Chicken Chili

I know this isn't a pinterest experiment, but the recipe was yummy enough I thought you might be interested. :)

I spent a while looking for a cute Halloween recipe, and after finding really nothing that looked feasible for the amount of time I had for dinner... I decided I was going to go with a Halloween staple... chili!

Growing up, I remember my mom always made us chili to eat before we went out Trick or Treating. Sometimes she had to wrangle us into our seats and force us to eat, but she always managed to get a warm meal into our squirmy, candy-seeking selves before we headed out.

I called every grocery store in town (there's only 3, and I already knew 1 wouldn't have it... so it didn't take long), and no one had the brand of chili my mom always started with before she doctored it for our costumed consumption.

I turned to Momma Dennis and asked her if she had a recipe I could try, and she pulled one out. Sadly, I took no pictures, but trust me... it's delicious.

The Original Recipe

3 chicken breasts
3-4 cans Northern white beans
1 small onion, chopped (optional)
1 clove garlic or 1 tsp garlic salt
2 cans chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1 can chopped green chilis
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups pepper jack or jalepeno cheese, grated
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 can petite diced tomatoes, (I rinse them so the soup isn't pink)

Cook, season, and cut 3 chicken breasts into bite size chunks, set aside.
In a stock pot add all the ingredients except sour cream, cheese, heavy cream, and tomatoes. Add the sour cream, cheese, and heavy cream once your soup has simmered for 25-30 minutes, it will blend easier. Once you have added all the ingredients and the cheese is melted, then add the rinsed tomatoes.

The changes we made: 

Momma Dennis said the first time she made it, she thought it was too spicy, so we downgraded the 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper to 1/4 tsp.

We also thought the onions were too crunchy in the finished soup, so we think sauteing them first would yield a better result.

Also, when I tasted the soup BEFORE I put the tomatoes in, it reminded me of a soup I had at Zupas once... which is a good thing. After I put in the tomatoes, the soup was still good, but I think I liked it better before. I probably will just leave them out altogether next time.

We used canned chicken. The recipe doesn't say how to flavor the chicken, and we were going for a quick meal so it just worked that way. My only complaint is canned chicken is rather stringy and pulled apart. With a cubed chicken breast, the texture would have been better IMO.


Overall, it was delicious! I highly recommend you give it a shot!