Chicken Chili with Beans and Peppers
It is coming up on soups and stews weather here. You know what that means? Chili – plenty of it! We make a couple varieties of chili here and one of the kids absolutely loves this chicken chili. We serve it over rice, but that is optional. It is good over egg noodles also if you prefer noodles instead of rice. We leave room for options.
We make this with a homemade cream of chicken soup so we know everything in it. It is really simple to make and has a better flavor then the cans have.
We have been getting away from highly processed foods here. I say highly processed as we still used boxed pasta, canned beans and things like canned tomatoes. So I created a homemade version of the cream of chicken soup we use here, it is only slightly different then when we make it to eat plain.
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Making the chicken chili
I make the cream of chicken soup in a separate pot and set aside until it is time to add it to the chicken. I find it thickens a bit better that way. Being it is my favorite pan, always use my cast iron pan for the chili – recommended but not required. Any excuse to break out my trusty cookware like in my pan fried parmesan chicken recipe 🙂
Preparing the cream of chicken soup
Making the cream of chicken soup is easy and you can make it in a few minutes. First you heat up the pot over medium heat. Add in the butter and onions. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add in the rosemary, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for about a minute.
Pour the chicken broth in and let it simmer for a couple minutes. Mix the flour and the milk together in a measuring shaker. If you do not have one, you can use a measuring cup and whisk it together well – tho the shaker is much better and you can use it whenever you need to thicken anything with flour.
Slowly add in the milk and flour mix while constantly stirring until all the mix is added. Bring to a simmer while stirring often. Allow it to simmer stirring often for a couple minutes (2-3 minutes is enough) and remove from heat. Set aside until ready for it.
Cooking the chicken
This can be done at the same time as the soup is being made. In a large skillet add oil and heat over medium heat. Now add in the chicken and chopped peppers, cooking for about 5 minutes stirring so the chicken cooks evenly. Add in garlic and the spices. Continue cooking until the chicken is fully cooked. Leave all the juice from the chicken in the pan with the chicken – do not drain.
Drain the black beans – you can add their juice but I usually don’t. Stir well and cook for about 2 minutes to heat it through.
As a note:
Chicken chili is perfect for serving over rice or noodles. It isn’t as thick as my regular chili beef chili but can be thickened with more flour if you prefer it to be thicker.
The homemade cream of chicken soup I make here is slightly different then the one I make for eating on a day when you just want soup for lunch. I adjusted it to work with the chili, tho it can be enjoyed as is – would be better with chicken added.
If you prefer, you can use canned soup. We do not here, but if you do I would say use 2 cans and some milk or water to thin it a bit. I am not certain the exact amount of liquid so I would start with half a can (from your soup) of liquid and increase as needed to desired consistency. If using canned, add in 1 onion with your chicken and peppers.
Looking for other great soup ideas?
Ham and potato soup – made on the stove
Instant Pot stuffed pepper soup
Chicken Chili with Beans and Peppers
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil or more if needed to coat the pan
- 1½ lbs chicken breast cut in bite size pieces
- 15.5 oz black beans
- 1½ cups peppers chopped
- 4 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- ½ tbsp cumin
- ¼ tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
For the Cream of Chicken Soup
- 4 tbsp butter we use salted for this
- 2 yellow onions chopped
- 2 cups chicken broth low sodium
- 1½ cups milk
- ⅓ cup flour
- ½ tsp rosemary dried
- 2 tsp parsley dried
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper ground
Instructions
Making the Cream of Chicken Soup
- Make the coc first or at least while the chicken is cooking so it is ready to add when chicken is cooked.Heat a pot over medium heat. Add in butter and onions, cooking until the onions start to become translucent.
- Add in the broth, rosemary, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Mix together milk and flour – preferably in a measuring shaker but a measuring cup will do.
- Slowly pour the milk/flour mix into the pot, stirring constantly while pouring to prevent lumps.Bring to a simmer and simmer for about 2-3 minutes stirring often. Turn off and set aside until ready to add to chili.
Making the Chili
- Heat up a skillet over medium heat. Add in the olive oil. Now add in the chicken and peppers, stirring occasionally to cook chicken evenly. Cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add in the garlic, chili powder, cumin, turmeric and red pepper flakes – stir well to even spread out the spices. Cook until the chicken is just cooked all the way through. Should only need a couple minutes. Do not drain the liquid from the chicken.
- Add in the beans (if using canned beans, I drain the liquid off them first) and the cream of chicken soup. Stir well and cook for about 2 minutes to warm everything through.
- We recommend serving over rice or egg noodles – we prefer rice here.
Dawn – this is right up my alley, and I love trying new chili recipes. Thanks for coming up with a homemade cream of chicken recipe as well. 🙂
You are welcome and thank you for stopping by! If you are using it as a cream of chicken soup to eat as is, you can add a little chicken and adjust the thickness with flour to preferred thickness. I always use this instead of canned just sometimes thicker then other times, depending on how it is being used 🙂
This looks so delicious!! I’m really enjoying looking at all of the delicious food here, but I’m getting so hungry! I’ve featured this yummy looking chili at Thursday Favorite Things today, and have pinned it. Thanks for sharing it with us!!
Thank you for the feature Pam 🙂 I always enjoy visiting your blog too!
Thank you for sharing at #ThursdayFavoriteThings. Pinned and shared. Have a lovely week. I hope to see you at next week’s party too!
Thank you Marilyn 🙂 I will see you there!