Do you know that fine line between being “hungry” and being “so freaking hungry you can’t even see straight and god help those people who are around you if they do the slightest thing to upset you because your blood sugar is low and you don’t even want to think about what you might do?” We call that “hangry’ because you’re hungry and angry. And it’s a serious problem. This happened the other day. It wasn’t pretty. But let’s just say that I am 100% certain had it not been for this Smoky Chipotle Chicken Chili, things might have gotten a little out of hand.
Lucky for me, I whipped up a giant batch of the chili and it saved the day. Along with a big pile of grated cheese. Because I’ve never encountered a problem that couldn’t be solved with cheese. Never.
Do you wanna know what else is weird? Thomas didn’t think that there should be beans in Chili? What? Who is he? Where does he come from? I posed this question to all my friends over on Facebook and basically 99% of them said chili absolutely positively had to have beans. The 1% that disagreed was Thomas’ brother. And he’s biased. So I’m sticking with all you guys and keeping my beans in chili.
Chili is just the perfect 1 pot meal for basically any time of the year when it’s a bit chilly out. Especially on days where there is football to be watched. You can just make a giant pot of it, leave it on the stove, and let people serve themselves as they want. Throw out a “toppings” bar complete with guacamole, avocado, cheese, scallions, sour cream and all that jazz and you’ve basically just made everyone in your house happy.
Okay now let’s talk specifics about this chili. You could easily make it with ground beef, but I was feeling the ground chicken. White or dark meat works, but I’m partial to dark meat because it has more flavor. I also add in some chipotle chili peppers and some of the adobo sauce it comes in, to give this chili a nice smoky finish. It gives it a kind of heat that it’s too crazy, but it just leaves your mouth tingling a wee bite and it certainly makes you want more. The amount of chipotles in the recipe isn’t anything crazy, so if you’re super duper into hot stuff, maybe add another chipotle or two. And if you end up adding too much, just mix in some more guacamole or sour cream to tone things down a bit.
And there ya have it!! An easy chili recipe that is sure to knock your socks off. Trust me. Even Thomas, who told me he never liked chili with beans, loved it. And I’ve officially converted him to a chili with beans kinda guy. Smoky Chipotle Chicken Chili with Black Beans to be exact.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 orange or yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 poblano pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 1 red onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 lb ground chicken - I use dark meat - but you can use either
- 2 chipotle chilies, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
- 1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 16 ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup sour cream (optional0
- cheese
- scallions
- guacamole
- sour cream
- fritos
- chives
Instructions
- In a large heavy bottom pot, add the olive oil over medium high heat.
- Add the red and orange bell pepper, poblano pepper and yellow and red onion and saute for 10-12 minutes until the vegetables start to cook down. Add the garlic and chili powder and saute for 1-2 more minutes.
- Next, add the ground chicken. Break it up into pieces with a wooden spoon and saute until golden brown. You don't want any pink pieces of chicken left.
- Once the chicken is cooked, add chopped chipotle chili peppers, adobo sauce, crushed tomatoes and chicken stock. Stir to combine and reduce the heat to medium. Add the drained black beans and simmer for 1 hour until the chili thickens.
- Once the chili has thickened, you can reduce the heat to low and keep it on the stove until you are ready to serve. I like to stir in 1/4 cup of sour cream to give it a little bit of a silky texture and then serve it with toppings of your choice and enjoy.
p.s. if you want to make this a day ahead of time that is 100% totally okay. This recipe actually gets better the next day because the flavors have had time to mingle and get to know each other. I just cook it according to the directions and then let it cool completely Place the dutch oven lid on top and stick the whole thing in your refrigerator. Then, when it’s about 1 hour before game time, throw it onto the stove over medium low heat and heat it up. Bingo. You’re ready to eat!
Want some more Chili?! Here are some other awesome recipes:
Jeanette’s Healthy Living: Crock Pot Cincinnati Chicken Chili
The Heritage Cook: Gluten-Free Green Chile and Chicken Taco Bowls
The Cultural Dish: Crock-Pot Chili
Big Girls, Small Kitchen: Healthy Chicken Chili With Barley
Feed Me Phoebe: Chicken and White Bean Chili
Dishin & Dishes: Lean Mean Game-Day Chili
The Lemon Bowl: Beef Chili With Black Beans
Devour: 4 Twists on Chili for the Super Bowl
Thursday Night Dinner: 3 Most Favorite Chili Recipes
Mooshu Jenne: Pinto Bean Chili
FN Dish: 7 Chili Recipes for the Big Game
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I know that lots of people don’t like chili with beans, but I’ll never understand it – they’re my favorite part! This flavor combination looks fantastic. I love the smokiness of chipotle!
I saw your recipe at SimpleBites and had to stop by. I love it. Recipe saved!
Omg, hangry! I’m so stealing that term1
I totally get hangry on a regular basis. And it’s not pretty when it happens. Thank goodness for saviors like this delicious-looking chili!
Beans and chili go together like peanut butter and jelly. They are meant for each other! And I love the addition of chipotle peppers in this chili recipe.
No need to convert me, just looking at your pics makes me hungry!
I’m so not fun to be around when hunger strikes, so I try and keep it at bay as much as possible. This chili looks gorgeous, Gaby!
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