High-Protein Turkey Chili Recipe

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If you've ever been involved in the world of fitness and nutrition, you know how important it is to incorporate protein into your diet. Protein not only helps build and maintain muscle, but also helps grow hair, build antibodies and enzymes, and repair connective tissue. And while, yes, there is such a thing as too much protein, it's hard to eat enough to get there. It doesn't hurt to prioritize protein in your diet, whether you're a high-performance athlete or just looking to be the strongest and most energetic version of yourself.

Incorporating high amounts of protein into a standard diet can often involve some help from powders and supplements. The truth is, though, that most diets can thrive on the protein found in food alone. There are many ingredients that have way more protein that you realize, including some fruits, starchy veg, and even certain types of pasta. This high protein turkey-quinoa chili recipe, written with Michelle McGlinn, incorporates protein-packed ingredients like turkey, quinoa, 2 kinds of beans, Greek yogurt, and pumpkin seeds to deliver a delicious, protein-powder-free meal loaded with enough protein to help hit your daily goals — whatever those may be.

The protein-packed ingredients you'll need for this recipe include ground turkey, kidney beans, pinto beans, quinoa, Greek yogurt, and pepitas, a type of pumpkin seed. Since this recipe is made for a week's worth of meal prep, you'll want to grab an extra pound of turkey to make an extra-large batch. With the protein covered, flavor the chili with onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne. From there, you'll just need olive oil, tomato paste, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and beef broth to turn it into chili.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Add the turkey, onion, and garlic and cook until the turkey is browned and the vegetables are softened, crumbling while cooking, about 5 minutes.

Add the chili powder, cumin, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and cayenne, and mix to combine.

Add the tomato paste and stir to combine, then cook until it's beginning to stick to the bottom of the pot, about 3 minutes.

Deglaze with the beef broth, scraping any browned bits. Remove from the heat.

Transfer the mixture to a slow cooker and add the beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and quinoa.

Cook on low for 4-5 hours or high 2-3, or until the quinoa is cooked.

Serve with Greek yogurt and pepitas, if desired.

This chili recipe is easy to make vegetarian and can even be equally as protein-rich without the turkey. If beans and quinoa are enough protein for your goals, simply omit the turkey and swap the beef broth for vegetable broth for a perfectly delicious vegetarian version of this chili. You'll also want to leave out the Worcestershire sauce or find a vegetarian version. To stretch the portions to last for a whole week (as this turkey chili is designed to do), double the amount of beans — or add a new bean entirely, such as chickpeas or black beans.

There are also a few notable vegan protein options to add if you'd like to maximize the protein in a vegetarian version of this chili. You can add peeled and cubed sweet potatoes, which have around 2 grams per potato, and fold seamlessly into chilis, adding a touch of earthy sweetness and a pleasant texture. You can also add peas, which have a higher 8 grams of protein per cup and work well in almost any soup or stew-like dish. To really maximize the plant-based protein in this chili, you can also turn to crumbled tofu and tempeh, which each have 20 and 30 grams of protein per cup, respectively.

Because 2 pounds of turkey is about 122 grams of protein, 1 cup of quinoa is about 24 grams, the kidney beans add a little over 20, and the pinto beans add a whopping 41 grams, the entire batch of chili has just over 210 grams of protein. This also includes the beef broth, which adds a few grams to the batch's total. With a dollop of Greek yogurt and a handful of pepitas, each serving is about 40 grams of protein per bowl. For many, this could account for a significant amount of a daily total.

There are ways to increase the protein amount further by adding other whole-food ingredients. As with the vegetarian version, you can add peeled and cubed sweet potatoes or peas to push your serving's total closer to 50 grams. You can also add ground chicken, another source of lean protein, or try adding a cup of lentils — though we recommend doubling your seasoning and your beef broth for these, because the overall volume of the chili will increase.

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