A hearty and healthy chicken chili that is not short on flavor and just as much a stew as any other chili. This was really easy to do and used up the roasted chicken I had left over. Always plan to get a few meals out of a roast chicken, at home or store bought. Here is my favorite way to roast a chicken, that we just had for dinner on Friday. As if by divine intervention, my neighbor gave me some fresh tomatillos and bell peppers that were still hanging on in her garden. Already thinking about a dinner down the enchilada line, I changed course just slightly when presented with these true fruits. Memory of a speedy black bean soup recipe given to me by a lady I babysat for in college inspired the general chili framework, otherwise, this was done on the fly. Enjoy!
Roasted Tomatillo White Bean Chicken Chili
Ingredients
- About 1 lb (about 8-10?) fresh tomatillos, remove papery husk and wipe of sticky stuff
- 1 bell pepper (go for colorful!)
- 2 jalapenos
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro plus more for garnish
- 1 15 ounce can Great Northern white beans, rinsed
- ½ cup frozen corn (canned would be ok too, just rinse)
- 2 cup chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon each cumin and chili
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- 2 cups of chopped onions (I used about ½ cup scallion and the rest red onion and it tasted great)
- Shredded cooked chicken (however much you want, I used about 2 cups)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 if roasting the tomatillos and peppers. You could probably get away with skipping the step and sautéing them in the pan but I think it made the flavors more deep and mature (or something like that).
- Prep and chop the tomatillos in half. Slice the bell pepper into 4-6 large stips and cut the jalapeno in half, removing the seeds if you want less heat (I reserved about half the seeds).
- Get ready to roast! Put tomatillos and peppers in a plastic bag with some olive oil, close and mix it around to coat. Place on a foil lined baking sheet and add some salt and pepper and stick in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until the flesh starts to char.
- In the meantime, put a few “rounds” of olive oil in the bottom of your soup pot or dutch oven/cast iron pot and add onions and garlic. On medium heat, stir around until translucent. When done, remove from heat.
- Once your tomatillo and peppers are done roasting, remove them from the oven and put about half of them in the blender, along with ¼ cilantro and any juices in the pan and about ½ cup chicken broth. Blend them up until liquidy. It can still have some chunks but this helps make the chili thicker.
- Chop coarsely the remaining peppers and tomatillos. The ’tillos will probably just mush up on you and that is fine. Add this and the blended portion to the soup pot and return to heat.
- Add remaining chicken broth, beans, corn and chicken. Add the spices now too. Now, don’t worry if you only have a little bit of chicken, save it to add to the top of the soup when served (warm it up). Just use what you have on hand.
- Let this simmer and heat through so that the flavors mingle. Taste it and decide if you want more salt in it. At this point it can keep on simmering for quite a while, say until your dinner date gets home from a football game 2 hours late. J
- Serve when ready with some cheese (cojita, queso fresca, mozzarella, jack or even plain yogurt) and some more chopped cilantro. Eat with tortilla chips! And maybe some fresh avocado if you have it
Here’s some other great tomatillo information, recipes:
Odds & Hens : Ramblings. Creations. 