release when time is up {if you want more flavor do a 5 minute natural release then quick release}. Turn off your Instant Pot and carefully open your lid. Stir in fresh cilantro and a dash of salt and pepper.
- Serve warm with your favorite garnishes like sour cream, cheese, cilantro and crushed chips.
Notes
- To thicken: If the chili is not thick enough for your liking add more tomato paste or corn starch to thicken it up.
- You can leave the jalapeño out or you can even add more spice but using more jalapeño or adding crushed pepper.
- I drain the diced tomatoes to create a thicker chili. If you prefer it to be thinner you don’t have to drain the tomatoes.
- Make sure to deglaze the pot at step 9. This helps to make sure that you don’t get the burn notification.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe is fantastic!! We loved the depth of flavor, my Dad commented that it was so rich he couldn’t believe it wasn’t beef. We ate the leftovers for days and cannot wait to make again! We served with a dollop of sour cream and some tortilla strips, which helped to thicken it up as we ate it.
Thanks for the feedback! I am so glad you liked it.
I added extra spices to this chili and loved it even more than the first time. I also added some hot sauce and chopped jalapeno at the end.
Love the idea of more spice!
Made this tonight as per directions substituting great northern beans instead of red kidney ( didn’t have any), accidentally opened a can of baby corn so I used that cutting pieces in half, and added a frozen bag of rice cauliflower. The chili came out thick and yummy. My toppings were Monterey jack, avocado, and tortilla strips. Will be pinning this one to make again.
Thank you
Thanks for sharing! I love the idea of adding in bacon. I bet it added in so much flavor!
what size instant pot do you use?
A 6 quart.
This came out more like soup for me. What could I have done wrong?
I had the same problem. I’m now slow cooking to hopefully thicken it up
You can add tomato past in to thicken or take 1 Tablespoon water and 1 Tablespoons cornstarch to help thicken it. Also when the instant pot is done with the quick release you can leave the lid on for a few minutes to help thicken everything up. I have that in the notes and in the blog post but sometimes people miss that. Sorry! I hope you liked it and figured out how to thicken it to your liking.
I just have a question about the turkey chili that states 40 min of cook time…im must be missing something, but i cant find 40 min of cooktime…thank you
I put 40 minutes because some people’s Instant Pot will take 30 to 40 minutes total by the time you sauté the meat, then heat the Instant Pot, then cook it and then do the release. It can be faster for some Instant Pots. Does that answer your question?
I followed the directions but when I cook in instant pot I get BURN FOOD notice. I’m trying a time change right now using less pressure and 15 minutes.
That can happen if you don’t do the step where you add the broth and deglaze the bottom of the pot. Did you do that step? Also if you don’t add the ingredients in the order that is listed? If you have done those things and followed it exactly I suggest adding another 1 cup of broth. When you do MANUAL high for 5 minutes it should only need the 1 cup total broth {1/2 cup to deglaze and half to use in the chili} but maybe for some reason your instant pot needs more broth?
You reply to a previous comment And said it was 2 cups total of broth. Please clarify
It was coming out more like a soup so I have modified it since then to be 1 cup of broth-1/2 a cup to deglaze the bottom of the pot and then 1/2 cup of broth. So 1 cup total.
@Eugenia Grayer, I also got a burn message. Maybe I didn’t scrape the bottom enough when deglazing. I was able to rescue the chili and it’s delicious.
Yes if you don’t scrape and deglaze the bottom enough you will get a burn message. Glad it ended up turning out ok.
crushed and petit tomatoes good in the insta pot too?
Yes I have used both and they worked.
High pressure ? My instant pot doesn’t have that option ?
What type of Instant Pot do you have? Mine has high or low pressure–if you let me know what your options are I can try to figure out what you should do!
Sorry! I hope it wasn’t confusing. I hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks for Sharing.
I have been looking for a “healthy chili” recipe to try out at home and I am happy I found this.
I have always been a fan of store bought chili’s which I review, but I am also trying out homemade ones.
Please keep sharing!
Cheers
Hope you like it!