Summer Chicken Chili w/ Creamy Tomato Sauce

Summer Chicken Chili w/ Creamy Tomato Sauce

What do you do when you feel like chili but it’s too hot outside? Have beans? Have veggies? Have chicken? Make summer chili!!

CHICKEN:

3.5 lbs of split chicken breasts
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp olive oil

BEAN SALAD:

3-4 cups cooked red beans
3-4 celery stalks (rough chopped)
3 green peppers (rough chopped)
½ large onion (rough chopped)
1 cup grape tomatoes (cut in half)
3 garlic cloves (minced)
cilantro (chopped)
2 tsp salt

TOMATO SAUCE:

½- ¾ cup grape tomatoes
½ onion (diced)
¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup sugar
pinch of salt

1) CHICKEN: Add all ingredients to chicken and marinate until you’re ready to cook.

To cook chicken, preheat oven to 325. Add some oil to a pan and heat on medium high. When the pan is hot, add chicken skin side down and sear for 1-2 minutes on each side. Do not sear chicken until the oven is ready. If you have a piece of chicken that is noticeably larger than the others, you can cook it in the pan another minute or so to allow even cooking. Bake chicken for 35-40 minutes depending on size. Remove chicken and cover with foil. When the chicken has cooled, peel off the bones and cut into large cubes.

2) BEAN SALAD: I prefer cooking my own beans instead of buying them canned. Once you cook your own beans, it’s kind of hard to buy canned. The texture is completely different. Cooking them yourself really doesn’t take that much time, as long as you are overlapping it with other tasks. So if you’re going to marinate the chicken for a while, you can cook your beans during this time. If you plan on cooking your chicken right away, you can do this step first. Therefore, while the beans are simmering, you can prep the chicken.

Add 2 cups of dried beans to a large pot along with 1 tbsp each of salt and garlic powder. Fill with water up to ¾ full and bring to a boil. Then simmer for 15 or so minutes until the beans are soft but not mushy. Drain and rinse with cold water and set aside.

Quickly stir fry green peppers, celery, onions, garlic, and tomatoes with olive oil on medium high heat for a couple of minutes. Add this to your beans, toss and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

3) TOMATO SAUCE: Saute tomatoes and onions with olive oil until tomatoes are soft. In a blender, add tomatoes, onions and the rest of the ingredients (except cilantro) and puree until smooth. Add cilantro and pour into a bowl.

To serve, combine all ingredients and toss.

NOTES:

- This also pairs great with whole wheat penne pasta. Just double the sauce so you’ll have some to drizzle on the pasta too.

-Vegetarians: Substitute chicken with avocados or grilled tofu (cube extra firm tofu, toss with olive oil, salt and grill).