The Secret to the Best White Bean Chicken Chili

What’s the secret?

Hint. It’s not the chicken. It’s the building of intense flavor that starts with the base of the soup.

For me, when it comes to white bean chicken chili, I am looking for two things: depth and creaminess. I find the typical celery, onion, carrot and garlic base comforting but on the bland side. So, when I set out to make my own version, I wanted to start with a base that had a little bit more to say. That’s when I landed on the idea of a sofrito, which has its roots in Latin American cooking and typically involves onion, garlic, a variety of peppers, and often tomatoes. Because I like more of a kick, I decided to omit the tomatoes and instead use chipotles in Adobo sauce for some smokiness and complexity. And there are tomatoes in the adobo sauce. I also use piquillo and poblano peppers in addition to the onion and garlic and herbs.

Sofrito Base & Marinade:

The idea is to blend together the onion, garlic, poblanos, chipotle peppers in Adobo, piquillo peppers, cilantro, cumin, chili powder with a little salt and olive oil to make a paste. This paste becomes the marinade for the chicken as well as the base of the soup. Chicken itself is notoriously bland and can easily become dry, so by marinating for several hours or up to overnight in the sofrito chili pepper base you are both imparting flavor and moisture into the chicken before you cook it. This step is surprisingly easy to do. The ingredients go in the food processor raw and then put it all in a bowl and cover it. Here’s a closer look at what’s in the base of our marinade.

Chipotle in Adobo

These peppers are readily available in any grocery store and are just dried and smoked jalapeno peppers packed in a spicy tomato-based sauce. I like to buy the kind in a glass jar because it lasts longer in the fridge. Otherwise just store extra in a glass container. Some brands come chopped and some have whole smoked jalapenos in them. It really doesn’t matter which you choose because you are blending everything together. The amount you add will determine the overall spice of the chili and you can always add a bit more at the very end of the recipe to amp up the spice level even more.

Poblano Peppers

Like Jalapeno peppers, the Poblano pepper is picked when it’s not quite ripe and therefore green in color. This pepper has a pretty thick skin on it and is less spicy than a Jalapeno pepper. It has a very mild heat and is much bigger than a jalapeno pepper. It’s used in a lot of Mexican dishes (Chili Relleno for example) and is readily available in most grocery stores in the fresh section. This pepper adds some of the body to the marinade and a complexity of flavor so that the spice you get isn’t just one note from the chipotle peppers in adobo. You only need the flesh so go ahead and destem and deseed and give it a rough chop.

Piquillo Peppers

This one might be the tough one to find. The Piquillo pepper is a Spanish pepper that is fruity with a tangy zing to it. It’s different than a bell pepper. Smaller and with thinner flesh but a very distinct flavor. They definitely sell it online (Amazon) but local grocery stores are hit and miss. Safeway is a good bet. You can substitute red bell pepper instead, which is sweeter and not as tangy but will do in a pinch. By the way, leftover piquillo peppers make a great appetizer stuffed with goat cheese or I even like to make a grilled cheese with mozzarella and caramelized onions. See blog post coming up on that one! These peppers are one of my go-to pantry items for their versatility.

Cilantro

This is a pretty familiar ingredient to most and available anywhere. I like to use the fresh cilantro because it brings a note of freshness to the marinade that plays well with the onion and garlic and peppers. You don’t really notice this ingredient in the end result of the chili as much as it is there to add a brightness to the dish. If you can’t find cilantro or you just happen to not care for it, then you can use flat leaf parsley instead and maybe a squeeze of lime. Quick fact: the seeds are used to make ground coriander although the two have very different flavor profiles.

Onion & Garlic

The rest of the marinade is made from fresh onion (white or yellow) and garlic and just rounded out with some spices. A note about garlic, make sure it’s fresh for optimal pungency. You can tell a fresh bulb when the skin on the head of garlic is tight and not dry and flaking off everywhere. And if there are little sprouts coming off the garlic it’s time to chuck it and get a new one.

Spices

There are many different chili powders available. What type do you choose? Most that are labeled as just ‘chili powder’ are mild to medium heat and will enhance that smokiness. Ancho chili powder is ground poblano and is very mild yet doesn’t contain other ingredients that regular chili powder has in it. Then there’s chipotle chili powder, which is made from the smoked, dried jalapenos. It’s really spicy so if you use this then only add about 1/4 tsp. I recommend regular chili powder for this recipe.

Cumin is a warm spice with an earthy flavor that adds depth to this white bean chicken chili. It is related to parsley and is used in Middle Eastern cooking and Latin American cooking as well.

White Bean Chicken Chili

Let’s get down to the rest of it. Now that we’ve made the sofrito base and marinated our chicken in it for up to 24 hours, what next? And where does the creaminess come in?

First off, don’t get rid of the marinade. Just shake that chicken loose and reserve the marinade for the next step. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Here’s where you cook the chicken to almost done and then set aside to chop or shred to add back to the chili when it’s done.

Next, add the marinade to your Dutch oven or soup pot and cook for a minute or two over medium heat and then add in your fresh or frozen corn and your stock. A good quality stock makes this chili recipe even better. I used my leftover turkey stock from Thanksgiving to give it really rich flavor, but good chicken stock does the trick, too.

Then add the chicken back in and let the flavors all come together for 15- 20 minutes. This is why you don’t want to overcook your chicken in the first step because it will finish cooking in the broth.

And at last, the creamy factor. At the end add in cream cheese and stir until it melts and gives you that creamy effect. Don’t forget a squeeze of lime juice and – this is important – taste for seasoning and heat. Add more salt if needed and more chipotle in adobo sauce if you like more heat.

The Fixins:

We all know that a good chili is all about the toppings. This White Bean Chicken Chili recipe is no exception. It really comes together with the toppings that include:

• Fresh Avocado
• Limes
• White corn tortilla chips
• Sour cream
• Cheddar cheese
• Pepita seeds

White Bean Chicken Chili Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 2– 15oz can white beans (cannellini)
• 3-4 Tbsp chipotle chilis in adobo (both sauce and chili peppers)
• 2 poblano peppers, destemmed and roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• ½ cup roughly chopped roasted piquillo peppers or red peppers (jarred)
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup torn fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp ground chili powder
• 3 Tbsp olive oil for marinade and drizzle more for cooking chicken
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn
• 4 cups chicken stock or homemade turkey stock
• Squeeze of lime juice
• ½ cup cream cheese (room temp)
• 1 ½ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Pepper

White Bean Chicken Chili Method:

1. Make marinade by combining garlic, onion, poblano pepper and cilantro in the bowl of a large food processor and give it a few pulses to chop the larger vegetables/peppers. Then add in the piquillo pepper (or red pepper), chipotle in adobo, cumin, chili powder and olive oil. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper and combine well, scraping down the sides as needed, until you have a paste like consistency.
2. Wash chicken and pat dry. Add to a shallow dish and rub well with the marinade, coating both sides of the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or up to overnight.
3. Remove chicken from marinade and just shake off excess marinade and pat chicken dry to help it cook evenly. Season lightly with salt and pepper and grill or cook in a skillet on stove top until seared and almost cooked through but not quite. Set aside and either chop or shred chicken for chili.
4. Add marinade to a Dutch oven over medium heat. There should be enough oil in the marinade to cook the vegetable mixture but if not add a touch more to the pot and then add the mixture to the pot and cooking, stirring, for a few minutes just to get the vegetables tender.
5. Add in the beans, corn and stock. Then shred or chop the chicken and back to the chili mixture to finish cooking. Bring mixture to a low simmer and let it cook for 15-20 minutes just to let the flavors start to come together. You don’t really want to reduce it so be careful it’s not set too high.
6. Remove from heat. Add the cream cheese and stir well. Add the squeeze of lime and taste chili for seasoning and heat. Add more salt if needed and more chipotle in adobo if you’d like to increase the spice level.

Presentation:

Soup can be served so many ways. A hearty soup like this though is best served in bowls that are either deep or wide enough to accommodate all the toppings you want to pile on top. I personally love these dishes for an appetizer style soup course where you want to see all the stuff, but you don’t want huge servings. This dish is also great for baking individual sized crumbles or potato gratin as it’s oven safe.

If you are serving this White Bean Chicken Chili as a main portion or in a more formal setting this lovely serving bowl has all the style points:

And for a more casual bistro style main course dish this soup bowl is perfect:

Finally, if you are serving this Chili as part of a luncheon or soup and grilled cheese course then these dishes are where it’s at.

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What to Serve with it:

Let’s start with everyone’s favorite. Dessert. And what goes better with a hearty soup like this than a comforting dessert like Pear Crisp with Vanilla Bean Whip Cream?

Pear Crisp Recipe

For a main course with a hearty soup like Chili I’d opt for something like these stuffed portobello mushrooms because they are surprisingly light the butternut squash flavor goes well with fall flavors going on with the soup but is a completely different dish.

Butternut Squash Stuffed Portobellos with Ricotta