White Chicken Chili/Soup

Yesterday, I showed you the initial picture of the "chili" I made.  Today, I'll share the original recipe, and how I tweaked it.

For the original, go here, to AllRecipes.com.

First of all, I read in the comments that most people thought this was more of a soup than a chili.  That was a relief to me.  Chili scares me, for very irrational reasons.  My mom hates legumes.  Like, despises them, can't stand them, would rather battle an angry cougar than eat them.  Therefore, we never had chili growing up.  I assumed that I hated it, too, but every time I've had it, I really like it.  And anytime a friend has made a white chili, I loved it, so I wanted to make my own.  And yet, I'm still scared that maybe this time I'll hate it.  So, soup is safe.  

When I bought the ingredients, it was like learning a whole new world.  Honestly, I've never purchased chiles before.  I didn't even know where they'd be, except in the "World Foods" aisle.  And I've never bought canned beans.  Truth. 

When I made them this time, the biggest change was that I couldn't find cannellini beans.  Unless they're not kept by the other beans, our Meijer doesn't carry them.  I used great northern beans instead, because they're white, too, and I've had them before.  :)

Now, when I was defrosting chicken breasts, I wasn't sure if "chicken breast halves" (as the original said) meant what I had, or half of that, and since I'm stingy, I only used 2 frozen chicken breasts.  Also, I cooked them up in a frying pan with the onions and then transferred it all to a saucepan, because I'm weird about raw chicken being in with other things.  At this point, I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of onion.  Maybe we just have big onions around these here parts, but next time, I'll only use a quarter or half an onion.  I only put about half of what I cooked up with the chicken into the soup, and there was still so much!

The reviews suggested more spices, so I did double most of them.  And many reviews said not to drain/rinse the beans, because this makes it more soupy, but I definitely drained and rinsed them.  I like soup!

So I guess my final recipe would go like this:

White Chicken Chili-Soup

Adapted from Dierdre Dee from AllRecipes.com

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 chicken breasts, cubed

1/4 onion, chopped

1 and 1/4 cups chicken broth

1 - 4oz can diced green chiles

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried cilantro

1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)

1 - 15oz can great northern beans, drained and rinsed

chopped green onion for garnish

shredded cheese for garnish

Heat oil in a medium pan, then cook chicken and onions together.  When chicken is mostly done, transfer to medium saucepan.  Stir in chicken broth, chiles, and spices.  (Add more spices if you desire.)  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in beans and simmer for 5 more minutes.  (Make sure chicken is done all the way through)

Garnish with green onion and shredded cheese.

Love and Beans,

Leah Joy