Chipotle Chicken Chili

Let’s go to a chili crawl and eat allllllll tha chilis. Have you ever heard of a chili crawl? I hadn’t heard of one until this past weekend when there was one going on in town. Basically all the restaurants in this one area all made chili, and you would go from restaurant to restaurant trying the different variations and voting for the best one.

Doesn’t that sound like fun?! In my wildest dreams, I would be a judge on one of the cooking shows that’s on TV like Top Chef, so judging and voting on my favorite chili would be like a WAY less cool version of that. Just call me Tom Colicchio, yo. Cause I be all up in that chili.

Except I wasn’t all up in that chili, because I didn’t find out that it happened until it was over…sad day. The fact that a chili crawl even happened in town though signifies the start of fall! No one has chili cook offs or chili crawls in the summer. Chili is a hardcore fall and winter food. Hence the creation of this chili! It might still be warm outside here (stop being warm, Kansas…), but I’m in denial of the actual weather. I’m just going to crank up my AC and pretend it’s crisp and cool outside so I can make fall food and decorate my house.

Sound like a plan? Cool.

So let’s just take a few minutes to talk about this particular chili. I have made many, many, many chilis in my day. There is so much room for variety in chili, which is so much fun! One of my all time favorites still is my Pumpkin Chili that I posted last year, but this Chipotle Chicken Chili definitely makes my list of favorites, too 😀.

This chili packs so, so, SO much delicious flavor. And it is super extra hearty thanks to the addition of sweet potato. The flavor of the chipotle (which we get from two separate ingredients [more on that later]) is so delicious in this chili. I’ve never used chipotles in chili before, and it is a very, very delicious discovery. It adds this deep smokiness to the chili along with a complexity that you don’t get from traditional chili. Ima fan, Ima big fan.

There are a few different elements of this chili that make it the flavor bomb that is:

• The chipotle flavor. This deep, smoky, spicy flavor comes from two layers of chipotle that we add. The first one is canned chipotles in adobo sauce. We use two of the actual chipotles along with a tablespoon of the adobo sauce. The second is the chili powder. Along with one tablespoon of regular chili powder, we also add a tablespoon of chipotle chili powder, which you can find at your grocery store in the spice aisle. These duo layers of chipotle flavor work together to make one deeee-licious pot o’ chili.
• The sweet potato. This chili is spiiiiccyyy. Really good spicy, though – not too much. Especially if you add sour cream. Because of the level of heat in this chili, the sweet potato is a perfect ingredient to balance some of that out. The sweetness kicks the heat down a couple notches and gives each bite different layers of flavor. Sweet, spicy, savory, etc…It also adds great heartiness, making the chili even more filling. A bowl of this will keep you full for the rest of the night!
• The base flavors. First we get our ground chicken nice and browned, which adds yummy flavor to the chili, then we add our veggies: onions, green pepper, garlic (along with the sweet potato, which we already had a little chat about). This trio of veggies cooks into the chili and adds depth, heartiness, and lots of flaavvaa.

SO GOOD. Make sure you top each bowl with cheese and sour cream (and maybe some cilantro, but definitely the cheese and sour cream ❤️)…because chili/life is not complete without those additions. The sour cream helps bring down the spice level a bit too if you aren’t the biggest fan of spicy food. But come on…it’s chili – it’s gotta be spicy. EMBRACE THE HEAT.

Ford had his 2 month shots the day before yesterday. So our past few days have been interesting. The doctor told me that he probably would probably be tired and fussy for a day or two after, and heeeee was right. He. Was. Right 😑. So Ford pretty much slept all day yesterday and would wake up, eat, and be fussy for a while. And would be super fussy if I put him down even when he was sleeping.

So I did basically nothing yesterday aside from holding him. I was lookin’ rough…wearing the clothes from the day before, hair sticking up everywhere, probs some food on my shirt somewhere. I put him down for the night at like 9:30 and took the most glorious shower ever before hearing him chirping away on the baby monitor. I went in and got him, and the little stinker was wide awake and all smiles.

He turned the corner and started feeling better, which gave him a little burst of energy, which ended in him staying up until 11:30. Yayyyy. I figured since he was up so late, he would sleep further into the night than usual. NOPE. Sigh…

BUT – bright side – since he was up so late, I was bored and looking through some old stuff and came across Seth and I’s letters to each other from basic training waaayyy back in the day when we were little freshies in college. They were SO much fun to read, and it was super cute to see all the mushy gushy things we were saying to each other, basically acting like a 10 week basic training was a deployment to fight in World War II. #newbs.

So much has happened in our lives since we wrote each other those letters, and I love him so much more deeply now than I did then. Soooooo thanks Fordy for keeping me up super late so I could reminisce!

I had to energize myself today with some delicious, spicy chili. It’s like caffeine, but better 😍.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Each serving of this chili is 5 Smart Points, not including toppings.

Chipotle Chicken Chili

This spicy, hearty chili is super simple and could not be more flavorful! 5 Smart Points per serving.

• Author: Annie Chesson
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 9 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 2 onions, peeled and diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 7 oz can chipotles in adobo sauce (found in the Mexican section of your grocery store)
• 2 28 oz cans crushed, fire roasted tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 15 oz can black beans, drained

Instructions

1. Heat a large pot (a dutch oven works great!) over medium high heat and add your coconut oil
2. When hot, add your ground chicken, season to taste with salt and pepper, and cook until browned, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks
3. Add your sweet potato, onion, pepper, and garlic and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for several minutes until veggies have begun to soften. If things start sticking to the pan, add about 1/4 – 1/2 cup of water
4. Meanwhile, remove 2 chipotle peppers from your can and chop them up.
5. When your veggies have softened a bit, add your chipotle peppers along with 1 tablespoon of adobo sauce from the can, your tomato paste, both chili powders, cumin, and salt/pepper to taste
6. Stir to combine and let this cook for a minute or two
7. Add your 2 cans of crushed tomatoes along with 2 cups of water. Stir to combine, bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender and cooked through
8. When there are about 5 minutes remaining, add your black beans
9. Season to taste with salt and pepper
10. Top each bowl with sour cream and cheese!

Notes

If you can’t find chipotle chili powder, just use 2 tablespoons of regular chili powder.

This is a spicy chili! If you want to make it more mild, remove the seeds from the chipotle peppers before chopping them and adding them to the chili.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups
• Calories: 220
• Sugar: 7 g
• Sodium: 645 mg
• Fat: 7 g
• Carbohydrates: 25 g
• Fiber: 4 g
• Protein: 13 g
• Cholesterol: 38 mg

If you make this or any of my other recipes, be sure to Instagram it and hashtag #thegarlicdiaries!

In the mood for more chili recipes? Check these out:

Pumpkin Chili

Turkey Chili Boats

One Pot Vegan Lentil Chili