Andrew’s sister-in-law Annie is an amazing cook. She’s the type of person who never follows a recipe; rather, she uses a recipe as a guide but changes nine different things and always seems to make it better. Truly an inspiration in the kitchen, she has encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone and get creative with meals. Earlier this week, she shot me an email outlining a dinner she recently hosted that involved crock pot chicken chili with white beans. And, as she knew I would, I begged her for the recipe.
And basically, here it is. I made it on Monday and we ate it all week long, quite happily!
***Be warned: this makes a whole lot of chili, so feel free to halve the recipe if you are only feeding a couple of people!***
Ingredients
- Two packages boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 cans cannellini or other white beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 large sweet onion, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup of your favorite salsa (homemade or store-bought, as spicy or mild as you like!)
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 – 2 jalapeño peppers, sliced
- 1 1/2 cups frozen (or fresh) corn kernels
- 1 avocado, diced
- grated sharp cheddar cheese
- sliced lime
- chopped cilantro
- sour cream
Toss all of the ingredients (excluding the garnishes, of course) into a crock pot and cook on low all day, or until the chicken shreds easily. Take a fork and shred chicken before serving in bowls. Squeeze a lime on top, then top with shredded cheese, followed by avocado, a dollop of sour cream, and finally, cilantro. We served ours with a corn muffin and I think Andrew ate three bowls.
Our bellies thank you, Annie!
We have quite a chilly weekend in store, how about you?
Bless you my dear for attributing that organized and reasonable recipe to my hodgepodge of suggestions. It looks even better than mine and is making me hungry for more. To be honest, I was hoping for a new crock pot idea here today, but appreciate your gracious comments. Tip of the day: a bottle of Guinness in your beef stew will rock your world.
Yum, Annie! I always add a bottle of Guinness to my chili, but have never tried it in the beef stew! Noted.
As a proud new owner of my FIRST crock pot, I will be book-marking this page for sure.
If I had read this before going to the store this AM, I’d make it on Sun but, alas… we’ll be having turkey chili instead. Next time!
I LOVE my crock pot. (They’re ideal for busy people who prefer using recipes as ‘guides’ to following directions exactly.) Have a white bean and kale stew cookin’ in ours right now as I jam out my work. Smells awesome, and will allow me ALL possible late-afternoon/early-evening play time with the little man. Btw, I’ve been away for a bit but I love the new logo and look here on CrumbBums. Cute + classy perfection. 🙂
This is perfect timing — I was *just* looking for a good chicken and white bean chili recipe! To be honest, though, I’ll eat chili in pretty much any form, especially at this time of year… Can’t wait to try it!
I love chili, it does seem like the kind of recipe that lends itself to improvisation- plus there’s always leftovers! I also like your pictures, lovely presentation.
Simple and delicious – my fave recipe combo! I’ll be trying this out vegetarian style by omitting the chicken. Thanks for sharing!
xo
cortnie
I’ve just polished off the last bowl I made of this chili over the weekend. Since my littles wouldn’t eat it as soup, they enjoyed the chicken cut up and some corn. But this batch came out so good, I really didn’t want to share with them at all! This chicken chili is a keeper. Thank you!