I have to be honest... I've never thought about making white chili. As a food lover, I have subscribed to numerous food magazines and emails. It helps to revive creativity and brainstorm new recipe ideas.
An email from AllRecipes.com highlighted a fantastic White Chili recipe. I thought it would be great for our food budget and a 4-day meal plan. So I researched different white chili recipes and here is what I came up with...
Mara's Slow Cooker White Chili
Meat
- 1/2 lb of ground pork
- 1/2 lb of lean ground beef (You may substitute with 2 chicken breasts or ground chicken)
Liquid
- 3 cups of chicken stock
- 3 cups of beef stock (you may substitute with vegetable stock... but this does give great flavor)
- 2 cups of water
Thickening
- 2 cans of Pinto Beans
- 2 cans of Northern Beans
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup corn starch
Vegetables
- 2 bell peppers, roughly chopped (any color of your choosing... I suggest going for a color variety)
- 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
- 3 to 4 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
Spices/Seasoning
- 1 TBSP dried oregano
- 1 TBSP ground cumin
- 1/2 TBSP chili powder
- 1/2 TBSP chili 3000 from Penzey's (try smoked paprika as a substitute)
- 1/3 TBSP dried tarragon
- 1/3 TBSP dried or fresh rosemary
- 1/4 TBSP freshly grated nutmeg
- Crushed red pepper (Optional: Season to taste)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Optional side
- 1 or 2 cups white rice
Directions
Add the beef stock, chicken stock and water to the slow cooker. Heat on high for 10 minutes. When the liquids become warmer, begin browning the meat.
Brown the meat in a skillet. Season with salt and pepper. When the meat is brown, add the flour and corn starch. The stock and water should be hot, but not boiling, by this point. Combine the meat with the hot liquid and continue stirring.
Gradually begin to add the vegetables - onions, peppers, celery and garlic. Continue stirring. Add the seasoning little by little. Be sure to taste the chili - you can always add more seasoning but you cannot take it away.
When all ingredients have been combined, set the slow cooker to low and walk away. Stir occasionally for 2 hours. Turn to warm when it becomes thick. While the chili is on warm, boil 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water. Fluff with a fork and set aside.
Add the rice to the bottom of a bowl and ladle chili on top. The best topping for this particular chili is Asiago cheese and red onion. You can also try Colby Jack and chives.
For those of you outside of Wisconsin, we like to mix our chili with a form of starch. Regular red chili is typically combined with pasta here. We wanted to change it up and try rice instead. It is a very pleasing combination.
I made the white chili on a Saturday afternoon and it fed 2 of us for 4 more days. Although it's a slow-cooked meal... a slow-cooker is not needed. This can also be cooked in a large pot on low heat for the same amount of time. Perfect for cooking on weekends!
We hope that you enjoy this as much as we did. Have a great week!
We could all use a hint of more time!
Copyright 2011 A Hint of Thyme. All rights reserved.
