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Not So Copy-Cat Turkey Chickpea Chili

Let me start out my prefacing how excited I was for dinner last night..... SUPER EXCITED. I've been battling a cold so even though it was hot out I still felt like I wanted some comfort food. My husband wouldn't want soup so I thought chili. Well, 90 degree temps and my chili recipe didn't sound appealing and I started craving Panera Bread's/Saint Louis Bread Co.'s Turkey Chickpea Chili. The turkey and lighter broth make it more summer appealing. I love this soup/chili so I'd already looked up a copy-cat recipe online so all I had to do was get the ingredients! Well, in retrospect I should have just stopped by Bread Co. and picked up two bowls, or a bowl for me and an Asiago Roast Beef sandwich for my husband.

This recipe was really easy to prepare and looked amazing! It wasn't. The only similarities to the Panera soup and this one is the look. After I let it simmer about 30 minutes I wanted to taste it... there was WAY too much chili powder so it had a rough & grainy after taste PLUS there was WAY too much brown sugar so it was too sweet. AND - I think there is too much lime. Anyway - just incase anyone wants to try to tweak this recipe or something here it is....


Copy-Cat Panera Bread Turkey Chickpea Chili
Ingredients
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced celery
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cups water
3 cups or so leftover turkey meat (light and/or dark), tear/shred into 1/2-inch pieces1
(1 lb) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed, drained
1 (1 lb) can kidney beans, rinsed, drained
1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (Ro-Tel)
1/4 cup turkey or chicken broth (turkey jelly from pan)
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1 small lime, cut into quarters (squeeze juice into pot and then throw in)
1 tbsp lime juice (I omitted because this AND the lime sounded like too much - even omitted it was too much - IF I ever made this again I would just squeeze in the lime juice towards the end and leave it at that!)
1 tbsp modified corn starch (mixed in 1/4 cup water) (Did this maybe contribute to the grainy after taste - maybe not necessary)
3 tbsp chili powder (Too much!! Maybe 1-2 TBSP of chili powder and some Cayanne Pepper?)
2 tbsp brown sugar (Too much - maybe 1 tbsp and a pinch of cinnamon?)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt and pepper each (or to taste)
1/4 tsp MSG (optional, for meatier taste) (Totally left out - gross!)
Directions
- In a large pot saute onions, carrots, celery in olive oil until onion is transparent.
- Add 4 cups water to pot. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
- Cover and simmer on low for 3 hours; stir every hour.
- Remove the 4 pieces of lime.
Makes about 8 bowls
To make this a little more edible I added more Cumin, some Paprika and some tomato sauce... helped a little but not enough. I guess this week I'll need to go across the street and pick up some REAL Turkey Chickpea Chili for lunch one day!

Comments

  1. I'm sorry it didn't meet your expectation as a copy cat :( Hopefully you feel better from your cold and you'll be able to master a copy cat recipe for the chili that's truer to the original!

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  2. oh man, I'm looking for a good copy-cat recipe right now, I'm glad I didn't waste my money on these ingredients =P I'm so sad that this chickpea chili was so short-lived at Panera... at least down here in FL it was :( sniff, sniff. I fell in love also.

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