With things as busy as they are in my life right now, I’m all about slow cooker meals. When I plan our menu for the week I try to include at least one recipe that I can prep ahead of time and throw in the slow cooker before I walk out the door in the morning. It’s usually at least 10 hours before anyone is home to tend to the meal, but my slow cooker has a timer and will switch to “keep warm” after the requisite number of hours I’ve set it for. Even when making a recipe that calls for as few as 4 hours of cook time, I haven’t found that meals have suffered in quality being left on the keep warm function for 6 or more hours. Ah, the beauty of the slow cooker. It’s a total life saver right now.
We buy a lot of ground turkey, and I’m always looking for new ways to utilize it. I came across this tequila lime chili a few weeks ago in one of my cookbooks, and loved the sound of the Mexican twist on plain turkey chili. Just a few days later, Josie posted it to her blog and said she and her family were big fans of the recipe, which made me doubly excited about trying it. The recipe does require some prep – it’s not as simple as throwing everything in the slow cooker and letting it do its magic unfortunately. That said, I spent maybe 30 or 40 minutes working on it one Sunday afternoon and had meals for a few days so I think it’s worth it. Shane and I both enjoyed the chili a lot, if I recall correctly we were gobbling it up when the kids came to our door on Halloween. The tequila and lime aren’t so subtle you can’t detect them, but they’re also not completely overwhelming. The recipe is adaptable in so many ways – you could definitely add more tequila and lime to really amp things up, you could add beans (they were in the original recipe, I took them out), and you can top with your favorite chili garnishes. It’s a definite repeat in our house this winter, great comfort food for sure!
Slow Cooker Tequila Lime Chili
adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution
1 slice sandwich bread, torn into pieces
2 tablespoons milk
1 lb ground turkey
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
2 onions, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup tequila (plus more for serving, if desired)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon minced chipotle chile in adobo
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (plus more for serving, if desired)
To Serve:
sour cream, cheddar cheese, parsley or your favorite chili toppings
Use a fork to mash the bread and milk into a paste in a large bowl. Add the ground turkey, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and gently mix to combine.
Add the oil to a large skillet set over medium heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the onions, chili powder, tomato paste, garlic, cumin, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened and browned.
Add the ground turkey mixture and cook until no longer pink, using a wooden spoon to break up large pieces. Mix in the tomato sauce, using the spoon to scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Transfer everything in the pan to the slow cooker. Add the diced tomatoes (including their juice), 3 tablespoons of the tequila, the soy sauce, honey, and chipotle chile, stirring to combine. Cook on low for 4-6 hours, or until the ground turkey is very tender.
Stir in remaining tablespoon of tequila, and the lime zest and juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add additional tequila or lime juice if desired.
I recently bought a plug-timer to use on my slow cooker because mine only has high low and off settings. I am usually gone from home longer than 6 hours so slow cooker meals never occur except on weekends for me (sounds silly I know). But I am excited to start trying it out with my new timer! This chili sounds amazing.
I love really good slow cooker recipes…it always feels like I have a chef at home cooking for me when I am out when I use mine. And the smell when you enter the house after a long day just can’t be beat! This looks really good…we are all about the chili on Big Ten ballgame days so you can bet I will be trying this one out soon.
I legitimately can’t wait to make this. As in, I wish I had a slow cooker (…and all the ingredients?) in my office right now. π
This chili looks amazing! I love the little tequila and lime addition…yum!
I saw this on Josie’s blog and wanted to try it but now that both of you have given it rave reviews, I need to make it immediately! Might have to leave out the tequila because of the kids though. Not sure they’d appreciate the taste. I can’t wait to make it!
This almost makes me wish we still had a slow cooker. Especially the keep warm feature!
Looks delish to me! I love my slow cooker too, and am constantly finding new things to put in there!
Oh my gosh!! This looks delicious!! I have to try this!! YUM!!!!!
Char~
I am all over my slow cooker these days! Love this recipe.
I love a good boel of warm chili. We will have weather for it soon.
delicious looking chili looks wonderful
PERFECT for these cooler nights we are having. The pic is wonderful. Love the double bowls. I need to make chili real soon. In the slow cooker!!
I love chili in fall. I just made some tonight actually! I’m going to have to try this recipe next time though. I love all the flavors and ingredients.
This sounds really good. I used tequila in a glaze for chicken a few weeks ago and loved it even though I don’t like it as a drink. I bet this chili is amazing with these flavors.
Which slow cooker (brand, volume, etc) do you have? Mine is old (18 years?) and definitely low tech–high, low, and off. I like the idea of a keep warm feature–my rice cooker has one, and it’s great.
I love slow cooker recipes and I love Slow Cooker Revolution! Your photos look beautiful!
This is such a neat idea! Yum π
The only think I like more than drinking Tequila is eating it.
This is just a great looking recipe! I love the tequila addition π
Please check out my recipe for vegetarian chili that I think you’ll really enjoy! http://bit.ly/vegchilirec
Thanks!
I love cooking in my slow cooker and am not sure why I don’t use it more often. Seems like a no brainer, especially when I’m working. 40 minutes of work on a recipe is absolutely worth a few meals! This recipe sounds delicious.
this is going on my dinner menu as soon as the weather cools off again. (yay for 80 degree weather lately, boo) and stock up on some tequila. how we ran out of tequila, i’ll never know. but yes to this. looooove chili!!
Yum! I am all about slow cooker recipes right now, and I love the look of this chili. Those bowls in your photos are really cute, too!
I love that you are previewing all the recipes in Slow Cooker Revolution for me…thanks! This one is definitely on my to-try list.
we are gone for sooooo long each day—is 9 hrs on low in the crockpot going to ruin this? if so ill cook it one night after work and we can just reheat the next day!
We made this today and it was by far the best-tasting chili we have ever had. In fact, we have to make another batch because we ate so much of it. Thank you for sharing!
How many does this recipe serve?
@Sarah – I’d say 4, though if you have a big eater (like my husband), maybe 3 π
Would this work with ground beef? My husband doesn’t do ground turkey…
@Janice – I don’t see why not, though the ground beef is definitely not going to be as lean as the turkey so you may end up wanting to skim the surface of the chili before serving.
Will there be a big difference if I leave the tequila out. I am not a tequila drinker at all and I dont want to go buy a big bottle of tequila just for this recipe.
@Anon – I haven’t tried it, but I don’t think the recipe is going to be as flavorful without the tequila. I’m not aware of a substitute to suggest for the tequila either, sorry!
I wonder if you can get tequila in a nip size.
Every time I try to make chill in my slow cooker it turns the meat to mush. Any ideas? I’m not sure if I’m cooking it too high? too long? or my machine is crappy.