Some foods are fattening by their very nature -- French fries and mocha lattes with whipped cream come to mind. Other foods are fattening only if you overindulge, as one small piece of apple pie after a low-calorie dinner won't necessarily ruin your diet. Turkey chili presents a mixed picture. It offers a far less fattening choice than typical ground beef chili, but it may or may not provide a non-fattening meal option.
Healthy Turkey Chili
The American Institute for Cancer Research offers a recipe for turkey chili and notes that it is more healthful than one with ground beef. The recipe includes two cans of beans and weighs in at 260 calories per serving, with 4.5 g of fat. A recipe offered by MayoClinic.com suggests using chopped turkey breast instead of ground turkey for more flavor. This chili also includes two cans of beans and contains 277 calories per serving with 5 g of fat.
Fattening Turkey Chili
In the brochure, "Recipes and Tips for Healthy, Thrifty Meals," published in 2000, the USDA offers a recipe for turkey chili that contains 540 calories per serving with 26 g of fat. This recipe gets its calories and fat from adding 3 tbsp. of cheddar cheese to each serving and including only one can of beans instead of two. Omitting cheese from your version of turkey chili, or using a small amount of reduced-fat cheese, will save 171 calories per serving.
Ground Turkey versus Chopped Turkey
Read labels on the ground turkey you buy to ensure that you are getting the least fattening type. Both lean and regular ground turkey contain 2 to 2 1/2 g of fat for each 1 oz. of meat, whereas a 3 1/2 oz. turkey breast contains a little over 3 g of fat. As such, using chopped turkey breast instead of ground turkey for your chili will save you fat and calories.
Turkey versus Beef and Chicken
All types of turkey are less fattening than beef. According to the USDA, 95 percent lean ground beef contains 3 g of fat per ounce, more than either ground or chopped turkey. Ground beef that is 70 percent lean contains 5 g of fat per ounce. Some brands of ground chicken also contain more fat than ground turkey.
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