Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
A slow cooker turns juicy chicken thighs and pureed chipotles in adobo sauce into a very satisfying chili.
Serving Size: 8
If you’ve ever wondered if chicken could hold its own as the star meat in a chili, this recipe is for you.
Chipotles in Adobo Sauce
One of the greatest “secret weapon” ingredients I know is chipotles in adobo sauce. These are smoked jalapeno peppers stewed in a sauce with tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, salt, and various spices such as cumin, oregano and paprika, and then canned and available for your cooking pleasure. (Imagine doing all that yourself!)
I puree up a can of the peppers in their sauce by just dumping the contents of the whole can right into the food processor, and then put it in a sealed container in the fridge (check out the video). Whenever a soup or a stew or a chili or a dip or anything calls for a little touch of smoky heat, in goes a tablespoon or two of the puree. You can also add it to dressings (Iike in Smoky Chipotle Chicken Salad), burgers (try Chipotle Barbecue Turkey Burgers), and deviled eggs (Chipotle Deviled Eggs), to name a few uses.
The Beauty of the Slow Cooker
And of course one of the greatest “secret weapon” cooking appliances of all time is the slow cooker, or Crock Pot, which for many of us takes up a permanent place of residence on the counter during the colder months. The unparalleled pleasure of walking into your home at the end of a long day to be greeted with the scent of a cooked dinner is hard to overstate.
In this chili, these two secret weapons join together to turn juicy and moist boneless, skinless chicken thighs into a somewhat spicy and couldn’t-be-easier chili. I often make chili with ground chicken or turkey, which we all love, but it was nice to change it up with real cubes of chicken.
This one is a definite weeknight keeper, but on a wintery weekend morning, before you head out to do whatever wintery things you are doing, you might want to crank up a pot of this. And if you are being really smart and good to yourself, have those topping ready in small bowl in the fridge. Dinner ready as soon as the table is set? Oh, yes, that would be lovely, thanks.
Leftovers would be awesome on top of some nachos!
Other Great Slow Cooker Recipes:
- 2-Ingredient Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork
- Slow Cooker Teriyaki Beef Tip Steaks
- Slow Cooker Barbecue Beer Beef Stew
- Slow Cooker Pimento Cheese Dip
Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Equipment: Slow Cooker
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cooking Time: 4 hours
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons pureed chipotles in adobo sauce
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes with their juice
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 (15.5 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 4 scallions, trimmed and chopped
- Juice of 1 lime
To serve:
- Shredded cheese
- Sour cream
1. In a large slow cooker, combine the onions, carrots, garlic, pureed chipotles in adobo, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Add the beans and stir to combine, then stir in the chicken.
2. Cook in the slow cooker on high for 4 hours. Stir in the chopped scallions and the lime juice right before serving. Serve with shredded cheese and sour cream on the side and let everyone top their own bowls as they wish.
