Fiesta Chicken Chili: a Blueprint Recipe

I always loved Michele Urvater's "blueprint recipe" concept, in which the basic idea of a recipe is laid out, with variations and suggestions for making it your own. Her Monday to Friday Cookbook inspired me to cook in a more adventurous manner and I eventually gained confidence in creating recipes of my own.

I "invented" this chili as a way to use up some leftover chicken taco meat from a school event. I had about 10 cups of leftover chicken, and I turned it into 10 quarts of chicken chili. I've scaled the recipe down so that it can be made with as little as 2 cups of chicken. It's easy to increase it from there.

Fiesta Chicken Chili

2 cups Fiesta Taco Chicken
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (14 ounces) small red beans, drained and rinsed--or any kind of beans you like
1 cup chicken broth
3/4 cups water
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 chipotle in adobo, chopped OR 1 tsp chipotle chili seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced

Combine all ingredients in saucepan and simmer, covered, a few hours to allow flavors to mingle. Stir occasionally. I cooked mine in a Nesco roaster at 200 for 5 hours. Cook time is flexible on this recipe, as the chicken is already cooked.

Chicken Chili Blanco

Get the recipe and photo at Cook and Count.