Creamy Chicken Mexican Chili
The weather has finally dropped below 90°F here in Las Vegas. The stores are full of Halloween costumes and decorations. Every coffee shop is offering all things pumpkin spice. All I can think about is soups and chilis. I LOVE soup! I LOVE chili…but I cannot bring myself to consume either when the weather is hot.
SO…now that the temperature is ‘cool’ by Vegas standards, I am more than ready for soups and chilis.
All summer, I thought about this particular recipe. Just like with my cinnamon roll recipe, I love finding variations to chili recipes. There are seemingly endless possibilities. BUT…while I am unlucky and have zero Hispanic genetic material in my DNA, my heart lies with delicioso Mexican food.
While I am 100% bias, this recipe is easily one of my most favorite chili recipes.
Creamy Mexican Chicken Chili
Equipment
- instapot
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked chicken breast shredded
- 16 oz frozen corn
- 12 oz canned garbanzo beans drained and rinsed
- 8 oz canned green chilis
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 medium poblano peppers diced
- 4 large garlic cloves minced
- 8 oz cream cheese cubed
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp cumin
- 16 oz chicken stock
- salt and pepper
Instructions
Instapot Version:
- Add all ingredients in except the cream cheese and pressure cook for 15 minutes. Let stand without releasing the pressure for another 20 minutes.
- Once 20 minutes are up, release any leftover pressure and push the saute button setting. If the liquid is not sufficient enough after the pressure is released, add in 1/2 cup to 1 cup more of stock until it is desired consistency. Add in the cream cheese and stir continuously until melted. Serve immediately and top with desired toppings.
Indepth Instapot Version
- Personally, I believe the above directions will make a perfectly yummy Mexican chili. But adding a few extra steps and taking an added 10-15 minutes of time can add an extra layer of flavor into the chili. I cooked my raw chicken breasts in the instapot to achieve the desired amount of shredded chicken for the recipe.
- While the chicken was cooking, I sauteed the onion, poblano peppers, corn, and garlic in a pan to achieve a nice chared layer on these ingredients. The difference between adding all of the ingredients into the instapot at once versus sauteing a few ingredients first adds a nice underlying smokey flavor. While this step isn’t necessary to end up with a supremely yummy creamy Mexican chili, it does add more flavor.
- Once the chicken is finished in the instapot and has been prepared for the chili, and the vegetables have been sauteed, add all ingredients back into the instapot, except the cream cheese, and pressure cook for 5min. Before letting the pressure out, let stand for 15 minutes. Then release the leftover pressure and prepare the chili with the cream cheese just as stated above.
Cornbread Side
- We are originally from the Midwest, where it is a sin to consume any type of chili without a side of cinnamon rolls. But if you know me, then you know I will not half-ass any cinnamon roll recipe. And to be honest, making cinnamon rolls from scratch and any type of chili is a LONG day spent in the kitchen and only occurs on VERY special occasions. So when we don’t have cinnamon rolls with chili (I know, SUPER weird, but look it up! Midwesterners love some chili with cinnamon rolls) we do the normal thing and have cornbread. I am not a fancy cornbread maker. I have tried to perfect a recipe from scratch and it has thus far eluded me…something to work on later…so I use cornbread mixes. When I make cornbread waffles, I follow the original directions on the mixture’s box, but I add enough liquid til it is waffle batter consistency. Cornbread waffles are our family’s favorite, we love to pile the chili and toppings up high and then dive in. But if your chili is on the more liquid side, having chili on top of your cornbread waffle could prove messy. Get creative, cornbread muffins, corncakes, traditional cornbread in a pan…whatever works for your lifestyle.
Nutrition
Do you have any tried and true chili recipes? Or do you have an amazing cornbread from scratch recipe that never fails you? What are some of your go-to autumn recipes? Hope y’all have an amazing week!
