Chicken Chilli

Chicken Chilli is a lighter alternative to many traditional chillies, whether meat or veggie. Instead of a tomato base this is a ‘white’ chilli with sweetcorn and white beans as well as chunks of chicken. The spicy mix, with as much chilli as you like, is finished with a little cream or crème fraiche, coriander leaf and lime juice.

So satisfying served with a sprinkle of grated cheese to melt in and some crunchy, home-fried tortilla chips on the side.

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My Chicken Chilli started as an experiment. I’d seen various versions of ‘white’ chilli online, but most seemed either quite sickly (with lots of cream or even cream cheese) or looked a little thin and bland. Many also seem to have lots of beans. So I decided to develop my own version. Full of spicy flavour with a hint of enriching cream, but lighter and with a zing of lime at the end.

THE CHICKEN

As with most of the pork I cook, I get my chicken from Packington Free Range here in Staffordshire. These are excellent quality with good meaty flavour and are raised to high welfare standards.

For this Chicken Chilli I use two large, chicken breasts taken from a bird which I’d roasted whole. This gives you around 400 grams of meat.

Because the recipe uses cooked chicken, you could use leftover meat if you like. You can even make it with leftover Christmas or Thanksgiving turkey.

But I usually cook a whole bird, not least because I like to use the bones to make chicken stock. I then use some of this stock in the Chicken Chilli.

When you roast a chicken, I hope you save the wonderful rich fat and juices that you’re left with? I keep mine in a jar in the fridge and use it for roasting potatoes and all sorts of recipes. My current favourite is for frying an Egg Foo Yung style omelette: chicken fat takes it to a whole other level of flavour.

You won’t need the chicken skin for this recipe, so just peel it off once the bird’s cooked and pop in your mouth. Cook’s perk!

I chop the chicken breast into fairly chunky dice as I think this is much more satisfying. In fact, I often make my beef chillies with chunks of meat rather than minced. The chicken can break down a little when reheated in the chilli, so best to keep the pieces on the large size at this point.

I take the rest of the chicken meat from the legs and carcass and put these in the freezer for another day. Actually, a really good companion recipe for Chicken Chilli is my Chicken Croquettes, Italian Style. The croquettes, using the leg and carcass meat, are soft and creamy on the outside with a crispy coating.

Fantastic served with cubes of potato roasted or fried in some of the saved chicken fat!

THE VEG

Besides onion, garlic and fresh chillies, there’s also white beans and sweetcorn in my Chicken Chilli. I prefer mild tasting, creamy textured cannellini beans, but you could also use haricot. I think butter beans would be too large and, anyway, I don’t think their flavour and texture is as good.

For convenience, I use tinned beans and sweetcorn. I find a standard tin of beans (usually around 230-240g once drained) and a small tin of corn (160g or thereabouts after draining) is plenty. Of course, if you wanted the Chicken Chilli to stretch further then you can add more, plus extra stock.

SPICES FOR CHICKEN CHILLI

For the chilli heat in my chilli I use a combination of fresh chillies (green or red is fine), plus chilli powder and chilli flakes. I like a medium heat but, as fresh chillies can vary greatly in how hot they are, you’ll have to use your judgement about how much to use anyway.

I like a smoky taste in my chilli so use both smoked paprika and chipotle dried chilli flakes. If you don’t like smokiness, then using ordinary Hungarian style paprika and regular chilli flakes or chilli powder is fine.

As with all my chillies these days, I’ve also added some New Mexico Red chilli powder. I discovered it when I took part in the Columbo Bowl Chili Cook-Along. New Mexico Red has a very mild heat, but I love it’s slightly sweet, fruity flavour with a hint of smoke. You can find it online or just use a little more smoked paprika instead.

Complexity of flavour is brought by plenty of ground cumin plus dried oregano and sage.

THE METHOD

I start off by browning chopped onions in some of that rich chicken fat. Use olive oil and/or butter instead if you like. They’re shortly joined by garlic and chillies and then all the spices.

When everything’s nicely browned with enticing aromas rising up, it’s time to stir in the beans and corn soon followed by the chicken stock. If you haven’t made your own stock, then use two good quality stock cubes dissolved in boiling water.

When I first made this Chicken Chilli, I put in more stock than I meant to. But I ended up really liking it that way. As we don’t have rice with our chilli the soupier version works fine for us. But for the thicker type of chilli you might eat over rice you’ll need to add less stock. I tried it with less stock for my second batch and in the detailed recipe at the end of the post I’ve given suggested amounts for both versions. The last image in this post shows the thicker chilli where I added less stock.

I cook the chilli for around 25 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the spices have melded and mellowed. To add some natural thickness and creaminess to the chilli, I next go in with my stick blender and whizz up around a third to a half of it. Leave this stage out if you like.

After checking the seasoning, I stir in the cubed chicken, some chopped coriander leaf and a small amount of double cream or crème fraiche. The Chicken Chilli will then just need a few minutes gentle bubbling to heat the chicken through. Just before serving I squeeze in the juice of half a lime.

SERVING CHICKEN CHILLI

Because it’s already a little creamy, for Chicken Chilli I omit my usual blob of sour cream or thick yogurt and the chunks of avocado on top. But I do insist on grated cheese to sprinkle over and then stir in. Some extra coriander leaf is good, plus another squeeze or two of fresh lime.

By all means have rice with the chilli if you like. But we much prefer some crisp and crunchy, home-fried tortilla chips. To be honest, I really don’t rate the tortillas and wraps you can buy everywhere these days. Doughy, pappy and tasteless, I wouldn’t dream of eating them in place of a decent homemade pitta bread or my Quick, no-yeast Flatbreads.

However, they’re not bad as a cheap base for tortilla chips. All you do is cut each one into 12 or 16 triangles then, a few at a time, fry in oil until they’re brown and crispy.

If your oil’s good and hot, they only take a few seconds to turn golden and crunchy. Put them on kitchen paper to drain while you fry the rest. A bit of salt and/or garlic granules shaken over will add more flavour. Then just pile them in a bowl, ready for dipping into the creamy, spicy Chicken Chilli. Leftovers will stay crunchy for a day if put in a sealed container when completely cold.

WARMING, COMFORTING BUT LIGHT

I think Chicken Chilli has all the warming and comforting qualities of the more well-known beef and bean version, but somehow feels so much lighter and fresher. I’ll never stop making tomato-based chillies, whether beefy, my unusual but delicious Goat Chilli, or my entirely plant-based Black Bean Chilli. But this lightly creamy, cumin-scented version has to be my current favourite.

 Whether you make it thick to serve over rice, or have the more delicate, soupier version, you might find that Chicken Chilli becomes your new favourite spicy dish.

5 from 1 vote

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Chicken Chilli

Chicken Chilli is a 'white' chilli with white beans, corn & chunks of chicken. Finished with a little cream, coriander leaf & lime juice, it's a lighter, fresher alternative to traditional tomato based chillies.

Also works with leftover turkey.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican inspired, Tex-Mex inspired

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 2 - 4

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp chicken fat, olive oil or butter
• 2 medium onions roughly chopped
• 4-6 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1-2 chillies, red or green finely chopped
• 3 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp New Mexico Red chilli powder or any mild chilli powder
• 1 tsp Chipotle chilli flakes or 1 extra tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• 235 g cooked cannellini beans approx drained weight of a 400g tin
• 160 g cooked sweetcorn approx drained weight of a small tin
• 1 medium bunch fresh coriander divided into stalks (finely chopped) and leaf (roughly chopped)
• 1 tsp sugar optional
• 500-700 ml chicken stock
• 400 g cooked, skinless and boneless chicken 2 large chicken breasts will give this amount
• 60 ml double cream or crème fraiche
• 1 lime juice only
• grated cheese to serve

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan, melt the fat or heat the olive oil.

2. Add the onion and cook gently until starting to soften and brown (10-15 min).

   Stir in the garlic and chillies and cook for a further 3-4 min.

3. Add all the spices and herbs, a little salt and some pepper. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the beans, sweetcorn, the chopped coriander STALKS (not the leaf) and stir so they're coated in the aromatics, spices and herbs.

   Add the sugar if using.

4. Stir in the chicken stock: 500ml to make a thick chilli or 700ml for a thinner, more soup-like chilli.

   Make sure you scrape up any vegetables or spices that have stuck to the bottom of the pan.

5. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 25 minutes or until any harshness from the spices has been cooked out. Leave a lid off to evaporate some of the liquid if there seems to be too much.

6. OPTIONAL: use a stick blender to whizz up approximately one third to a half of the chilli and thicken it.

7. Add the chicken, double cream or crème fraiche and the coriander leaf (keep back some of the coriander for serving if you like). Cook very gently until the chicken is heated through.

8. Stir in the juice of half the lime just before serving.

   Cut the other half of the lime into wedges to squeeze over the chilli at the table.

   Sprinkle the bowls with any reserved coriander plus grated cheese.

Recipe Notes

 

Getting the most from a roast chicken

I recommend roasting a whole chicken and using the breasts in this recipe. To use up the rest of the chicken:

• After roasting, pour the fat and juices into a jar, store in the fridge and use in cooking dishes like this, for roast potatoes etc.
• Remove the rest of the meat from the legs and carcass, freeze for another dish such as Chicken Croquettes.
• Simmer the carcass and trimmings with veg to make chicken stock & use to make the Chicken Chilli.

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