How to Make: White Bean Chicken Chili

Okay, I admit it, Paula Deen is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Everytime I watch her show, I feel my cholesterol level going up. I seldom make anything that Paula cooks but a recent episode caught my eye and I decided to take a step outside of my chili making comfort zone and go with a White Bean Chili. One thing to note is that on the show they used diced jalapeno peppers (as did I) but the recipe on FoodTV (seen below) called for green chiles.

White Bean Chili
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

1 pound dried navy beans
5 cups chicken stock
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3/4 cup diced onion
1 1/2 cups chopped green chiles (fresh or canned)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 to 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped

Rinse beans well, cover with cool water, and soak for 2 hours. Drain. Place beans in large pot with chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat. In a saucepan, heat butter over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, and chiles and saute for 5 minutes. Add chile mixture to pot with beans. Add chicken, cumin, oregano, pepper, white pepper, red pepper flakes, and cilantro. Lower heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for approximately 1 1/2 hours. Serve with cornbread, if desired.

This is a simple recipe that takes sometime to prepare, but start the beans in the AM and by early afternoon you’ll be ready to dig in. I prepared all the jalapenos, onions and chicken while the beans were soaking so it made assembly a breeze.

Diced Grilled Chicken
Saute the jalapenos, garlic and onions with butter.
Combine beans, chicken, peppers, onions and garlic
Looks better after adding the cilantro and seasonings
After simmering for 2 hours
Naked chili – ready to eat
All dressed up Honestly, this chili is great for those health consicious eaters out there – but it’s missing something for me. I think it needs more jalapeno peppers – it certainly wasn’t hot after all the simmering. But man did it smell good while it was cooking. In fact, one of our neighbors came by and asked what we were cooking because it was smelling so good in the hallway. Next time I’ll start with a whole chicken and make the chicken stock from scratch – the chicken breasts were a bit too dry and the stock lacked a bit more flavor then I was expecting. Overall, still very tasty – next time I’ll just make up my own recipe 🙂