I did follow the traditional "Texas" style of chili making and did not include beans. This recipe is very thick, savory, and meaty. One of my variations is to use two types of chicken meat for added flavor and texture. I use the traditional ground chicken, and I also include whole shredded chicken from a store bought rotisserie chicken. If you prefer beans in your chili, please feel free to add them (I think pinto beans would be very good). I included plenty of aromatics (vegetables) cooked until soft and brown, and a good dose of Louisiana hot pepper sauce for heat. The addition of beer adds some flavor but mostly assist in deglazing the pan which is very important in this recipe since I recommend cooking this chili in a stainless steel pan (do not use a non-stick pan) in order to generate lots of those yummy brown bits (fond) that stick to the bottom of the pan (which is always a good thing!).
Starting with a store bought rotisserie chicken, shred the chicken from the bones (discarding the skin), and temporarily store the meat in a bowl. If you feel the need to roast your own chicken go for it, but in this case, I think a store bought roasted chicken saves lots of time and energy.Some people (like my daughter) prefer to opt for larger cuts of meat and cut the chicken into cubes rather than shred. This option is up to you. I prefer the shredded meat because it adds a thicker texture to the chili, and also adds more surface area to blend with sauce.
For the aromatics (vegetables), start with 2 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 1 red bell pepper, and 1 medium onion.The addition of diced jalapeño pepper(s) is optional for extra heat.
Cut the vegetables into a fine dice.
(Discard the seeds of the red bell pepper.)
Once again, the fine dice adds more surface area to the chili, which adds a more thicker texture, and richer flavor when sautéed.
Next, mince 5 cloves of garlic.For the spices, you will need 2 Tbs of Chili Powder, 3 tsp of ground cumin, and 1 tsp of ground coriander.
Add additional spices (plus salt and pepper) as your taste desires when the chili is completed.
Finally you will need one 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes, one 15 oz. can of tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of Louisiana cayenne hot pepper sauce (give or take), and one 12 oz bottle of beer for deglazing the pan.
Start by cooking the ground chicken meat in a med-high heatedpan with a little olive oil.I prefer a stainless steel pan so that the meat will form little browned bits (called fond) that will stick to the bottom of the pan and provide lots of concentrated flavor later on.
Season the meat with salt and pepper.
Make sure the meat gets good and brown (Browning = Flavor).
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Use the same pan to brown the vegetables in the next step, in order to get the browned bits released from the bottom of the pan.
Add 3 Tbs of butter to the pan and cook the vegetables over med-high heat, for at least 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables are soft, tender, and the onions start to brown.Once again, add some salt (and/or pepper).
With a wooden spoon, scrape up all of the brown bits from the cooked meat which will add intense flavor to the chili.
Browning equals flavor, so do not rush this step.
Note the brown bottom on the stainless steel pan when you are finished cooking the meat and vegetables. This is pure flavor!The beer will be used to deglaze the pan, and add this concentrated flavor to the chili.
Add the cooked chicken and vegetables back to the pan and clear a spot in the center of the pan to cook the spices for 30 seconds.Add about 1 Tbs of olive oil to the center of the pan then add the garlic and spices. Stir around and cook for about 30 seconds.
At this point, the bottom of the pan will be very brown with food and spices sticking.Add 12oz of a good beer to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon to deglaze the pan, and dissolve all of the brown bits stuck on the bottom.
Finally add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and hot sauce.Simmer to the desired thickness that you prefer.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add additional spices if desired.
Garnish with your favorite condiments.
I prefer sour cream, chopped green onions, and served with a warm bread stick.Buffalo Chicken Chili (serves 6)
| 1 Tbs. (15 mL) olive oil | saute until browned | combine | simmer 5 min | simmer 15 min or until thickened | season | |
| 1 lb. (450 g) ground chicken | ||||||
| salt & pepper | ||||||
| 2 Tbs. (30 g) unsalted butter | saute until soft | |||||
| salt | ||||||
| 3 celery ribs | chop fine | |||||
| 2 carrots | ||||||
| 1 medium onion | ||||||
| 1 red bell pepper | ||||||
| 5 garlic cloves | toast 30 sec in pan | |||||
| 2 Tbs. (15 g) chili powder | ||||||
| 2 tsp. (4 g) ground cumin | ||||||
| 1 tsp. (2 g) ground coriander | ||||||
| 1 Tbs. (15 mL) olive oil | ||||||
| 1 rotisserie chicken | shred meat | |||||
| 12 oz. (355 mL) beer (good micro brew) | ||||||
| 1/2 cup (120 mL) cayenne pepper hot sauce | ||||||
| 15 oz. can (425 g) tomato sauce | ||||||
| 14.5-oz. (410 g) can diced tomatoes | ||||||
| salt & pepper | ||||||
| 12 oz. (355 mL) beer | drink while chili simmers | |||||
Tony Olson has a passion for cooking and playing around with cooking gadgetry. He is currently experimenting with rice-cookers and the plethora of tasty dishes that can be created in these one pot wonders.
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Though I have a couple of questions if you don't mind.
First : do you have any idea of how much meat you eventually get from a "standard" (roasted) chiken ?
Second : Any replacement idea for the Hot Sauce (fresh chili maybe ?)
Cheers,
-drk
One rotisserie chicken will give you about 4 cups of shredded chicken, both white and dark meat (no skin). The typical chicken translates into about 12 ounces of light meat and 8 ounces of dark meat (no skin), which gives you a total of:
* 1,037 calories
* 166 g protein
* 0 g carbohydrate
* 34 g fat
* 10.4 g saturated fat
* 13.7 g monounsaturated fat
* 8.2 g polyunsaturated fat
* 505 mg cholesterol
* 0 g fiber
* 451 mg sodium (unless some sodium is added to season the chicken before roasting)
* 30% calories from fat
Keep in mind, that there is probably about a +/- 20% error on this, given the different sizes available, and you can easily increase or decrease the amount of chicken for this recipe, though you may need more tomato sauce if you add more.
For the hot sauce replacement, there are many things you could use. Your typical Louisiana hot sauce is very HOT, but you could water it down, or better yet use a salsa of your choice. Even the Heinz chili sauce that comes in a bottle is pretty tame, but tasty. My advice would be to start with less of whatever you use, and add more until you get the heat you are looking for.
Though for the hot sauce replacement I should say I wasn't as concerned by "heat" than by the fact that hot sauces of any kind are a bit hard to find around here (france that is).
But salsa might be easier to get ...
-drk
Thanks, Kelly
Wine would also work.
Keep in mind, the alcohol content will be evaporated in the way it is cooked off in this recipe.
Vinegar (a strong acid) also makes a nice deglazing agent, and adds some nice flavor. A nice white wine or champagne vinegar, diluted with some water, would act as a nice deglazing agent for flavor instead of beer in this recipe.
Thanks
For simplicity, you could just use the pre-cooked beans in a can, and add as many as you wish. If you do this, be sure to drain off that "goo" that the beans are soaked in when they come out of a can (that's nasty stuff!). Just use a strainer to do this. Since canned beans are pre-cooked, you would add them at the very end. You would also have to add some additional tomato sauce and/or water since the beans are starchy and would thicken up the chili (which is already fairly thick).
Or, if your a purist, you could soak the uncooked beans over night, and/or cook them per the instructions they come with, then add them at the end.
I think the black beans would give this chili some nice color contrast.
I'll definitely be trying this recipe out soon and will let you know how it goes!
>As a matter of fact, you can't use anything other than Frank's Red Hot.
Now scroll up to the recipe, and take a look at the picture that has the Hot Sauce in it. It is in fact "FRANKS RED HOT" (thank you... thank you very much)
My point was that some people may like to use something with less heat. And we can allow that.... can't we?
In regards to the butter, I know what your saying. Authentic buffalo wings are dripping with butter and Franks hot sauce. Ok... my bad. I tried to make this recipe a little more healthy. Give it a try... I think you'll see a good compromise. If not, you can "Paula Dean-ize" your version, and add 4 sticks of butter to your pan.... enjoy. :)
sigh... always a tough guy in the crowd! LOL
Thanks!
I recently made this again and added canned black beans (drain the goo from them in the can), and it was really good. I think sweet corn could also be added for color contrast and flavor.
Good luck.
Can you tell me approximately how much one batch of this comes to (e.g., one quart, two quarts)?
Also, is this good reheated? I want to make a big batch the night before a party and then reheat the next day.
a good question, but not a dead duck simple question, actually.
browning the ground chicken generates flavors - I'd mention the "M reaction" but that often generates more conflict than clarity.
now, rotisserie chicken also has good flavors, but typically only "skin deep" -
in the end, rotisserie chicken is "grilled" on a continuous rotating basis....
so unless one includes the skin, the rotisserie chicken has to potential of being just "baked chicken" - flavor wise. since the skin is a prime source of "fat" and some folks just don't do fat, a goodly portion of the rotisserie'd flavor could get lost.
Chili (by definition) is almost anything that can be thrown in a pot together. Some basics have become necessities by evolution >> Hot Sauce of some kind, meat, chili powder (cumin, coriander, etc.), beans of some kind (I've seen spaghetti in place of the beans [engineering work around]).
Back to point, this recipe is SUPER, even in variation. I've been making chili for years and don't think I've done it the same twice. Such is the case here. A nice touch on the Buffalo side is to use a good Buffalo Wing sauce in addition to/in place of the hot sauce.
Good chili gets better every time it is re-heated. One can never know how good re-heated chili can get as sooner or later...it's gone.
In the never-ending search of the perfect chili! Viva Terlingua!
Splitting up the chili powder into chili powder and cayenne pepper adds some nice flavor and decent heat that can be tweaked easily.
Using something other than a white beer like a good doppelbock or Scottish ale adds a lot of flavor and, of course, still does the job. Doppelbock/Scottish ale makes it a bit sweeter and tastes a little more noticeable than a white ale in the end product.
For the guy who complained about the lack of butter - adding just 1-2 Tbs of butter when adding the "sauce" ingredients (tomatoes/Frank's) goes a long way in giving it the buffalo creaminess without adding pounds of fat.
I haven't tested this yet but I think that, when serving, sour cream could be replaced with blue cheese (dressing) to go with the buffalo theme. Off to the store to go buy some good blue cheese...
Great recipe. I've been looking for a good chicken chili recipe and this more than fits the bill.
Somebody previosly was asking about the ground chicken versus shredded chicken. I was not trying to recommend one or the other, but I prefer using BOTH as the recipe states. The ground chicken adds some nice flaver and texture when browned up nice, and the shredded chicken adds another layer of chicken flavor and texture. The ratio between these two chicken sources can, of course, be tweaked to your preferences.
One more subtle ingredient you might want to play with, especially if you want to tone down the heat, and that is to add a little molasses!
Enjoy.
I doubled the recipe and added a can of (drained/rinsed) white and black beans.
It struck me a that one could substitute a BBQ sause for the Buffalo sauce to have a sweeter chili. And that thought got me thinking about substituting Pulled & Ground Pork for a another variation.... I may need to try that!
Thanks for the recipe!
Mike
I must say that your new anti-spam measures are incompatible with the recommendation in the recipe of drinking a beer while you simmer.
I haven't tried it yet, but I'm thinking of making it for a party I'm having this weekend.
I haven't tried it yet, but I'm thinking of making it for a party I'm having this weekend.
Serving sizes are almost always posted at the bottom of each recipe just above the recipe summary table(s). Servings given are usually for main courses (recipes will stretch if served as an appetizer). Tony, the author of this recipe, says it will serve 6.
It was awesome. Thanks!
Cheers
since it's reduced, one presumes the beer 'solids' would add a bit to the flavor, hence one beer only might lack some in that department - but most of the flavor from the deglaze is likely to come off the pan.
I'd deglaze with just one beer....
well, perhaps a prototype would have been in order - doesn't sound like you've got time for that.
rather a lot of the nitpick differences between good and 'a winner' boils down to ingredients (hot sauce is not "hot sauce" - they all taste slightly different...) and technique (how browned is browned...)
so basically with no opportunity to "try then adjust" - give a go and good luck!
I'm making again and hoping for first place ! People LOVED this Chili.
Enjoy.
I won the cook-off in a landslide vote, so add another award to this awesome recipe's string of victories!