Next Post
Our 2024 Thanksgiving Menu and Guide.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Spicy Buffalo Turkey Chili. This chili is perfect for game day, family dinners, and all the chilly nights ahead. It’s made with quick-to-cook ground turkey, enchilada sauce, hot sauce, poblano peppers, and spices, plus a touch of creaminess to balance all the spice. It’s so delicious. Top each bowl with plenty of cheddar cheese, fresh cilantro, avocado, and, of course, lots of salty, crunchy tortilla chips. And a squeeze of lime is delicious!
Happy Halloween! If you’re a longtime follower, you probably know that I love Halloween. It’s such a fun holiday that really has no stress. Everyone, no matter their age, has the opportunity to be someone new for the day. Dress up, maybe host a party, or hand out candy, and definitely sneak in a few pieces of candy, too!
I’m excited because, in between all the work travel, I actually get to be home for Halloween this year. My little brother, Oslo, is dressing up as Batman, and I can’t wait to see him before he heads out tonight. He is so excited!
Something I always looked forward to as a kid was heading back to my grandparents after trick-or-treating for dinner. Usually, Nonnie would order pizzas for everyone, or she’d make a big pot of her chili. Some years, she’d just make both!
As a kid, I loved both pizza and chili, but her chili has always felt like the perfect Halloween dinner. I try to continue her tradition and always make chili or a cozy soup on Halloween night!
My family will never turn down a pot of chili. I made a double batch and froze half for later this month! Soups and chilis have been my go-to recently, and I’m trying to stock the freezer!
Onto the Details
Ingredients
- salted butter
- ground turkey, or use ground chicken, whatever you prefer
- onions
- poblano peppers
- celery garlic powder
- smoked paprika
- chipotle chili powder
- hot sauce
- red enchilada sauce
- broth
- yogurt
- cilantro
- fresh squeeze of lime juice
Special Tools
None! A big chili pot is all you need, plus customary items like a cutting board, a sharp knife, and a spatula.
Steps
Step 1: brown the turkey
In a big pot, start cooking the turkey with butter, onion, poblano peppers, and some celery. If the celery sounds odd, I encourage you to give it a try. It’s a classic with buffalo sauce. My dad actually took the time to call it out and say that he doesn’t usually like celery but that it was really good used in this chili!
We love to hear that!
Step 2: almost everything else
Now add the hot sauce, enchilada sauce, and broth and give everything a big stir.
Ideally, you let the chili simmer a few hours, but if you only have 10 minutes, that will work too. The more time to slow cook the more flavorful the chili.
Step 3: add the yogurt and cheese
When ready, mix a dollop of yogurt and a handful of cheese into the chili. The yogurt adds a nice creaminess to the chili and helps to cut down the spice level.
Always lots of cilantro tossed in at the end.
Finish this up!
Chili toppings are the best part. Because this is a mix between buffalo-style chili and tortilla soup, I knew salted, crunchy tortilla chips would be great!
I like to serve this chili with a handful of sharp cheddar cheese, yogurt, avocado, cilantro, chips, sea salt, and lime juice!
Everything came out so good! I’ll be making this throughout the fall and winter months!
I also love using turkey in this. I usually cook with chicken or beef, but this was a nice change! We really enjoyed it!
And at Thanksgiving, you could even use the leftover turkey for the chili. That would be great, too.
Looking for other warming winter dinners? Here are a few ideas:
Crockpot Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup
Better For You Chicken and Spinach Ramen
Creamy Butternut Squash Butter Chicken
30 Minute Spicy Indian Butter Chicken
Coconut Milk Braised Black Pepper Chicken
Coconut Sweet Potato Lentil Soup with Rice
Lastly, if you make this Spicy Buffalo Turkey Chili, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Spicy Buffalo Turkey Chili
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 317 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 pounds ground turkey or chicken
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 poblano peppers, seeded and chopped
- 3/4 cup chopped celery
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
- salt and black pepper
- 1/2 cup hot sauce
- 3 cups red enchilada sauce
- 2-4 cups bone broth
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt or melted cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- lots of salted tortilla chips
- yogurt, avocado, and green onion, for serving
Instructions
- 1. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the turkey, onion, poblano pepper, celery, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5-10 minutes until the turkey is browned all over. 2. Add the hot sauce, enchilada sauce, and broth. Simmer for 10 minutes or up to all day. The longer you can cook, the more flavor the chili will have.3. Stir in the yogurt or melted cream cheese. Add the cheddar cheese. Cook for 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro4. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with tortilla chips. Then, finish as desired with a dollop of yogurt, avocado, green onions, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime juice. Enjoy!
This post was originally published on October 31, 2024
Awesome recipe!! I chose to use half the hot sauce and it was plenty hot. Maybe my pablano peppers had some heat. I would suggest leaving the hot sauce out if you don’t love too much heat and add when serving to suit your taste.
I served it with cornbread
Hi Diane,
Happy Sunday! Thanks a lot for trying this recipe and your comment, I’m so glad it was enjoyed! xxx
Wow I can not believe the negative comments about you posting recipes that are similar. There are only so many ingredients to work with! Sometimes just a little “twist” to an old recipe can make it feel new and different. Thank you for working so hard to post a new FREE recipe every day. I appreciate you!
Thank you so much, Tracy:) I appreciate you being here! Have the best Sunday! xT
Buffalo…Buffalo…Buffalo….how many times? I really like this blog. But for more than 2 yrs…its just one buffalo variation after another…c’mon! Rather than driving yourself to post “new” recipes
almost everyday…why not just pull back and actually educate yourself in a more advanced culinary sense in order to offer more than just the same stuff on repeat…w a
‘twist”? I really think you are at the point where you should advance your repertoire.
BTW…the first recipe I ever found and tried of yours was the butternut squash and sage pizza…prolly 2017’ish. I only offer this as an encouragement…not a discouragement!
Hey Tiffany, the reason for so many buffalo recipes is simple, my family really enjoys them! Any time I can make something with some buffalo sauce, I always do! The cool thing about our website is that we don’t charge to access any of our content, so you can easily pick the recipes that sound the yummiest to you and then skip any that don’t. It’s so great!
Let me know if you have any other questions or comments. Totally happy to answer! Hoping you are having a great November weekend!! xx
Another awesome recipe Tieghan – thank you for sharing. Made it today for the weekend and was very flavorful and just the right amount of heat. It was a bit “runny” for my expectation of chili (it was more like soup), but that was easily fixed with a bit of corn starch. Thanks again!
Thanks so much, Curt! I’m so glad to hear this recipe turned out well for you! Thanks for making it! Have the best weekend! xT
This recipe was much more palatable after I doctored it the next day, thankfully it could be salvaged. Followed the recipe per instructions and it was incredibly pungent. Way too much hot sauce and enchilada sauce. I had to add a lot more yogurt and bone broth to curb the zing, and this is coming from a girl who loves flavor and spice! I also added two cans of drained northern beans to balance out the broth ratio, ended up being a great addition. I would make it again but I’d cut those two ingredients in half and then add as you taste.
Hi Renee,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! So sorry to hear it was not enjoyed as is, I’m glad you were able to adjust it to your liking! xx
Would this still work if I take out the peppers and hot sauce as I have very spicy aversion kids (:) ) or would that sort of ruin it?
Hey Janice,
I would try a different chili recipe:) I have a bunch! Here are some you might enjoy:
https://fett-weg.today/creamy-white-chicken-chili/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://fett-weg.today/chipotle-bean-chili/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://fett-weg.today/queso-chicken-chili/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> https://fett-weg.today/healthy-slow-cooker-turkey-and-white-bean-chili/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> I hope this helps! xT
Ohhhh mannnn. This is a new favorite in our house. This was insanely delicious. I made the enchilada sauce because I didn’t have any on hand so it took a little longer. Even with the extra time, I’ll still put this in regular rotation. I only wish I’d doubled it. I’m already dreaming about it today. Thank you!!
Hey Paige,
Happy November!! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! Glad to hear it was a hit! 🍂
I thought this looked familiar so I searched the blog. You made a crockpot buffalo chicken chili in Feb 2024. The intro to both recipes is almost identical. Do you just copy and paste, switch a few ingredients and call it a new recipe. This is what worries me about your new book and why I haven’t purchased it yet. From the recipes I’ve seen they look almost identical to multiple recipes you have shared. In your IG stories today you made a ‘new’ recipe from your book with Jake Cohen. It looks like corn flake crusted chicken with buffalo sauce. This is not a new recipe-you have multiple iterations of this on your blog.
Hey Lara! The top paragraph of every post is used solely for SEO performance. This will help our recipe actually show up on a good search. So if they sound similar this why. We need to write them in a very specific format.
As you can tell from the ingredients within the recipe and body of this post these are clearly not the same recipe. Yes both have buffalo sauce but the key to to recipe is the use of enchilada sauce which add a slightly spicy flavor and tomatoes!! Different but delicious none the less! We loved the chili!
As for the recipes in the new cookbook. They are all new recipes. Some are variations on tried and true favorites, some are completely new like my Salisbury steak, beef brisket and most of the recipes in the book! The recipes that have been adapted from old recipes are made even better for the cookbook! I can’t wait to share ALL of them!
Hoping this make sense but happy to help answer any more questions! Thank you and happy November! Xx
Big fan for years but I could see where the confusion lies with a new cookbook. When you are generating a recipe a day for years how could you possibly come up with 125 absolutely new ones? There is no way ( hence all the chicken and orzo variations on the blog). So I am glad you are being honest about the book having variations of old recipes!!
The difference from the Feb 2024 recipe is it swaps the enchilada sauce for fire roasted tomatoes and chicken for the ground turkey so clearly not that different indeed. Those are the only main differences. Even the photos look identical.
What kind of bone broth? Chicken or beef? Thank you
Hey Carolyn,
I used beef bone broth, but you could use either one! I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! XxT
I think you left out the cheddar cheese in your list of ingredients. Guessing about 1/2 cup?
Hey Rani,
Sorry about that, it’s 1 cup of cheddar cheese:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
Hi, How much cheddar cheese?
Plan to make tonight.
Thanks!
Hey Evangeline,
You are going to use 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. I hope you love this recipe! Happy Halloween:)
Looks good. What is “buffalo style chili” and how is it different from regular chili? Thanks.
Thanks Amy! I used buffalo hot sauce in here to make it different than a regular chili. Let me know if you give this recipe a try! xx
How much cheddar cheese?
Hi Elinor,
You are going to use 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Let me know if you try this recipe, I hope you love it! Happy Halloween! xx
How much cheddar cheese? It’s listed below but not as an ingredient
Hi there,
It’s 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. I hope you love this recipe! xT
Step 1: do you add the turkey the same time as the other ingredients? It never said. Thank you!
My question too. Usually you cook veggies and then add the meat but we’ll see…
Hi Stephie,
I did the ground turkey with the veggies:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Hey Lori,
Yes, so sorry about that, I will get that fixed:) Let me know if you give this chili a try! XxT
This sounds like a really good flavour combo! I want to make it now!💖
Thanks so much, Rachel! Let me know if you give this recipe a try:) xT