White Chicken Chili

I was going to name this "Award-Winning" White Chicken Chili but I can't risk my husband saying it has gone to my head that this chili recently won a work chili cook off. HA! 

In any case - in response to the folks asking for the recipe, and the fact that I've made this one a lot, so have ironed out the kinks, I'm adding it here to this blog. It's my favorite chicken chili and I found the original recipe here - but made a few tiny changes to it and make it at least once a year.

Ingredients:

1 small yellow onion, diced (small dice or mince)
1 TBS olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed through garlic press or minced
1 32-ounce carton of chicken broth (I use regular but you can use low sodium as well)
1 4-ounce can of diced green chilis 

1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 8-ounce package Neufchatel (1/3 less fat cream cheese) - cutting into cubes will help this mix in faster but isn't necessary)
1 1/4 cups corn (fresh or frozen)
2 15-ounce cans white beans (cannelini or northern), drained. Set 1 cup of beans aside.
2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups chicken - I roast two bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts ahead of time and shred/break up into bite-sized pieces. You absolutely could use a rotisserie chicken.
1 TBS fresh lime juice (squeeze the lime...do not use the fake stuff they sell in the store.)
2 TBS chopped fresh cilantro

Toppings and tortilla chips (more cilantro, cheese, fresh lime, sliced or diced avocado)

Get your ingredients measured, chopped, sliced and diced ahead of time! (You can measure all of the spices into the same container)

Now you can cook! I make this on the stovetop in a large (six quart) dutch oven. It makes enough for about 6-8 servings.

1. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Give this a little time to heat, you're looking for the oil to become shimmery/shiny. This makes for better sautéed onions - you want them to sizzle when they hit the pan. Sauté them for about four-five minutes - until they are translucent and a light gold. Add the garlic and sauté for about 30 more seconds. Do not walk away here - garlic will burn very quickly and then you will need to start over!

2. Add the chicken broth, green chilis, all of the spices (cumin, paprika, oregano, coriander, cayenne) and bring this mixture to a boil. Reduce the head to medium-low and simmer for about 15 minutes.

3. Ok - take that one cup of beans you set aside, scoop about 1/4 cup of the broth that is simmering and puree them in a food processor until they are nearly smooth. (You can use a blender for this as well. It adds a nice thickness to this chili so while you can skip this step, I prefer to do it.)

4. Once the broth mixture has simmered for 15 minutes, add the Neufchatel cheese, the corn, the whole beans and the pureed beans and stir well - a whisk can help speed the cream cheese melting...it might look like you have tiny spots of cheese in there but that's ok. They will all eventually melt. Simmer for 5-10 minutes longer.

5. It should look nice and creamy now - you can stir in the chicken, fresh lime juice and cilantro (I like a lot of chicken in mine but you can eyeball it and use any extra chicken for a salad or other meal). 

6. Now you season it! For soups or chilis you always season to taste at the end since you're building the flavors and don't want to over do it early in the game. For this meal I'm usually seasoning only with salt and pepper at this point but you can season the spice to your taste here, too. I typically salt/pepper - stir - taste - salt and pepper and repeat until you're happy with it. A good trick is to scoop out a little bit and put it in a small bowl - taste it and then season the entire batch. Then taste what you seasoned and compare it with the small bowl - you can start to gage how much seasoning makes your desired outcome.

Like most stews and chilis - this tastes better the next day, after all of the flavors meld together. 

Serve with cheese (I like using Mexican Quesadilla cheese but Monterey Jack or a sharp cheddar works well here. Sliced or diced avocados and a little extra cilantro and, of course, chips.

Also - this can be transferred to a slow cooker to warm up/keep warm for a party or, say, a work chili cookoff. 

Sweet Fenway patiently waiting 
for more snuggles.