Easy Turkey Kielbasa Chili
Easy turkey kielbasa chili is naturally gluten free, as long as the sausage you use is, and (even with a full 26-28 oz of kielbasa in here) it's much lower in fat than traditional ground beef chili.
Servings 6
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil (see Note)
- Two 13-14 oz turkey kielbasa dinner sausage, halved lengthwise then sliced into half moons
- 6 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 Tbsp)
- ½ of a medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 1 medium sweet bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow, roughly chopped)
- 14.5 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
- 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1.5 tablespoon chili powder
- ½ tablespoon cumin
- ½ tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon cayenne (omit if you are sensitive to heat)
Instructions
- Chop your vegetables and cut up the sausage. When those are ready, heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering, then add the sausage, onion, bell pepper, and garlic.
- Saute for 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion and pepper begin to soften.
- While your sausage/pepper/onion mixture is cooking, open up all your cans and rinse and drain the beans.
- Once the vegetables are softened, stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, beans, and spices. Reduce heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally.
- Serve hot. One optional serving suggestion: Serve over cooked rice topped with shredded cheddar cheese and/or sour cream.
Notes
If you're using regular rather than turkey kielbasa, you might reduce the olive oil to 1 Tbsp. Note also that turkey kielbasa doesn't brown up as much as regular, but will still be darn tasty in the final chili.