White and Black Bean Chicken Chili

So Sunday was a day of misfires in the kitchen. Thankfully last night we had a wonderful success, thanks to a recipe from Jared and Anita. I just call it White Chicken Chili. It's actually like a soup. But whatever you call it, it's good!

Ingredients:

* 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts halves, cut into 1 inch pieces
* 1 med yellow onion, chopped
* 4 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 tbs olive oil
* 2 (14.5oz) cans cannellini beans, (reserve liquid from one can) drained and rinsed
* 1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
* 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
* 1 can of kernel corn
* 1 (4oz) cans diced green chiles
* 1 tbs ground cumin
* 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
* 3/4 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp black pepper
* 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or chili peppers of your choice, dried flakes, or diced. I like Serrano diced or dried red peppers. 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes will be medium spice, 1/2 tsp will be medium hot spicy. Typically, 1 Serrano pepper diced will make it medium hot spicy. Start less, you can always add more!!!
* 1/2 cup heavy cream or 3/4 cup milk

Saute the onion, garlic, chili peppers of your choice, cumin, and oregano in a large pot with medium hot oil for 2-3 minutes. Push to side of the pot and add chicken. Cook the chicken until it's no longer pink on the outside. Add all remaining ingredients, including reserved white bean liquid, except the cream or milk. Increase heat to med-high; bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low; simmer 10 mins or until heated through. After it's heated. Remove from heat and add cream or milk. Serve with cheese, fresh cilantro, and sour cream. Can also be made in a crockpot. After cooking the chicken, onions and garlic, put all the ingredients, except the cream or milk, into a crockpot and let cook for the day. Add cream or milk before serving.

This stuff is killer good. We ended up adding more seasoning than it calls for (well, Aaron did) so ours had some real kick to it, but I think it would've been perfect just the way the recipe is. We used milk and cayenne pepper. We also ended up not using the liquid from the can of beans (because I put cutting board remnants in the can on accident.) Definitely a keeper still!

 

The only cheese we had was cheddar, but I think it would've been better with a white cheese. Swiss, maybe Monterrey or Colby. Cilantro definitely would've been an awesome addition. We just didn't have any at the time.