White Chicken Chili with Salsa Verde by Kristin Cavallari

I was so fortunate to watch Good Morning America on January 14th to see Kristin Cavallari make her White Chicken Chili. I decided to make it, and it is delicious! It is so delicious that I purchased her new cookbook, True Comfort, so I can make more of her recipes. True Comfort contains more than 100 recipes free of gluten and refined sugar. What a great way to start the new year!

White Chicken Chili with Salsa Verde

Serves: 8

Prep Time: 50 minutes 

Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I used 2 pounds of chicken tenderloins, cut into 1/2-inch pieces.)
• 2 small poblano chiles, seeds removed chopped (I left them out of the chili.)
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeds removed, diced (I used 1/2 of a jalapeño.)
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder 
• Pink Himalayan salt
• 2 (4-ounce) cans chopped green chiles 
• 1 cup jarred salsa verde
• 2 (19-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups chicken stock
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 avocado, diced, for garnish (I didn’t do this, but it sounds delicious.)
• 1 cup cashew crema (recipe below), for garnish

Directions:

1. In a Dutch oven set over medium-high heat, add the avocado oil. Add the chicken and cook until the chicken pieces are browned, 15 minutes. Add the poblanos, onion and jalapeño, and continue cooking until the onion has softened, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic powder, pepper, onion powder and a big pinch of salt. Stir, and cook for 10 minutes, until fragrant. Reduce the heat to low and add the green chilies, salsa verde and cannellini beans; cook for 15 minutes, stirring it occasionally to bring the flavors together.
3. Bring the heat back up to medium and add the chicken stock and lime juice. Bring the chili to a simmer and let it cook, occasionally stirring it from the bottom to prevent burning, for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until thickened. Add more salt and pepper as needed.
4. Garnish each bowl of chili with diced avocado and a dollop of the cashew crema (recipe below).

Crema:

Place one cup of raw cashews in a high-powered blender and add half a cup of water. Blend on high speed until the crema is completely smooth, 2 minutes. The crema will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

This is such a delicious chili. I left out the poblanos, used half of a jalapeño, and used mild green chilis and mild salsa verde to keep the chili from being too spicy. It still had a great amount of flavor from all of the fragrant spices. I used tenderloins (white meat chicken) to keep down the calories.  Also, it did not take me as long to make the recipe as described in the directions. 

I’m excited to make more recipes from True Comfort by Kristin Cavallari. Enjoy!