Chicken Chili Verde

This Chicken Chili Verde is tangy, spicy, and oh so hearty. It’s just what you need to warm you up on a chilly day.

If you’ve been following Biscuits & Burlap long, you know we love all the facets of Southern cuisine… Southwestern is one of our favorites! Jalapenos, cilantro, and tortillas… oh my!

This Chicken Chili Verde does a great job of highlighting some of the best parts of Southwestern cuisine. It’s just a little spicy, tangy with lime and tomatillos, and hearty enough to make you forget all you had for dinner was soup. Seriously… this stuff will fill you up.

If you’ve never had Chicken Chili Verde (green chili) before, the main difference is that you use tomatillos instead of red tomatoes. Also, the use of chicken and Northern Beans keeps the color light.

In all truthfulness the chili itself isn’t really green, because it has all of those great spices – cumin, chili powder, etc. But it does have lots of verde ingredients, so we’re sticking with the name.

For a salad dressing with those same spices be sure to make this easy one. Southwestern Vinaigrette comes together in just minutes!

Now, this is not a quick recipe by any means, so if you want to, feel free do do what I did: Complete all the prep work one day and cook the chili another day. That makes it much more leisurely.

Prep for making the chili

The first thing you want to do is take the husks off the tomatillos and give them a good washing. They tend to be sticky under the husk, but that easily comes off with water.

If you’ve never shopped for tomatillos before, they’re those papery green things in the produce section- when you peek under the husk at the store, the fruit underneath should be firm like a tomato, not wrinkly.

How to roast tomatillos and peppers

There are lots of ways to roast your tomatillos, poblanos, and jalapenos. You can do this on the grill, over the flame of a gas cooktop, or the way I did it: in the oven. I didn’t do any prep for this, aside from halving and seeding the jalapenos.

I put the peppers and tomatillos on a baking pan, pre-heated the oven to 450, and popped them in. After the peppers start to get a nice char on one side, flip them over and stir the tomatillos around a little bit and put them back in. Once they are charred and bubbly on both sides, you’re done!

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Peel and dice the poblano peppers

Well, not exactly… You have to get the skin off the poblanos now. But there is a really simple trick to this! Take them straight out of the oven and pop them in a Ziploc bag. Seal it up really well and the heat will basically steam the skin right off!

Once they’re cool enough to handle, hold them under running water and scrape the skin off by hand or with a butter knife. Then, cut the stems off and wash the seeds out and you’re ready to dice for your chicken chili verde!

Blend tomatillos and jalapenos until smooth

Cut the stems off the jalapeno halves as well and drop them and the tomatillos in a food processor or blenderalong with the juice of 3 limes. Blend til smooth and set aside.

This is a good time to stop if you’re already all kitchened out and want to make the rest of your Chicken Chili Verde tomorrow. You can store the diced poblanos in a ziploc bag in the fridge and the tomatillo mixture in an airtight container (also in the fridge).

WARNING: Try not to eat the tomatillo mixture with tortilla chips before you make your Chicken Chili Verde! I know its tempting, and trust me, it’s delicious, but stay out of it! Maybe next time I should make extra just for that purpose…

Finish your chili now or the next day

The rest of the recipe is super simple… Toss the onions and garlic in a large stockpot with olive oil and sauté until the onions become translucent. Then, add diced chicken and all the spices.

Give it a good stir and sauté another 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock, tomatillo mixture, beans, and poblano peppers. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and let simmer for 1-2 hours.

Before serving your Chicken Chili Verde, add the cilantro and avocados, if you like. Garnish with Monterey Jack cheese and sour cream.

Check out our other Southwestern favorites!

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