It’s cold outside! I cook more now, but mostly as an excuse to have the oven and stove on. And to eat.
I’ve been trying to perfect my White Chicken Chili, and the answer came to me from an episode of America’s Test Kitchen–poach the chicken.
Poaching the chicken keeps it moist and flavorful and allows you to add the shredded chicken into the chili completely cooked. No more dry chicken!
Assemble the ingredients.
2 quart containers of chicken broth (8 cups)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1T olive oil
2T Penzeys Minced White Onion, or 1 fresh white onion, chopped fine
1 t Penzeys Minced Garlic, or three cloves fresh garlic, minced
1T dried oregano
1 t ground cumin
1/8 t cayenne
2 T diced green chili peppers
4 15-oz cans of white beans, drained and rinsed or 1 lb of dried white beans, cooked
Poach the chicken.
Put the chicken breasts and 3 cups of broth in a Dutch oven and simmer covered over medium heat for 18 minutes. I turned mine over after the first 9 minutes. Do not boil.
Remove chicken onto plate to cool and strain and reserve cooking broth.
Toasting the spices.
Heat the olive oil in the Dutch oven until shimmering. Add onions, garlic, oregano, cumin and cayenne. Stir until fragrant. Do not brown!
Add diced green chilis and the reserved chicken broth.
Add in drained, rinsed beans, the rest of the chicken broth, and the chicken, shredded into bite-sized pieces with two forks.
Simmer covered for twenty minutes. Season with salt to taste and adjust spice levels, if desired.
It’s important not to boil. Boiling makes the meat tough and dry and makes the vegetables soggy.
If using fresh onion and garlic, cook the onion for 3 to 5 minutes in the olive oil until soft. Do not brown. Add in the fresh garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Then add in the other spices and procede from there.
Serve finished chili with fresh corn muffins or day-old rolls from the supermarket that were on sale. Like they’ll notice the difference.
I get diced green chili peppers in a small can and never use it all up in one recipe. Put a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet, plop down 1 T portions of green chilis, freeze and save the green cubes in a zipper bag. Now you have portions ready for other dishes. Mark the outside of the bag with what it is, the portion size and the date saved.
Remember that the freezer is only a cold box and not a magic time machine, so use up within six months.
Enjoy, and let me know if you try out the chili.
What’s your favorite cold-weather food? Links to recipes welcome!
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OOOOH, this sounds SO YUMMY!!! And — THANK YOU for putting the "or (real, not processed)" ingredient substitutions — I always have trouble figuring that stuff out, but since I can't get the processed (ie, easy/corner-cutting) stuff here, I have to go with the "Or…" items. Anyway, thanks for doing that work for me : ) I will definitely try this recipe! YUM.
So I should probably toss that pork loin that I bought in 2009?
This recipe looks great, I think I'll defrost some chicken breasts and make it for tomorrow's dinner.
Reader, I'm big on substitutions. I almost always have to change something because I'll be missing an ingredient.
Deanne, YES, toss it. Tell me if you like it. I've made it quite mild, since I have some younger kids who can't tolerate the spice.
Oh boy that looks good! I'll be trying it. I hope Penzy's isn't so important…I'll just be using ordinary spices.
Well, Robin, it will be good, but not quite as good as it could be. 😉
Great receipe, I usually poach chicken too, moist, quick and absorbs other flavours well in casserole type dishes. Love the beans in yours 🙂
I used a different brand tonight, but I bought them at the same store.
It was mild tonight, but good.
This looks delicious, and I love that you used a Penzey’s spice! (I love Penzey’s and I miss them SO MUCH since moving to Germany!)
I think they are the best and elevate my average cooking.
I have been wanting to try a chicken/chili combination. Your recipe looks easy enough for even me to try:) I have never tried white beans either. I have no idea what Penzey’s spices are but I have been seeing them mentioned a lot lately. I wonder if we have them in Philadelphia. Perhaps if I tried actually going into a store I might be surprised by what I find.
Yes! There’s a store in Philadelphia on Germantown Ave (I looked it up.) If you sign up for their catalog first, you get a good coupon first. I’ve used Penzey’s spices for almost ten years now. Great fresh spices and cheaper than the grocery store I think.