Last week, a friend of mine asked me if I took requests for Chew Nibble Nosh. My response, “ABSOLUTELY!” I love to search out excellent recipes that are actually useful to people, so by all means, throw your requests my way!!
Megan asked for a white chicken chili recipe, so I immediately set to work. I hadn’t made chicken chili in quite a long time, and I used to make a version that my husband absolutely loved. When it came down to sharing that recipe with Megan, and all of you, I couldn’t find the recipe! It’s hidden, somewhere, in the abyss that is my recipe collection. *sigh* So, I did some online research and found a recipe that sounded like it had a lot of the same components. And the things it didn’t have, I tweaked and made sure were in there. All in all, we were very happy with the result!
I started by chopping up an onion, some garlic, two poblano peppers, and one jalapeno pepper. If you’re not a pepper person, poblanos kind of look like large jalapenos.
Poblanos are pretty mild, as far as pepper heat goes. In general, a white chicken chili is more about flavor than heat. Sure, there’s a little bit of spice in here, but nothing mind-blowing or painful, by any means! (My kids ate it without flinching.)
I also drained two cans of white beans, and then mashed up half of the beans with my potato masher. These mashed beans would add some body to the broth, and help to thicken things up just a bit.
Once my veggies were prepped, I sautéed the peppers, along with the onions and garlic, on the stove top for just a few minutes to soften them up. Once they were soft, I stirred in my spices. Into the pepper mix went some cumin, ground coriander, chili powder, salt, and pepper.
I stirred the spices into the vegetables for about a minute, to toast up the spice a bit, before adding some chicken broth, the juice of two limes, and both my mashed and whole white beans.
Once everything was stirred in, I brought the chili to a boil and then reduced it to a simmer. It simmered on the stove for about twenty minutes.
While it was simmering, I focused on getting the rest of the ingredients ready. I chopped up some fresh cilantro, cut up a lime to serve with the finished chili, let some frozen corn thaw a bit, and got my chicken ready to go. Chicken wise, I had shredded up the meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken earlier in the day. If you’re using your own chicken, I’d say go for 4 cups of shredded chicken.
After twenty minutes on the stove, I added my shredded chicken, the cilantro, and corn to the pot.
I let it all simmer for about five minutes more, and then we were ready for dinner!
Megan, I hope you and your family enjoy this as much as we did. I’m so glad you asked me to search this out, because we had an excellent time being the chicken chili guinea pigs! The chili was light, but intensely flavorful and hearty. We really enjoyed it, and it will definitely make another appearance at our dinner table.
WHITE CHICKEN CHILI
Adapted from The Neelys @ Food Network
White Chicken Chili
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Soup
Author: Adapted from The Neelys
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4-6
- 2 (14.5 oz.) cans white beans
- 1 Tbsp. canola oil
- 1 medium jalapeno pepper, minced
- 2 medium poblano peppers, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- kosher salt and pepper
- 1 Tbsp. cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 4 cups low sodium, fat-free, chicken broth
- 2 limes, juiced, plus extra wedges for serving
- 1 rotisserie chicken, skin removed and meat shredded (or 4 cups shredded chicken)
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
- 3/4 cup frozen corn
- sour cream, cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips for serving
- Drain and rinse the white beans. In a medium-sized bowl, mash half of the beans with a potato masher. Set the beans aside.
- Add the canola oil to a large saucepan on the stove. Heat the oil over medium heat, and when hot, add the peppers, onion, and garlic. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper.
- Add the cumin, coriander and chili powder. Continue to stir the mixture for about a minute, giving the spices time to toast up.
- Stir in the chicken broth and lime juice. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
- Add the beans and continue to simmer for 20 more minutes.
- After 20 minutes of simmering, taste for seasoning. Adjust appropriately, if needed.
- Stir in the shredded chicken, cilantro and corn. Bring chili back up to a simmer and cook for about 5 more minutes.
- Serve the chili topped with sour cream, cheddar cheese, tortilla chips and lime.
- ENJOY!
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