Jill Can Cook: White Chicken Chili

A couple of months ago, Joe and I attended my friend Shannon's birthday party where she served White Chicken Chili. I'd never had it before. No one I know had ever made it, so it wasn't even on my radar.

While she was serving it, Shannon raved about her friends recipe for White Chicken Chili and how she begged that friend to make it for her party. So, of course, I had to have some! I was surprised that I ended up liking it. It was filled with beans and onions and chili's; food I don't eat too often. Well, at all really, because I'm Mrs. Pickypants.

Joe was glad I went for it and liked it.

He was even more glad this week when I said I was going to take a stab at making it for him. I think he likes any time he comes home from work and dinner is waiting for him. Bonus points if it's something new!

White Chicken Chili

Adapted from Add A Pinch

 

Ingredients

 

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 (15-ounce) can white beans, with liquids from beans
• 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chilis, with liquids from chilis
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions 

1. Add all ingredients to a crockpot.
2. Stir until well-combined.
3. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours.
4. Remove chicken. Shred with two forks and then add back to the liquid.
5. Pour over rice (optional) and serve.

 

The original recipe called for this to be cooked on the stove, but since I was home all day and haven't used my crockpot in a couple of months, I figured I'd make it that way.

 

And since crockpot cooking is mostly just dumping ingredients in, this post will be low on pictures!

So, I did step #1 and ended up with this:

I ended up cutting the chicken in half so they'd cook a little faster.

I had the crockpot on high, so I left it alone for the obligatory 3-4 hours. I opened up the cover, fished out the chicken, and pulled them apart with a fork and a knife.



This part was super easy. I was done in no time!

Then I threw all the chicken back into the crockpot and set it to warm.

Yeah, this is a boring picture, but I just wanted to prove I put the chicken back in! Lol

I planned to serve this on rice, since I need some kind of carb. So, I measured that out and cooked that up while the chicken reintegrated in the crockpot.

And that's it! Joe came home and said he could smell it from outside! We all dug in and it was so delicious.

 

If you read the comments from the original recipe, lots of people said they loved it but would use more beans. I am not much of a bean person, so the amount of beans I ended up with was perfect as far as I was concerned.

It went really well with the rice. It added just enough substance to be really filling. I can't wait until the kids are older so I can add more chili powder, instead of pepper, in order to get a little extra spice. (And by the way, the kids didn't really like it. Boo hoo. Maybe I'll try again in a few months!)

We ended up with enough servings for the 4 of us to eat that evening, plus another 2 portions for Joe and I to have leftovers the next day. Both of us were really impressed with how well it reheated.

 

I think that maybe next time I make this, it should be in the winter instead of the super-mega hot summer! I think it would be the perfect dish for a snowy/wintry evening.

This was the first chili I've ever made and one of the only homemade chili's I've ever eaten, so I don't have much to compare it to, but I loved it and Joe really loved it. Was it better than Shannon's friends' chili? Hmm.. Probably not, but it ranked right up there with it!  I give this one an A+, without needing to tweak it at all! I think Joe would agree. (And the kids would give it an F, but they're so wishy washy, it barely counts. Lol)