Crock Pot Chicken Recipe: Chicken Green Chili
It’s always my goal to eat all natural, healthy meals, but just like so many people I receive emails from each week, my schedule can creep out of control, throwing a wrench into my entire week. There are times when I can’t make it to the grocery store as planned, or I didn’t realize I had that late meeting scheduled when I made my weekly meal plan. I hate surprises like those.
The answer to getting through those times without calling for take out is simple – be prepared. Stock your pantry with a few key ingredients and you’ll always have the answer to the dinner puzzle. I have a few favorite ingredients that I keep in stock to make last minute meal planning a breeze. They are versatile, inexpensive, all natural, and most importantly for the sake of preparedness, shelf-stable.
For example, take the case of this Chicken Green Chili. It was never on my meal plan. It came about during one of those last minute realizations that I wouldn’t be home the following night until much too late to start cooking dinner. So I stepped over to the pantry and took stock. I immediately spied a package of Southwestern White Bean Chili from Hurst Family Harvest. Keeping a few varieties of these dried beans with the seasonings already included has saved me more times than I can count. They are so versatile, they make dinner a no-brainer. Some people are put off by the fact that these are dried beans – not me! I prefer it that way. Dried beans means there’s absolutely no worry about added ingredients, and no aluminum can to leach chemicals into the beans.
Once the inspiration struck, the rest was easy. I quickly found some chile peppers packed in adobo sauce, green salsa, and chicken stock on the pantry shelves, and some chicken breasts in the freezer. I soaked the beans overnight, then put everything in the slow cooker the next morning. Even though the rest of the family got home before I did, a warm dinner was ready and waiting to be served the minute they arrived. Now that was a real surprise!
Chicken Green Chili
serves 8
1 package Southwestern White Bean Chili from Hurst Family Harvest (beans and seasoning)
2 cups chicken stock
2 cans, 7 ounces each, Herdez Salsa Verde*
1 cup diced onion
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 teaspoons adobo sauce (from a can of chiles packed in adobo sauce)
fresh cilantro and lime wedges for serving – optional
Place all ingredients in a slow cooker, stir. Cook on low for 8 hours, or until chicken is completely cooked through. Shred chicken breasts using two forks. Ladle into bowls and serve warm with cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice if preferred.
*Note – I love the Herdez brand salsas found near the rest of the Mexican foods in my store. The ingredients on the salsa verde are: tomatillos, onions, serrano peppers, salt, and cilantro. Perfect.
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Thanks for the great post!
Nice adaptation! I also love the Herdez salsa verde. I made this today, using a lot more adobo sauce (about 8 tsp!), otherwise remaining true to your recipe here. In the future, I would back off the adobo to 5 or 6 tsp, but would ramp up the salsa verde and go for a third can, but as it was, this had great flavor and the added plus of an easy clean-up. Thanks!
looks great! I loved that you dont use canned beans! Im worried about aluminum as well (even started making the family deoderant) Lately I have wanted to make more beans & lentils but want tasty & easy! I hope I can find the dry ones with seasoning, where do you find them?
Side note, I am soooo excited that the cream of mushroom, of chick etc… are available organic in the cartons now! NO more aluminium
You are a girl after my own heart! I can get the Hurst Family Harvest brand beans with seasonings at my local Publix in the aisle with the dried beans. They are such a great thing to keep in the pantry – I’m partial to the Black Bean variety these days.
is the hurst family blend something i can find here in ca? or what other substitute would you recommend?
I think you should be able to find it – my store stocks it in the area where the dried beans are. Here’s a link to the Hurst website so you can check it out: http://www.hurstfamilyharvest.com