Are you a fan of Panera Bread's soups? Don't do take out! Learn how to make this hearty, healthy turkey chili copycat recipe at home. It's the perfect comfort food for when you're craving Tex-Mex, it's got the right amount of heat and is filled with lot of textural goodies.
Love Panera's soups? You'll definitely want to try our copycat recipes for 10 vegetable soup and baked potato soup.
Ingredients
The ingredients for this Panera turkey chili are easy to find at most large grocery stores in the U.S. The only ingredients that you may not be familiar with are the ancho chili pepper made by McCormick, and the pasilla chilies, which are found dried in the Mexican spice section.
- Meat: We used ground turkey with 85% meat, 15% fat, since it had the most fat content for extra flavor.
- Fresh Spices: We used chopped fresh cilantro.
- Dried Spices: We used chili powder, ancho chili pepper, pasilla chili pepper, cumin, crushed red pepper, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper.
- Fresh Vegetables: We used yellow onions, garlic, carrots, and tomatillos. The charred tomatillos will help thicken the chili and provide wonderful flavor.
- Frozen Vegetables: For ease, we used frozen yellow corn and shelled edamame. If you are allergic to soy, substitute with lima beans.
- Canned Vegetables: We used petite diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and fire roasted green chilies (medium).
- Citrus: We used freshly squeezed lime juice to brighten the chili at the very end.
- Stock: We used reduced sodium chicken stock.
- Sweetener: We used molasses instead of the traditional brown sugar to help off set the acidity of the tomatoes.
- Oil: We used olive oil.
Questions
Panera Bread sums it up best, "A hearty blend of dark-meat turkey raised without antibiotics and chickpeas and kidney beans slow cooked in an ancho and pasilla stock with tomatillos, tomatoes, edamame, carrots, cilantro, cumin and lime."
Panera Bread's turkey chili has 300 calories for a 1.5 cup serving size with 10g fat, 31g carbs and 21g protien. For the same serving size, our copycat chili recipe has 404 calories, 13.5g fat, 46.8g carbs, and 28.1g protein. Our version is just packed with veggies and meat and isn't as brothy.
Panera Bread's chili isn't that spicy. I would label our copycat version as mildly spicy. If you don't like your chili spicy at all, simply reduce the amount of red pepper flakes by half.
According to this nutritionist, she picked it as the healthiest soup choice on the kids' menu when it was paired with a salad and a squeeze yogurt.
Panera Bread choose ground turkey for this chili recipe because it is lower in fat then ground beef. If you prefer to use ground beef, try to pick one that is lower in fat to keep the nutritional facts similar.
Serve
Panera Bread serves their turkey chili without any additional toppings, but feel free to customize your bowl with grated cheese, sour cream, chopped onions, fresh cilantro, avocado slices, jalapenos, and tortilla strips.
Panera Bread gives their customers the option of a side order of a baguette, kettle chips, or an apple. I do agree this soup tastes great with those side options, but it also would taste wonderful with a fresh green salad or some homemade skillet cornbread.
How to Make
Gather the ingredients for the turkey chili. Below is pictured the vegetables and beans. If using leftover turkey, chop up the meat to be bite size.
In a large soup pot with a heavy bottom, heat up 2 tablespoons of oil and brown the ground turkey until it's no longer pink. Drain and set aside. If using leftover turkey, skip this step.
In the same pot, heat up the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and saute the onion and carrot until soft then cook the garlic until fragrant.
Add the dried spices.
Stir for a minute to bloom them, then add the tomato paste and cook while stirring for 2 minutes to 4 minutes.
Deglaze the bottom of the pot by pouring in a little chicken stock and scraping the brown bits off the bottom with a wooden turner.
Add the rest of the chicken stock, tomatoes, the charred and pureed tomatillos, green chilies, molasses, and the turkey. Stir well. Cover and bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Dump in the kidney beans, chick peas, corn and edamame. Stir then taste, adjust seasonings, if necessary. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat and add the fresh cilantro and lime juice.
Serve this Panera turkey chili while still warm with your favorite toppings. We like grated pepper jack cheese, tortilla strips, sour cream, and more cilantro.
Variations
- Need some meat options? Use ground beef or shredded turkey or chicken.
- Need this vegan? Leave out the turkey and double the beans.
- Need this soy free? Swap out the edamame with lima beans.
- Need this spicier? Increase the red pepper flakes to 2 teaspoons.
Pro Tips
- Dried pasilla chilis can be found in a bag in the Mexican section of large grocery stores. Using a spice grinder, grind up one large chili with the stem removed.
- Use fresh tomatillos that are rinsed, cut in half, charred and then pureed.
- Freeze in an airtight freezer container or zip-top bag for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat on the stovetop over medium heat.
Looking for other Panera copycat soups?
- Baked Potato Soup
- Bistro French Onion Soup
- Black Bean Soup
- Creamy Tomato Soup
- 10 Vegetable Soup
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Summer Corn Chowder
- Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
- Autumn Squash
- Broccoli Cheddar
Love Panera's bakery items? Try one for a side or dessert!
- Black Pepper Focaccia
- Tomato Basil Bread
- Lemon Drop Cookies
- Kitchen Sink Cookies
- Chocolate Chipper Cookies
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Recipe
Panera Turkey Chili Recipe Copycat
Ingredients
Meat and Aromatics
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 pounds ground turkey, 85% lean 15% fat or 4 cups chopped turkey
- 2 cups yellow onion, chopped
- 1 ½ cups carrots, chopped
- 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
Spices
- 2 tablespoons chili
- 4 ½ teaspoons salt
- 4 ½ teaspoons black pepper
- 4 teaspoons ancho chili pepper
- 4 teaspoons pasilla chili pepper, freshly ground
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, crushed
Veggies and Liquids
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 8 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 13 charred tomatillos, pureed
- 2 4- ounce cans fire roasted green chiles, medium
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 28- ounce cans petite diced tomatoes
- ¾ cup edamame, shelled
- 2 cups frozen corn, thawed
- 2 15- ounce cans dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 15- ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
Optional Garnishes
- Grated pepper jack cheese or pickled jalapenos for added spiciness
- Sour cream or sliced avocado
- Tortilla strips
- Cilantro
Instructions
- Turn the broiler on high, then line a large baking tray with foil. Remove the husks and stems from the tomatillos and wash them thoroughly. Cut them in half and place them cut side down on the foil, then char under the broiler until darkened, roughly 15-20 minutes. Remove from the tray and puree in a blender.
- Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a large, heavy-bottomed pot at medium high heat and heat until shimmering. Cook the ground turkey until it's no longer pink, roughly 5 minutes. Drain the meat and set aside. If using leftover turkey, shred or chop into bite size pieces.
- Heat the other 2 tablespoons of oil in the pot over medium heat until shimmering, then cook the onion and carrot until soft while stirring, roughly 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, roughly 30 seconds.
- Add the spices to the aromatics and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the tomato paste and cook over medium heat, stirring for 2 minutes.
- Increase the heat to medium high, then slowly pour in ½ cup of chicken stock while scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden turner. This step will build more flavor.
- Add the rest of the chicken stock, green chilis, molasses, turkey, the pureed tomatillos, and the canned tomatoes. (The tomatillos will add flavor and help thicken the soup.) Stir with a large wooden spoon, then cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Dump in the shelled edamame, corn, red kidney beans, and the chickpeas. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Cover and simmer for another 20 minutes.
- Remove the soup from the heat and stir in the cilantro and freshly squeezed lime juice.
- Garnish with grated pepper jack cheese, sour cream, tortilla strips, and chopped cilantro. Panera Bread serves their turkey chili plain with a side order of kettle chips, French baguette, or an apple. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Dried pasilla chilis can be found in a bag in the Mexican section of large grocery stores. Using a spice grinder, grind up one large chili with the stem removed.
- Freeze in an airtight freezer container or ziptop bag for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat on the stovetop over medium heat.
Cindy Gavin
The ingredient list calls for 8 cups low sodium chicken stock, but the instructions only require 1/2 cup of the chicken stock. Am I missing something?
Emma
Cindy, You add it in the next step after deglazing with the 1/2 cup of chicken stock. It's in the How to Make section with the photos, but now it's fixed in the recipe card. Thanks for letting us know. Enjoy!
Brianna
This was amazing!!!! Tried it tonight with my husband and we both love it. We will be adding this to our rotation! Thank you so much for sharing and now I can’t wait to try your other recipes!
Emma
Awww, thank you, Brianna! We're thrilled that you and your husband enjoyed the chili so much!