Quick Chicken Chili (Fine Cooking)

This chili is more like a cross between a chili and soup since it is somewhat brothy and made with white meat chicken chunks instead of ground meat. What I like about it, is that it's a very flexible recipe. You can really save time if you want to use a store-bought rotisserie chicken and remove the meat. Another idea, which I did this time I cooked it, is to bake the chicken breasts the night before and then having the meat ready to throw in the next day. The recipe is super forgiving across the board. If you don't have white beans, use kidney beans (as I did). If you don't have frozen corn, you can put in about any other thing you might like in a chili (maybe hominy or another type of beans). Whatever combination you choose, this is a fast and easy recipe and the kids both loved the sweet corn and beans.

Quick Chicken Chili (Adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine)

Timing - about 30 minutes if the chicken is pre-cooked or store bought rotisserie)

Ingredients
2 T vegetable oil
1 large onion, cut into medium dice
2 T ground cumin
2 t dried oregano
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs cooked boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed (or chicken pulled from store bought rotisserie)
1 jar or can (about 4 oz.) diced mild green chiles, drained
1 quart chicken broth
2 15 oz cans kidney beans
1 cup frozen corn

How to Make
Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a dutch oven or large soup pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the cumin, oregano and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the chicken and chiles and then the broth and 1 can of beans. bring to a simmer and then reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.


Meanwhile, puree the second can of beans in a food processor. Stir the pureed beans into the soup along with the corn. Continue to simmer to blend the flavor, about 5 minutes longer.

Serve with cheese, green onions and sour cream.

Serves 6