Plain and simple, if you need a dish you can keep coming back to week after week when you’re in a pinch, Easy Chicken Chili is it. It’s hearty, with all your favorite Tex-Mex flavors, and it lets the slow cooker do most of the hard work. You can’t really get much better than that. Well, actually, you can. Easy Chicken Chili is not only all those things but it’s also absolutely yummy, so your tastebuds will be filled with joy every time you make it!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, divided
- 2 pounds lean ground chicken
- kosher salt, to taste
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ground clove, to taste
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added pinto beans
- 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added cannellini beans
- 1 (28-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomato
- 6 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced chipotle in adobo
- 2 teaspoons molasses
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 scallions, sliced, for garnish
- lime wedges, to taste, for garnish
- reduced-fat sour cream, optional, to taste, for topping
Directions
Step 1 –Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat.
Step 2 –Add 1/2 of the ground chicken and the salt to the skillet and cook, breaking the meat apart with a wooden spoon, until it is browned, about 4 minutes.
Step 3 –Transfer the chicken to a 4-6-quart slow cooker and repeat the steps with the remaining chicken, using 1 teaspoon of oil and more of the salt.
Step 4 –Reduce the stovetop to medium heat and add the remaining oil to the skillet.
Step 5 –Add the garlic and onions to the oil, stirring and scraping up any browned bits in the pan, until the onions have softened, about 5 minutes.
Step 6 –Add the chili powder, the cumin, the cinnamon, and the clove to the onions and stir constantly for 1 minute to cook the spices.
Step 7 –Pour the chicken broth into the onion mixture and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits.
Step 8 –Transfer the broth mixture, the pinto beans, the cannellini beans, the diced tomatoes, the sun-dried tomatoes, the chipotle, the molasses, the Worcestershire sauce, the salt and the pepper to the slow cooker.
Step 9 –Cover and cook the soup on low heat for 6 hours.
Step 10 –Serve the soup with the scallions, the lime wedges, and the sour cream.
