I have been making a similar version to this for years. One of my favorites.
I noticed a lot of reviewers mentioning how thin this chili was. DON'T drain or rinse the beans (even though the recipe tells you to). This will help thicken up your chili. Believe me, it will make a big difference. Not sure why you would rinse canned beans anyway.
This was so easy and quick to make! I did make a few changes though: it was a little bland, so I added a few more dashes of each spice, used fresh cilantro, 2 cans of great northern beans, and added a bit of flour to thicken. Simmered 5-10 minutes longer than recipe stated. The grocery store didn't have monterey jack cheese, so we used colby jack instead. Served with cornbread. My husband said, 'mmmmmm,' after every bite. Next time, I'll make a double batch so there are more leftovers! Thanks for a fabulous recipe!
This recipe is a good starting point but really needed to be 'kicked-up' a notch. I tweeked it this way: used 3T. olive oil one chopped purple onion two cloves of chopped garlic and I added another can of cannellini beans that I had ground to paste in my mini chopper. This really gave the mix the consistancy of chili rather than soup. I used 3 chopped precooked grilled chicken breast that I bought in my store's freezer section. (Don't knock 'em 'till you've tried them. They're not bad.) A couple of shakes of celery seed Louisiana red hot and 1/4 cup sherry and...look out! You talk about good!!! This is a great concept recipe but I think you'll be pleased if you take my recommendations.
I absolutely loved this. Everyone who tasted it absolute love this. However, I made some revisions as well:
Great Northern beans, 2 cans
Only used 1 cup of chicken stock
only used 2 chicken breasts
Put probably 2 tbsp of cumin in it
Used salsa verde instead of green chiles (because I couldn't find them.)
Used about 1 tsp of hot pepper
Used about 1 tsp of habenero sauce.
The people who say this is bland probably used no creativity. Also: DO NOT PUT THE BEANS IN BUT 5 MINUTES BEFORE EVERYTHING IS DONE. Otherwise they WILL turn to mush. Duh.
Made exactly as the recipe calls for this was a bit bland. (more of a four star recipe). However I doubled the spices except I added fresh cilantro (about 1/4 cup) instead of dried as well as the juice of a lime. With those additions it was excellent. it took my family forever to get to the table when I made it so it boiled down to a thick mixture. Otherwise I would have needed to add some smashed beans for thickener. I cooked the chicken breasts whole and just shredded them after they were cooked. Much easier than cutting up raw chicken. I have six children who can be picky at times but they all loved this chili. This is definitely a keeper.
I made this chili for dinner last night for friends for our weekly 'Must See TV' get together. Everyone loved it! It was really easy to make. I did have trouble finding cannellini beans so I used a combination of small white beans and great northern beans instead. I also cut the amount of onion in half.
This was great! I scaled the recipe for 6 servings and used great northern beans. I added a total of 4 cans of the beans for the scaled 6 serving size which is a little more than it called for. I also used two 10 1/2 ounces of chicken broth instead of what the recipe had called for and this seemed to be the perfect amount. I served it with some sour cream on the top of each bowl along with the cheese we also had some tortilla chips for dipping and Waikiki cornbread (recipe on this site) on the side. It was delicious! I will Definatley be making this again and again.
I only gave this 3 stars--while it's a good start I had to add a lot to it in order to make it more of a chili than a soup. I added a can of black beans a can of corn and about a TBL of chilipowder (can't have chili without chilipowder after all)and it was great!
Instead of chicken breasts I added one package of Tyson Southwest seasoned chicken breast strips (cut up) and 1/2 lb. of hot pork sausage. I used other suggestions and added 2 cans (undrained) great white northern beans instead of the cannellini. Most excellent - just the right amount of spice!
